government exam

bipartisanship

Reflecting policies, actions, bills, or votes supported by members of both major political parties.

partisanship

This is a strong support for one specific party. This causes lots of issues currently because of the extreme divide in our party systems today. This has affected congress' ability to operate smoothly as well.

filibuster

senate rule that allows members to deliver speeches of unlimited length on the senate floor with the intent of delaying votes on a bill or killing it all together.

appropriations

Money granted by Congress or to a state legislature for a specific purpose

constituents/constituency

The residents of a congressional district or state.

proxy voting

A process that enables shareholders who are unable to attend a meeting to authorize another individual to vote on their behalf. This was being debated in the video of the debate on the house floor and a person who has a child and had to go on maternity leave was brought to the stand as an emotional appeal tactic.

Mike Johnson

Current Speaker of the House who was endorsed by trump. He is young, unknown, and inexperienced. He is given lots of trouble by the freedom caucuses. The speaker of the house usually doesn't vote on matters because they are supposed to be unbiased, but because the party is so narrow, Johnson steps in and votes consistently. The republican party is constantly siding with the democrat to defeat rules that Johnson has attempted to implicate. Johnson constantly promises more than he can achieve and causes frustration. The speaker of the house used to dominate the rules committee and he has lost that weapon completely. He has resorted to "suspension" to try and get his bills passed.

committee report

plain language description of what's in the bill and why its being proposed

executive action

President uses individual powers to produce informal amendments

regular order

In Congress, channeling proposed legislation through committee and subcommittee hearings, with solicited testimony and votes on revised language. steps: 1. bill is introduced and sent to relevant committees or subcommittees. 2. committee holds hearings and markups (writing amendments) 3. Bills move to full floor of house/senate so both parties can debate and offer amendments 4. House and senate pass different versions and conference committees resolve these differences. 5. presidential action: final identical bill sent to president to be signed into law or vetoed.

congressional committees

a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty-- they have very specific topics that they are expertly educated on. Every congressional committee is now required to have a subcommittee

entitlements

A claim for government funds that cannot be abridged without violating the rights of the claimant; for example, social security benefits or payments on a contract.

caucuses

A closed meeting of a political or legislative group to choose candidates for office or to decide issues of policy

The senate

The senate is much less rule bound than the house because its smaller and more personal. People have longer terms, broader constituencies, more visibility to the press, and the minority has more resources than in the house.

congress

the legislature of the United States government that is composed of the house and the senate

chair's mark

A bill introduced by the chair that contains his perspective on what should be included in the legislation.

"plain language"

judges should simply issue decisions based on the statute, which is also just the justices own interpretation of the law

majority leader

the legislative leader elected by party members holding the majority of seats in the House or Senate

majority whip

a go-between with the majority leadership and party members in the house of representatives. Their job is to get people within the party to vote for their parties particular position/stance on an issue.

suspension of the rules

One way of moving a piece of legislation to the top of the agenda in the House: debate on the bill is limited to forty minutes, amendments are not allowed, and the bill must pass by a two-thirds vote.

stacked votes

Linking distant areas of like-minded voters -- at the end of the day the members of the house vote in succession on all 6 of the bills that were debated that day (they went to be counted as voting)

rules committee

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. Major legislation comes out of this committee. This has a more formal procedure and guidelines and it needs to have a way to be amended. These bills also need enough time to be considered. Ex: Trump's One Big Beautiful bill came from this committee. It's always a 2/3 majority needed. This is made up of lots of party loyalists and is considered the speakers strong arm

closed rule

An order from the House Rules Committee that forbids a bill from being amended (there is no deliberation except for a final vote) - this had become more common

open rule

an order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the floor. This used to be most common but is now almost never seen in congress anymore. Amendments are now chosen by the leadership within the rules committee

amendments

Official changes, corrections, or additions to the Constitution

provisions

This can provide a substitute bill

motion to recommit

A formal motion in the House to send a bill back to the committee. With instructions means that the committee must reconsider the bill under a new set of guidelines- or a substitute bill. Without instructions means the committee can reconsider the bill under any circumstances. This ends up essentially being a motion to kill the bill.

the one big beautiful bill

this was passed using the budget reconciliation process which expedited the legislative procedure under the Congressional Budget Act. Budget resolutions specifically are an exception to the cloture rule because they cannot be filibustered, therefore this process was quicker. All clauses of this bill involved money. There was a reduced minority meaning the Democratic Party had no input at all. This bill included many tax cuts and increased defensive spending. This eliminated many important programs such as major cuts to the SNAP benefits program. This was the most monumental bill passed by Congress.

House floor action

Debates take place on the floor of the House and the bill is amended and voted on.

budget deficit

a shortfall of tax revenue from government spending (we are 2 trillion dollars in debt)

congressional function "oversight"

This is the oversight of the way that the administration carries out legislation. The presidential party has no incentive to monitor how the majority are carrying out the law. This oversight is seen as a "gotcha" moment, because of the political divide. This used to have punishments such as holding funds and changing the law, but this no longer occurs.

"five minute rule"

in the house: the rule under which the Committee of the Whole considers an amendment. it allows a sponsor five minutes to explain and defend an amendment and gives an equal five minutes to a member who is recognized to speak against it.

cloture rule

This rule is used to prevents filibustering and requires 60 votes to bring legislation to the floor, close debates, and bring a bill to a final vote. This makes the majority and minority parties work together to vote to close the debate and not allow filibustering to continue

"super majority requirement"

Higher voting threshold for constitutional amendments. This is so that it takes a lot of majority party people to vote against their party (for the minority) for the minority to win

hold

filibustering would happen frequently so a hold would be placed on legislation saying that they will filibuster if the hold doesn't go into place. This serves as a bargaining tool

president pro tempore

oldest member of the senate

voice vote

A congressional voting procedure in which members shout "yea" in approval or "nay" in disapproval, permitting members to vote quickly or anonymously on bills - the total voice vote means without opposition

unanimous consent agreement

an agreement in the Senate that sets the terms for consideration of a bill. This is where both majority and minority staff will talk to all 100 members and explain the bill and ask for agreement to bring it to the floor. ***this is the first step of the process (bringing it to the floor for debate)

track system

Senate has a system that allows several bills to be on the floor at a particular time. This is an efficiency tool

germane

Very strict house rule that does not apply to senate as strictly. It is easy to get around proposing a non germane amendment.

"ping ponging"

this is the act of sending amendments back and forth between the relevant House and Senate committees to reconcile differences between bills or major measures without convening a conference committee at all

Senator Susan Collins

Senator Susan Collins has often voted against her own party, specifically Trump and is considered one of the few remaining independent minded republicans in the senate. In the article we read trump intended to cancel 9 billion in foreign aid and public broad casting money that congress had already approved. Instead of enacting her amendment the she made, she decided to simply vote "no" which did not impact the bill due to the fact that there were enough republican votes for it to pass. This was just a symbolic no. There is speculation that she only defies the president when it doesn't matter. She seems to be hypocritical when it comes to her opinions on trumps nominees.

shadow regulators

This can be defined as informal agency guidance. there is a formal process in which agencies must publish regulations to the Federal register, but it is being disguised as "guidance" which does not take these same steps. he Senate Guidance Out of Darkness Act would take away this un regulated regulation/guidance being given.

committee action

This is the process in which a bill goes through. Bill may be assigned to subcommittees, hearings are held, subcommittees report to full committees, there is a vote in the full committee, and the committee hold the "markup" session, if this bill is reported and approved then a written statement is made in a report. In the house most bills go to the rules committee before reaching the floor.

floor action

legislation is placed on the calendar.

conference committee

This is a special joint committee made up of representatives from house and senate who would meet to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate. In recent years they aren't used to resolve differences on major bills but instead party leaders and committee chairs work out the differences in secret sessions without any involvement of most committee members.

fuel efficiency rules

The first bipartisan deal to vote on the overhaul of federal permitting rules since the 1970s. The parties worked together to come to a conclusion of speeding develoment of fossil fields and renewable energy projects. This was a a very long bill.

• republicans wanting it to be more difficult to sue for oiling drilling and democrats wanted it to be easier to build large power lines. This has caused divisiveness among environmental groups. This bill serves as a compromise between parties in granting a better future. results aren't expected until after the mid term election.

pocket recession

A pocket rescission is an executive maneuver where a U.S. president proposes canceling congressionally approved funding very close to the end of the fiscal year (or the money's expiration date) and freezes it until the funds lapse before Congress can review or vote on the request.

fuel efficiency pt.2

The Trump admin moves to scale back fuel efficiency rules for new cars and completely disregard the previous admins attempt to reduce gasoline consumption. This rule is expected to increase the use of gas powered cars. E.v sales are growing in other parts of the world and we are left at a disadvantage to these foreign rivals. Trumps new act essentially encourages pollution.

appropriations committee

congressional committee that deals with federal spending

divide within the Republican Party

Many republicans after dividing from the president because of the effects of the war in Iran. They have encouraged our president to end it and reverse the negative effect on gas prices. Trumps approval rating it at an all time low of 27 percent. The republican party itself is usually very structured and partisan. This is a new experience of them disliking their republican representative.

mid term election

This is an election that takes place in the middle of a presidential term. This year, there is a high chance that the Republican Party could lose both the house and the senate. In this chaos the Senate is passing final legislation to attempt to appeal to the people. An example of the peoples dislike for the GOP members of the senate are their constant support for data centers

"committee of the whole"

In the house floor process, once there is an adoption of the bill, the bill is considered a "committee of the whole" meaning it facilitated consideration of the reduced quorum of 100 members.

Standing congressional committees

legislation has traditionally originated under the regular order

Ways and Means Committee

House committee that handles tax related bill. This is one of the most powerful and oldest committees. The ways and means have power of tariffs, taxes, and law changes all relating to money.