AP Gov Legislative Branch Terms

Logrolling

Def: An arrangement in which two or more members of Congress agree in advance to support each other's bills.

Sig: It is used as a bargaining strategy to gain votes for a particular bill that might push it to be passed or not.

Constituent

Def: A resident of a district or state represented by an elected official.

Sig: Often effect how a congressman votes; their support can determine re-election.

Congressional Oversight

Def: Congressional review of the activities of an agency, department, or office.

Sig: Supports the efforts to make sure that laws are implemented correctly by the bureaucracy after they have been passed.

House Rules Committee

Def: A standing committee of the House of Representatives that provides special rules under which specific bills can be debated, amended, and considered by the house.

Sig: Determines the length of debate that will be allowed on a bill, as well as the kind of amendments that may be offered.

Filibuster/Cloture

Def: A prolonged debate in the Senate that is intended to kill a bill by preventing a vote on it, a vote of cloture is the only way to stop it with 3/5 or 60 votes of the Senate.

Sig: It is a practice of unlimited debate in the Senate, the vote of cloture requires a three-fifths majority or 60 votes.

Reapportionment

Def: Process by which representative districts are switched according to population shifts.

Sig: Helps to make districts more equal by adjusting for population changes every ten years.

Redistricting

Def: The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census

Sig: It Mandates state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts based on population gains and losses to keep districts as equal as possible in population.

Gerrymandering

Def: Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Majority-Minority districts

Def: A congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.

Sig: It improves the chances of minority candidates by making selected minority groups the majority within the district.

Standing Committees

Def: permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within a certain subject area.

Sig: probably the most important type because they consider and shape the vast majority of proposed laws.

Select Committees

Def: Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation.

Sig: temporarily formed for specific purposes, often to study a particular issue. Some, like the select committees to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, are intended to have limited lives.

Joint Committees

Def: Committees of Congress composed of both representatives and senators.

Sig: Have similar purposes as select committees, but they are made up of members from both the House and the Senate. Some joint committees handle routine matters, such as supervising the Library of Congress.

Conference Committee

Def: Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form.

Sig: They are specially created when the House and the Senate need to reconcile different versions of the same bill.

Mark-up

Def: The process by which a U.S. congressional committee or state legislative session debates, amends, and rewrites proposed legislation.

Sig: The process of marking up bills in committees of the House of Representatives generally resembles the process of amending measures on the House floor.

Riders/Christmas Tree Bill (Omnibus)

Def:

Riders: Amendments to bills, often in the form of appropriations (spending)

Sig: They sometimes have nothing to do with the intent of the bill itself.

Christmas Tree Bill: A bill that has many riders.

Christmas Tree Bill: The multiple riders are used to increase the bill's chances of being passed.

Pork-barrel legislation

Def: Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning their votes in return.

Sig: The benefits to legislators' home districts, or powerful corporate contributors, often include wasteful or unnecessary public works or other projects.

Pigeonhole

Def: Action taken by a legislative committee that places a bill to the side without a vote of approval or denial.

Sig: This refusal to act is used as a way to kill a bill.

delegate model

Def:

The view that an elected representative should represent the opinions of his or her constituents.

Sig:

The main thing that drives congressmen is the goal of being reelected.

trustee model

A model of representation in which a member of the House or Senate follows his or her own conscience when deciding issue positions.

Trustee model: The main thing that drives these representatives is their own moral outlook.

partisan model

a model of representation in which a member votes along party lines; they vote how their political party votes

discharge petition

can force a bill out of a committee that is trying to keep it from reaching the debate floor

**requires simple majority of House- 218 members

census

official population count

used to determine how many representatives each state gets

caucus

A group of like-minded people within Congress

germane amendments

amendments that can be added to bills that are RELEVANT to the bill's topic

HOR can only add these amendments to bills

riders (non-germane amendments)

amendments to bills that are NOT RELEVANT to the bill's topic

This can only be done in the Senate; this can include adding spending amendments (including pork barrel)

Committee Hearings

1st step of the bill making process in committees

hearings, research, discussion on a bill takes place at this stage

Mark-up process

2nd step in the bill making process in a committee

This is where they are editing and amending the bill before it goes before a vote in the committee

Speaker of the House

1. Most powerful leader in Congress

2. Controls who speaks on the HOR floor

3. Helps to designate which committees will receive which bills

4. Has the most influence in Congress in the law-making process

Majority Leaders

1. leader of the majority party within a chamber of Congress

2. Leads debate among their party; guides partisan discussion of majority party

Minority Leader

1. leader of the minority party within a chamber of Congress

2. Leads debate among their party; guides partisan discussion of minority party

Majority/Minority whips

1. responsible for keeping a tally of votes among his/her party members

2. In charge of party's discipline

3. Determines best time to vote

Power of the Purse

Congress's power over all money

Ex: Presidential budget has to be approved by Congress; Congress has to approve tax increases

Necessary and Proper Clause

a Constitutional clause that states that Congress has the power to create laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out their enumerated powers (those already specified in the Constitution)

Mandatory Spending

expenditures required by law for certain programs

ex: Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment

Discretionary spending

expenditures that are not mandatory by law and is what is left after mandatory spending

ex: military spending

gridlock

when the opposing forces of the political parties within Congress cannot agree on anything and nothing can move forward; or if Congress wants to pass something but the President wants to continue vetoing it