Final Unit 4 Overview Terms

Incumbent

Someone already holding office

• advantage: higher reelection in Senate, more experience

• Franking privileges (unlimited mail)

Pork Barrel

Federal project and grants that benefit a congressional district or state

Bicameral Legislature

2 houses in main legislature, checks and balances

House Rules Committee

Schedules bills to be debated and voted on in the house floor, set limits for debates and amendments. Issue open rule, closed rule

Filibuster

Process used by Senators to delay voting on a bill

Speaker of the House

Chosen by the majority party, preside over house, make committee assignments, assign bills to committee. Speaker is 2nd in line for presidency after VP.

Majority Leader

Elected by majority party, responsive for scheduling bills and rounding up votes on behalf of the party’s position on legislation

Whips

Convey party’s position to other congresspersons, report view and complaints of the party rank and file to the house leadership

Minority Leader

Elected by the minority party, represent minority party

Standing Committee

Permanent committees in congress, handle bills in different policy areas

• Ex House Rules Committee, House Budget Committee, House Committee on Education and Labor

Joint Committe

Committee that draws from both House and Senate, existing in few policy areas

Conference Committee

Resolve and irons out differences in the bills proposed by the Senate and the House

Select Committee

Created for a very specific purpose

Legislative Oversight

When congress oversees operation of federal agencies of bureaucracy

Committee Chairs

Schedule hearings, hire staff, appoint subcommittees, manage committee bills that are brought back to the full house

Seniority System

Longest serving member of committee becomes chair automatically, serves as a general rule since we vote today

Caucus

Group of members in congress sharing common interest

Budget

Policy document allocating burdens and benefits (taxes and expenditures)

Deficit

When expenditures exceed revenue, deficit builds debt

Expenditures

What the government spends money on

Revenues

Sources of money for the government

• income tax

• Social security tax

Income Tax

Progressive percentage of one’s earnings taken to fund the government’s operations and programs

• lots of loopholes and tax cuts exploited by rich individuals and coorporations

Sixteenth Amendment

Establishes government’s right to tax income

Debt Ceiling

Legislative limit on how much a government can borrow

Tax Expenditures

Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions allowed by tax code

Social Security Act

1935 intended to provide minimal level of sustenance

• expanded to disabled workers and medicare

• less workers to recipients ratio

Medicare

Government program that provides health insurance for elderly

Incrementalism

The prediction that the next year’s budget will be slightly greater than the previous year’s (increment)

Uncontrollable Expenditures

Determined by how many eligible beneficiaries, those programs known as entitlements

Entitlements

Policies for which Congress self-obligates itself to pay X benefits to Y recipients

House Ways + Means Committee

Tax committee, jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue raising measures, as well as social security, unemployment insurance and medicare

Senate Finance Committee

Senate counterpart of House Ways and Means Committee

Congressional Budget + Impoundment Control Act of 1974

Specifies that the president may request that Congress resigns appropriated funds, the act removed the presidential power of impoundments as senate and house needs to approve within 45 days

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Advises Congress on possible consequences, forecast revenues, counter to president’s office of management and budget

Budget Resolution

Both houses agree on total expenditure level, bottom line for spending

Authorization Bill

Changes or establishes government programs (eligibility/benefits)

Appropriation Bill

Funds programs established by authorization bills

Legislative veto

Provision in a bill that grants authority to president and reserving for itself the ability to override, through a simple majority vote, individual actions taken by president pursuant to authority

TANF

Temp. Assistance for Needy Families, provides cash assistance to poor

Welfare Reform Act of 1996

Implemented TANF