Studied by 1 personexam two b
what did the founding believe
believe that most of the power exercised by american fed gov should be exercised by the legislative branch
What is bicameralism?
division of congress into two co-equal houses
what did bicameralism reflect
the social class bias of the founding fathers
what is the house of representatives
represents common citizen (435 members representing states proportionally, direct election every 2 years)
What is the Senate?
protects the interests of the states and the less numerous elite (merchants, landowners) (originally selected by state legislatures)
what are the enumerated/expressed powers in constitution (powers of congress)
impose taxes and tariffs, regulate interstate commerce, naturalize citizens, regulate bankruptcies, coin/print money, establish standards of weights and measures, establish post offices, regulate copyrights and patents, establish lower federal courts, declare war, raise and support armed forces, govern DC, advice and consent powers (senate only)
what is an example of advising and consenting to powers in the senate
ratifying treaties, confirming presidential nominations for ambassador, federal judge, and agency/department head
what do constitutional amendments do
certify presidential and VP elections, select president, VP if electoral college fails (12th amendments)...levy personal income tax (16th), help decide presidential succession (25th), power to enforce selected amendments "by appropriate legislation"
What is the necessary and proper clause?
make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the expressed powers set forth in the constitution
list the demographics that make up the 118th congress for occupations
51% business owners, 32.7 % lawyers
demographics of age in congress
average age 58 y/o
demographics of gender in congress
71.5 male, 28.5 women
what demographic has increase in congress
increase among women and minorities in the last 50 years
what are the terms of office for house and senate
house 2 years, senate 6 years
what do the house and senate represent
house is congressional districts, senate is the entire state
what is the debate on bills for house
rules committee proposes time limits and limits on amendments which are adopted or modified by the entire house
what is the debate on bills for senate
filibustering and cloture
what is filibustering
unlimited debate used by opponents of a bill to stall senate proceedings and block passage of a bill. it is a tactile to force a compromise
What is cloture?
petition to end filibuster
what are the steps for house apportionment
census allocates the fixed number of house seats (435) among the states 2. state legislatures determine size & boundaries of house districts
What is Wesberry v Sanders? (1964)
house districts should have nearly equal populations
after 2020, what was the reapportionment sizes
almost every house district has more than 760,000 residents
What is gerrymandering?
drawing district boundary lines in order to gain a partisan or racial advantage
what usually occurs in gerrymandering
the dominant party in a state legislature manipulates the shape of house districts to maximize in advantage in registered voters and to eliminate / weaken the minority party
what is cracking
spreading voters of a particular type among many districts to keep them from forming sufficiently large VOTING BLOC in any particular district
what is packing
concentrating many voters of one type into a single district to deny their influence in other districts
what are two ways of gerrymandering
packing and cracking
what is the davis v bandemer case (1986)
federal courts may gerrymandering
what is the rucho v common cause (2019)
federal courts may not review partisan gerrymandering because of a lack of standards for resolving the gerrymandering claims
What is Shaw v. Reno (1993)?
congressional districts which benefit racial minorities may be unconstitutional unless there is a compelling state reason for drawing the districts
what is franking
privilege of a member of congress to send official mail by substituting a printed copy of his/her signature for a postage stamp
what is office allowance
office in Washington and in home state of district
list the staff support for congress
personal staff, standing committee staff, congressional research groups
what does the personal staff for congress do
help develop legislative proposals, write speeches, advise a member of congress about the position to take on legislation or issues, and constituent work
list benefits for of working for congress
franking, office allowance, staff support, immune from arrest while congress is in session and while traveling to and from the session, retirement plan
what congress are we in
118
Who is the Speaker of the House?
kevin mccarthy republican (has been kicked out temp)
what dose the speaker of the house do
head of the majority party, second in presidential succession (if p and vp die), presides over sessions of the entire house, appoints house members of join and conference committees, major role in appointing standing committees, refers bills to standing committees for study, liason btwn president and house
who is the majority leader house of representatives
steve scalice
what are the duties of majority leader (steve scalice) of the house
schedules legislation for action by the entire house, conducts debate before the entire house, helps control the legislative program and strategy of the majority party, official house spokesperson for the majority party
who is the minority leader of the house
hakeem jefferies
what does the minority leader do of the house
consults with majority party leadership on scheduling debate or votes by the entire house, maintains unity among minority party members, helps control the legislative program and strategy of minority party, official house spokesperson for minority party
define whips
younger members of the leadership who help the majority/minority leadership manage their party
list two duties that whips do
pass info to house members from the leadership and helps organize floor debate & count votes before action on important issues (party discipline)
Who works in the Senate?
VP of the us presides over senate and vote only in case of tie and president protempore
Who is the President Pro Tempore?
Patty Murray
Who is Patty Murray?
first woman to serve as president protem
what are the three duties of president pro tempore (patty murray)
presides over the senate when vp is absent, 3rd in line for presidential succession, and the majority party member with the longest continuous service in the senate
who is the majority leader in senate
Charles Schumer
what are the duties of majority leader in senate
schedules debate before the entire senate, chief spokesperson for the majority party in senate, major role in making standing and conference committee assignments, directs the legislative program & strategy of the majority party in senate, and liasion btwn the president and the majority party in the senate
who is the minority leader in the senate
Mitch McConnell
what does the minority leader do in the senate (mitch mcconnell)c
chief spokesperson for the minority party in senate, major role in making standing and conference committee assignments, directs the legislative program and strategy of the minority p in senate, and liason betwn the president and the minority p in the senate
what are the five basic functions of a member of congress
lawmaking, constituent work, oversight of federal agencies, re-election, and public education through agenda-setting
What is agenda setting?
determining public policy issues to be considered by congress
What is lawmaking?
process of deciding legal rules that are binding on all citizens
what is the key to lawmaking
build a majority coalition to pass legislation through congress
list the elements of congressional decision making (how does a member of congress decide to support a bill)
advice from other members of congress with expertise on the subject a bill covers, influence/pressure from constituents, political party membership, the need of his/her district or state, influence of interest groups
list the two features of constituent work
casework and proving constituents with info about federal programs and services
define casework
member of congress deals with a federal agency on behalf of a private citizen
what does oversight of federal agencies entail
make sure the laws or regulations congress enacts are enforced as intended
list the methods of oversighting of federal agencies
hearings/investigations, constituent complaints through casework, and control of agency budgets
What are incumbents?
incumbents are very powerful, more than 75% of house and senate incumbents have been re-elected
list the four factors for re-election in congress
advertising, credit claiming, house district is redrawn to benefit an incumbent, and member of congress develops a home style
what is credit claiming
making the voters believe that a member of congress is personally responsible for causing government to act on voters behalf
What is home style?
a distinct organization and personal image that helps insure reelection
what are three factors of committees and caucuses
do most of the actual work in congress, members of congress become an expert in 1-2 years, and standing committees
What are standing committees?
permanent committees with specific areas of legislative policy
what is jurisdiction
bills dealing with that area are studied by that committee
how many standing committes does a member have to serve
each member must serve on 2-3 standing committees
how do they determine which party controls the senate/house
Demo/Repub make-up of a standing committee reflects which Party controls the Senate or House of Representatives (majority party has chairpersons and a majority on each committee)
how does Congress decide which Democrats/Republicans serve on which standing committees
members are appointed to committee by party leaders, must have personal expertise, constituent needs, political needs of the member of congress, and seniority
what is a standing chair committee
person who operates standing committee, majority party member with longest continuous service on the committee (seniority) is given preference, becomes a high profile member of congress
what are two duties that a standing committee chair does
controls the scheduling of hearings, formal committee action, and assigns bills to subcommittees for study and discussion
what does a standing committee have
has several subcommittees to deal with specific topics within its broad major legislative area
how to subcommittees help standing committees
greater opportunity to deal with specific topics within a broad area and chance for newer members of congress to get a subcom. chair and enhance their image at home and with news media (improve re-election chances)
What is a conference committee? (COMPROMISE)
members of the House & Senate, work to achieve agreement (exact wording) on legislation that deals with the same topic, but passed the House & Senate in different versions; committee agrees on language in the compromise bill and returns the bill to both houses for passage
what is a caucus
an association of members of Congress who advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic or economic interest
what is the freedom caucus
house of conservatives, democratic study group (congressional liberals)
what is a problem concerning caucuses
growing political independence of various caucuses is a growing problem for party leader
what is the first step for a bill to law
a senator or house member introduces a bill
what is the second step for a bill to become law
a bill is assigned to appropriate standing committee(s)
for the second step of turning a bill into a law, what do the standing committees do
standing committee chair assigns the bill to a subcommittee
in the second step of bill what do the subcommittees do (3 things)
hold open hearings, marks up the bill (determines appropriate language for the bill), and reports to the entire standing committee
for the second step of the bill what can full standing committees do
can hold more hearings and further amend the bill, can kill the bill (refuses to report it out of committee) or reports it out with a recommendation (do pass/no recommendation)
what happens if a house standing committee refuses to report out a bill
a majority of house members (218) may sign a discharge petition to remove the bill
what is the third step in making a bill into a law
bill is placed on a "calendar" and scheduled for debate
what is the senate in charge of during the third step of making a bill into law
majority and minority floor leaders work to schedule debate
what is the house in charge of during the third step of making a bill into law
bill must pass the rules committee, which assigns it a "rule" (length of floor debate, amendments), before the majority leadership work to schedule debate
what is the fourth step in making a bill into a law
during debate on the bill, advantages/disadvantages of the bill are discussed and amendments are considered
what is the fifth step in making a bill into law
bill is adopted or rejected, voting is by voice, division, or roll call
what is roll call
asking for yays and nays electronically in the house
what is the sixth step in making a bill into law
if a bill passes, it goes to the other house of congress
what are the three steps in the sixth step in making a bill into law
follows same route through subcommittees, standing committees, and floor debate...if a bill passes without changes, it goes directly to the President...if a bill passes which is similar to a bill already passed by the other house, both bills are referred to a conference committee (committee decides on a compromise version, both House and Senate must pass the compromise)
what is the seventh step in making a bill into a law
president signs bill or vetoes it
what are the four option in the seventh step in making a bill into a law
signs or vetoes bill, president waits more than 10 days to decide it automatically becomes law w/o his signature, if congress is NOT in session and it has been 10 days and president hasn't decided it will be a pocket veto, congress may override a regular veto by 2/3 majority vote of both houses
what is a signing statement
statement, attached to a bill which the president signs into law, that offers the president's interpretation (limit or reject portions of the bill) or the bill
what is the budget process
based on the fiscal year , oct 1 to sept 31
what is the first step of the budget process
9 months to 1 year before the start of the fiscal year (Oct 1)--
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviews requests from various departments and agencies and recommends a budget to the President ("fall review")
what is the second step of the budget process
January before the fiscal year--President submits budget to
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