AP GOV 2.1 - 2.7

2.1 Congress: The Senate and the House of Representatives 

  • Bicameral legislature 

  • Senate 

    • Each state is represented equally 

    • Must be at least 30 years old 

    • Hold 6 years terms 

    • More protected from political pressure 

    • Less connected to the people they represent 

    • Unlimited debate 

  • House of Representatives 

    • Each state is represented by population 

    • Capped at 435 based on census 

    • Must be at least 25 years old 

    • Hold 2 year terms 

    • Closer to the issues that people in their districts care about 

    • Less likely to form bipartisan coalitions. 

    • Structured debate 

  • How Laws are Made 

    • Both houses of Congress have to agree by vote on identical versions of the bill. 

    • If they do, it then gets passed to the president for signing 

  • Enumerated powers of Congress 

    • Power to pass a federal budget (power of the purse) 

    • Power to raise revenue 

    • Power to coin money (uniform currency) 

    • Power to declare war 

    • Power to raise and maintain armed forces 

  • Implied powers 

    • Gets from Necessary and Proper clause 

 

2.2 Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress 

  • House Leadership 

    • Speaker of the House 

      • Always be a member of the majority party 

      • Makes committee assignments 

    • Majority and Minority Leaders 

      • Guide their party members in policy making issues 

    • Majority and Minority Whips 

      • Responsible for discipline 

  • Senate Leadership 

    • President of the Senate (VP of the U.S.) 

      • Votes to break a tie 

    • President Pro Tempore 

      • Member of the majority party 

    • Majority and Minority Leaders 

      • Majority sets legislative agenda 

      • Controls calendar assignments of bills 

  • Committees 

    • Smaller groups of legislatures who debate and draft precise legislation. 

    • Standing Committee 

      • Remains from session to session 

      • Deals with issues that are always presents 

      • Appropriations Committee (Senate) 

      • Ways and Means Committee (House) 

    • Joint Committee 

      • Involves members from both the House and the Senate 

      • Joint Committee on the Library 

      • Joint Committee on Printing 

    • Select Committee 

      • Temporary committee that is formed for a specific purpose 

    • Conference Committee 

      • Formed if both houses can't agree on an identical version of a bill 

    • House Rules Committee 

      • Gatekeeper for all legislation 

      • Decides when votes take place and assigns bills to various committees for debate and revision. 

      • Committee of the Whole 

        • Relaxes rules of debate 

      • Discharge Petition 

  • Filibuster 

    • Attempt to stall or kill a bill by talking for a long time 

  • Cloture Rule 

    • Move to end a filibuster by means of a 3/5th vote (current 60 senators) 

  • How a Bill Becomes a Law 

    • A bill can be sponsored by a member from either the House or the Senate 

    • As the bill is considered and debated, it  often changes 

    • Once the bill is assigned to a committee it can be further debated and changed. 

    • Once it comes out of committee, it goes to the floor for a vote. 

    • Federal Budget 

      • Mandatory spending 

      • Discretionary spending 

      • Deficit spending 

 

2.3 Congressional Behavior 

  • Divided government 

    • President's party is different from Congress 

    • Makes making decisions much harder 

  • Models of Representation 

    • Delegate Model 

      • Believes he or she must vote with the will of the people 

      • Believes he or she is there to represent the people's beliefs and desires, not their own 

    • Trustee Model 

      • Believes he or she has been entrusted with the people's faith, and therefore must vote according to his or her conscience 

      • Can vote against the will of the people 

    • Politico Model 

      • Hybrid of the other two 

      • Acts like a delegate when it's clear that his or her constituents feel strongly about an issue 

      • Otherwise will act like a trustee 

  • Redistricting 

    • Baker v. Carr 

    • Rural voters had a lot more representation than urban voters 

    • Argued that the situation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. 

    • Supreme Court agreed 

    • Resulted in one-person-one-vote principle 

    • Gerrymandering 

      • Drawn to benefit one party over another (Partisan) 

      • Shaw v. Reno (racial gerrymandering) 

        • Two districts were drawn to increase power of the black vote. 

        • Court rules that drawing districts solely based on race was a dangerous practice that could on other occasions be used to disenfranchise minority voters. 

        • Deemed unconstitutional 

  • Logrolling - the practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation 

  • Pork barrel spending - spending intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support 

 

2.4 The Roles and Powers of the President 

  • Policy Agenda – Informal contract between the candidate and the people 

  • Formal Powers 

    • Power of the veto 

      • Congress can override with a 2/3rd vote 

      • President has 10 days to sign or veto. 

    • Pocket Veto 

      • An indirect veto of a bill by retaining the bill unsigned until it is too late to be dealt with during the legislative session 

    • Commander-in-chief 

  • Informal Powers 

    • Bargaining and persuasion 

      • Can persuade people to push their representatives. 

    • Executive order 

      • A directive from the president that has the force of a federal law, but is not actually a law. 

      • A way for the president to direct the bureaucracy, or move money around, or whatever to accomplish his or her policy agenda. 

      • Signing statement 

        • An additional statement the president can offer when signing a bill into law that informs the nation how he or she interprets the law and this how he or she intends to execute it, 

    • Executive Agreement 

      • Agreement between the president and other head of state 

      • Not a treaty 

      • Only exists as long as that president is in power 

 

2.5 Checks on the Presidency 

  • Senate 

    • Advice and Consent 

      • Many presidential appointments have to first be approved by the Senate 

  • President appoints White House staff 

  • Also appoints Cabinet 

    • Have to be approved by Senate 

  • Appoints federal courts; Supreme Court justices 

    • Ronald Regan's justice Robert Bork; rejected 

     

2.6 Expansion of Federal Power 

  • Federalist 70 

    • Hamilton argues for a single executive 

    • A single person can act more decisively when required 

    • A single executive will actually be a protection against expansion of executive power 

      • If the president tries to grab at power, everyone knows exactly who to blame 

  • Checks 

    • Impeachment 

    • 22nd Amendment 

      • Limited president to two terms 

 

2.7 Presidential Communication 

  • Bully Pulpit 

    • A conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. 

  • State of the Union Address 

    • Makes policies recommendations while the whole country listens. 

  • Radio  

    • Ex. Fireside chats 

  • Television 

  • Social Media 

    • President could speak DIRECTLY to the people 

    • Didn't have to go through 3rd party media. 

 

LOST VOCAB 

  • War Powers Resolution of 1973 

    • A federal law that limits the president's ability to use military force without the consent of Congress 

  • U.S v. Nixon 

    • The court unanimously ordered President Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to Watergate scandal to a federal district court. 

  • Executive privilege 

    • The right of the U.S. president and other executive branch officials to withhold certain information from the legislative and judicial branches. 

  • Imperial Presidency 

    • A danger to the American constitutional system by allowing presidents to create and abuse presidential prerogatives during national emergencies. 

  • Bully Pulpit 

    • A conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. 

  • Media gatekeeping 

    • The process through which information is filtered for dissemination 

  • Oversight function 

    • Reviewing, monitoring, and assessing an organization or program to determine if it is meeting its intended goals