Studied by 8 people
Advice and Consent
Senate's powers where they can advise the president but also some things where they have to agree when appointing a justice.
Apportionment
deciding the amount of representatives each state gets.
Baker v. Carr
court case in 1962 allowing courts to hear redistricting cases using 14th amendment
Bicameral legislature
a legislature with two houses (House of Representatives & Senate)
Bipartisanship
agreement or cooperation between 2 parties
Budget deficit/ surplus
deficit is if government spend more than it gets, surplus if they spend less than they get
Caucus (Congressional)
when like-minded congressmen meet together to speak about a certain issue
Cloture rule
is used to counter filibusters if 60 people agree which will limit the debate, otherwise they will just kill the bill
Committee chair
head of a standing committee
Concurrent resolution
a legislative measure requiring approval of both house and senate but not president to use in chambers
Conference committee
resolve house and senate differences between bills
Congressional oversight
congress's power to look at the activities of the executive branch.
Delegate role
representative who acts in the interests of people who elected him.
Discharge petition
get a bill from a committee who got rid of it if a lot of people in congress want to debate it.
Discretionary spending
spending congress can decide and change year to year
Divided Government
the house, senate, or president are different parties
Earmark
a part of a bill that directs funding to a specific state, local place, project, or organization
Entitlement program
give benefits to certain people who match criteria.
Enumerated powers
powers listed in the constitution of the federal government.
Expressed powers
powers the federal government gets basically enumerated powers
Filibuster
one person on the floor talks forever to kill a bill.
Franking Privilege
ability for congressmen to use their signature as a stamp for letters.
Germane
add only relevant stuff to a bill is a rule in congress but not the senate
Gerrymandering
drawing district lines to benefit a specific group.
Gridlock
stalemate between parties where nothing gets done, in the different bodies of government
Hold
a thing a senator can do if they disagree with the bill so the party leader tries to convince them to agree or add changes to please the senator who placed the hold. It stalls the bill but doesnt kill it.
House Judiciary Committee
standing committee that oversees federal court and other legal matters to make sure justice is being served.
Impeach
the HOR accuses government official of a crime
Implied powers
powers the federal government gets that are not explicitly written in the constitution.
Incumbency
already being in office
Joint committee
a committee with house and senate members
Lame duck period
time between election and inauguration so if the incumbent is leaving they do nothing.
Logrolling
vote trading; if a person votes for their law, they will vote for theirs
Majority Leader
the leader of the political party that controls most of the seats in either the house or senate.
Majority/Minority districts
a type of good gerrymandering where a racial minority has the majority so they can choose a representative to represent them.
Malapportionment
where the population of a district doesn’t have equal representation as other people or districts.
Mandatory spending
government spending required by law and is not affected by annual budget decisions and an example is social security.
Marginal seat/Marginal district
the margin of victory for the district was small so it is very important and competitive so extra attention is paid.
MarkUp Session
where a committee may try to make changes or amendments to a bill before the full chamber sees it.
Minority leader
the leader of the minority party in either the senate or house.
Multiple referral
refers bills to multiple committees at once
National debt
total amount of money government owes to creditor
Omnibus spending bill
has a bunch of things and has to pass because it is the whole budget
Open vs. Closed Rule
Open means anyone can debate, closed means only people from the committee can debate it
Oversight
legislative bodies supervising and monitoring executive activities
Party Polarization
the increasing extremity and ideological differences between the 2 political parties
Politico role
sometimes act as a delegate, sometimes a trustee
Pork Barrel legislation
legislation that brings money to a congressman's specific district, negative connotation
President of the Senate
role held by the vice president that doesn’t play a big part but votes if there is a tie.
President Pro Tempore
presides over the senate while the vice president or president of the senate isn't there which is most of the time so they basically run the senate
Quorum
the minimum number of members required to be there for a congress body to conduct business which has to be a majority for both the house and the senate.
Reapportionment
redistributing seats of the house every 10 years based on the census.
Redistricting
redrawing and recreating districts based on the new census
Rider
a small bill added to an omnibus one that will pass for sure and the others will agree to get your vote.
Rules Committee
decide rules for debate for each bill in the house
Safe seat/Safe district
a district that typically votes to one party so the incumbent always wins.
Select committees
sometimes called a special committee don't consider legislation, they oversee and investigate stuff and are less permanent than standing ones.
Sequential referral
refer bills to committees one after another, not at the same time
Seventeenth Amendment
allows the people to directly elect u.s. senators
Shaw v. Reno
case that found racial gerrymandering to drown out the voice of a race is illegal
Simple resolution
a legislative matter that expresses the opinion of a chamber and is just used internally for the chamber so doesn’t need approval from other branches or bodies.
Speaker of the House
leader of the house and is from the majority party typically.
Sponsor
a member of congress that introduces a bill and takes responsibility to try to get it to pass
Standing committees
permanent committee that is there forever
Swing districts
close contest between 2 parties
Trustee role
vote how they feel is necessary and is for the best even if their voters disagree
Unanimous consent agreement
all 100 senators agree upon how a bill or item of business will be considered
Unified Government
one political party controls all bodies of government
Veto
president kills bill but can get overridden with 2/3s vote but president can do a pocket veto where he doesn’t sign the bill for 10 days and if congress isn’t in session it gets killed but if they are then it just becomes a law.
Ways and Means Committee
a committee that writes legislation for social security, medicare and other entitlement programs.
Whip
someone that gets people of the same party to vote together in the house or senate on issues.
Note 
Flashcard (90)