AP Government Unit 2

Structure of Congress: Article 1:

• Bicameral Legislature: 

  • Two-House Legislature to represent the states in the federal government 

  • 17th amendment; 1913 people of each state directly elected, their senators (equal more democratic system)

• Size and Terms:

  • House: the most representative of the people, 435 members, two terms

  • Senate: the more experience group, 100 members, six-year terms

• Caucuses:

  • factions within the parties and demographics of Congress

Power of Congress:

• Powers: power of the purse, regulating commerce, foreign in military affairs, implied powers

• Differing Powers for House and Senate: 

  • House: proposes revenue, bills, impeaches a president, selected president would know electoral majority is reached, debate limits

  • Senate: advice and consent, suggesting or rejecting presidential appointments, allow foreign treaties, convict, a president, can filibuster

Policy Structures and Processes:

• House Leaders:

  • Speaker of the House: majority in the House, organizes meetings, committee, debate speakers 

  • Majority/Minority Leaders: First Members recognized in debate, spokespeople for their party 

  • Whip: Deputy leaders who manage party lines

• Senate Leaders: 

  • President of the Senate: vice president, breaks tie vote

  • President Pro Tempore: stepson if the vice president is unavailable

  • Senate Majority Leader: chief legislator; wield more power in the Senate than the vice president, set the calendar, determines which bills are debated on the floor

Committees:

• Standing Committees: permanent committee focus on particular policy area; Chairperson(senior member of majority party) and Ranking Member(senior member from Minority party)

• Joint committee; United members from house and Senate for reaching management and research

• Selective committees: temporary committees to perform a particular study or investigation

• Conference committee: temporary committees to iron out differences in a bill passed by both houses

Rules for Each Chamber: 

• House:

  • follow Roberts rules of order on how to conduct meetings; members can only speak for one hour; legislators can only offer Jermaine amendments; only the presiding officer speaker of the house, can be addressed, formal languages used

  • rules committee is involved which determines which issues or bills that the house will vote on and how  

  • committee of the whole is an informal discussion on a bill before the formal vote

• Senate: anyone who stands to speak, must be recognized, speech must be directed at the presiding officer with no time limit, can propose non-domain amendments, have more tools and abilities to stall or speed up a bell during a debate, filibuster

• Cloture Rule: a ⅗ majority vote can stop debate on bill 

Legislative Process: 

• introducing a bill: a sponsor authors a bill, and it is numbered; process takes about two years plus bills or more often than not rejected in committee

• Riders: the addition of non-Germane amendments to benefit a members agenda

• Omnibus Bill: a bill where multiple writers have been added, making the bill look completely different than its origin

• Pork barrel spending: a last-minute writer added on by an influential legislator, where federal funds only benefit their district

Assigning and Voting on Bills:

• Assigning to committee: senate majority, leader in house, rules, committee assigned bills to appropriate committees

• Three stages: hearings, markup, report out

• Pigeonhole: a committee chair can decide not to move a build forward for debate

• Voting on Bills: legislators get opinions of their constituents, Town Hall meetings, opinion polls, mail

• A simple majority passes the bill, log rolling, which is trading rules to gain support on a bill can happen

Generating a Budget:

• Office of Management and Budget(OMB): 

  • The president‘s budgeting arm; headed by a Director

  • Congress can reconcile the budget every year which means make changes to revenue or spending

  • Congress gets spending priorities in appropriate money to agencies based on preference availability 

• Source of Revenue: individual income, tax, corporate tax, social insurance, taxes, tariffs and exile, taxes, other sources

Spending: 

• Mandatory spending: payment required by law for certain programs that have eligibility requirements for people in temporary need, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

• discretionary spending: pays for everything else not required under mandatory spending, includes defense, human resources, physical resources interest on debt

Influences on Congress: 

• Partisan: a lot of political cooperation between opposing parties

• delegate voting model: reflecting the will of their constituents

• Trustee voting model. They are entrusted to use their best judgment

• politico voting model: blending of a delegate and trustee process

• Redistricting: redrawing congressional districts based on shifts and population, state legislator, draw congressional districts, usually in attempts to benefit their majority party

Gerrymandering:

• Swing districts, districts, where a party does not always have the expectation to win

• gerrymandering districts, create safe seats for a party, which means less competition and fewer moderate opinions

• Racial Gerrymandering: the intentional drawing of legislator district based on race

Divided Government:

• Divided Government: when the president is from one party in the house and our senate is dominated by the other, it feels partisan gridlock, especially with the judicial nominations

• lame duck president: a president who has not won reelection, or is ending their second term

Presidential powers, functions, and policy agenda(Article II)

• Formal Powers: powers outline in article 2, may recommend laws, appoint, ambassadors, and judges, may convene or adjourn Congress, approves or veto bills

• Informal Powers: powers interpreted to be inherent in the office to achieve policy goals, bargain with and persuade lawmakers, threaten veto before a bill is final

Presidential Roles:

• Head of party: as the most recognized Democrat or Republican in the country, the president is the de facto face of the party

• Chief of state: present as the public face of the country and the chief ambassador

• Commander-in-chief: president has control over the military, president may have quickly before Congress officially approves a declaration of war

• Chief Diplomat: make contracts with other countries equals executive agreements: a president can facilitate trade, provide mutual defense, agree on global environment and peace standards

Chief Executive and Administrator:

• Executive orders: directive that allows the president to carry out executive authority without congressional approval, limits: executive orders can be challenged in court, cannot address, congressional powers, and can by president

• Signing statements: presidents, offering their interpretation or commentary of a congressional bill before they sign the actual bill

• Executive Privilege: the president’s right to withhold information from another branch

The President’s Team:

• Vice President: ask on behalf of President, serves as president and the Senate, replaces the president that can no longer serve, responsibilities or delegated by the president

• Secretaries: the head officers of the 15 cabinet departments

• State Department: promote US foreign policy around the globe, overseas embassies, and ambassadors

• Defense Department: aligns all military branches under one command, headed by joint chief of staff at the Pentagon appointed by president

• Federal Agencies: sub cabinet entities like the FDA the IRS and FBI

• Immediate Staff: personal advisors and employees of the president who do not need senate approval

• Chief of Staff: head of staff, managed daily operations of the White House

Interactions with Other Branches: Inherent Powers: those not supposedly listed, but are within the role of the executive

Legislative: 

• The Senate and Presidential Appointees: the Senate approves all cabinet, military, civilian officials and judicial appointments

• Senate Standoffs: senate will contest controversial appointments

• Ambassador Appointments: president will often appoint people who have donated heavily to their campaigns

• Removal: executive branch officials can be removed by the president. There have been concerns about lack of a check by another bridge.

Judicial: 

• President Enforcing Judicial Orders: Best example - school desegregation with the Little Rock Nine

• Judicial Appointments: the appointments of federal judges Senate standoffs are more likely here when approving due to show appointments

Expansion of Presidential Power: 

• A limited-office; unities the people and moderate congress 

• War Powers Act: limited the President’s military powers; Congress can vote approve or disapprove president’s military action within 60 days

Notable Presidents:

• George Washington: mr. present; chose to serve no more than two terms; respect, Congress as lawmakers

• Andrew Jackson: dominant in headstrong. Most veto to the point conflicts with the other branches, but people loved her.

• Abraham Lincoln: expanded the presidents power like spending hobos corpus to preserve the union and end slavery

• Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson: expanded foreign influence; up to industrial; spoke strongly publicly to the people

• Franklin Roosevelt uses popularity to unite and assist the country in a time of despair worked with Congress to have an increased federal role and welfare of the people

Communicator in Chief: 

• Bully Pulpit: the presidency has a prominent stage where they can speak with the public

• State of the union: reporting on economic, military, and social state of the union. Since Woodrow Wilson, it has become an annual address to the nation.

• Television: since JFK, press conferences are live in covered on 24 hour news channels

• Photography: Obama‘s office of digital strategy, employed photographer, and videographer to create a social media image

• Twitter and chief: Trump has been criticized for using Twitter excessively and as media center

Constitutional Authority of the Federal Courts(Article III)

• Three Level Court System: US District Court, lowest, US Circuit Court of Appeals middle, US Supreme Court highest

• Original jurisdiction: the authority to hear cases for the first time

• Appellate Jurisdiction: hearing cases from the lower courts

• Treason: loving war, or giving aid to an enemy, an accused person can only be convicted of treason with two witness testimonies

• Right to Jury Trial: a jury trial is a citizen's natural check on government accusations

• Judicial review: the power of the judicial branch to examine the constitutional of legislative acts

A Three Level System:

• US District Court: 94 courts

  • Trial Courts: plaintiff or prosecution V defendant, federal, criminal and civil cases, 94 US district attorneys represent the federal government; led by Justice department attorney general

  • US Circuit of Appeals: 13 regional courts: the opposing party can appeal based on certiorari “to make certain”, petitioner, V respondent, public hearing heard by three justices, 200 federal justices

  • The Supreme Court: 1 Court(article 3), peels from state and circuit courts, can hear original jurisdiction in unique cases, here 80 to 100 cases per year, a Supreme Court ruling becomes law

Legitimacy of Judicial Branch: 

• Precedent: firmly establish legal position

• Stare decisis: let the decision stand 

• binding president: district courts ruling the same as similarly decided cases from an upper court

• persuasive president, considering decisions by distant district courts as guiding basis for a decision

An evolving court: 

• Strict Constructionism: interprets the constitution on its original context

• Liberal Constructionism: interprets the constitution as a living document that adapts to changing times

• Warren Court: very liberal; he was unpopular with traditionalist, but is revered for strong leadership and upholding civil rights

• Burger Court: liberal; lacked the leadership to make Scotus function efficiently

• Rehnquist Court: strict; re-organize procedures in caseload; and ideological shifts took place in the 1990s

Implementation and Hearing Courts: 

• The 11th amendment in 16th amendment were legislated after unfavorable decisions

• How Cases Reach Supreme Court: 

  • Petition of Certiorari: a brief arguing why/how a lower court. Four out of nine justices equals the case will be heard, Amicus Curiae brief: friend of court; submitted by an outside party to sway the quartz decision.

  • majority opinion: the written summary of a case, the court's decision and rationale; 

  • concurring opinion: a written statement of agreement, but with a discrepancy 

  • dissenting opinion: justice explaining why they disagree with the majority opinion

Checks on Judicial Branch: 

• Judicial Activism: a judicial philosophy, where judges are more willing to interpret the constitution broadly and make bold decisions

• Judicial Restraint: a judicial philosophy, where judges limit their interpretation of the constitution and defer to other branches of government

• Appointments: By President, Confirmations: By senate, Senatorial Courtesy: Appointing a lower judge based on that state’s senators opinion

• Getting borked: to prevent confirmation by attacking an nominees past beliefs,

• Nuclear Option: Duwayne confirmation through a filibuster

Structure of the Bureaucracy:

• Cabinet Secretaries: Experienced heads of the 15 departments, includes Upper-level management, deputy secretaries and bureau chiefs, over 2,000 positions

• Agencies: Sub-units in each department

• Commissions: An independent body of 5-7 members, serve terms a president cannot replace them

Roles of Bureaucracy:

• Writing and Enforcing Regulations: Congress creates the department and agencies and thus gives them the authority to carry out goals and administer regulations 

• Enforcement and Fines: Fines and other punishments can be enforced to companies that are not in compliance with regulations — compliance Monitoring 

• Testifying Before Congress: Cabinet secretaries and agency directors act as experts who offer their knowledge to Congress  

• Iron Triangle and Issue Networks: The Bureaucracy is critical in advancing the goals of special interest groups and PACS and Congressional Committees fund these goals.  

From Patronage to Merit:

• Patronage: Rewarding party loyalist with jobs, Spoils System: Appointing government jobs through patronage and expecting loyalty in return 

• Pendleton Civil Service Act: An attempt to make federal appointments Merit-based not patronage-base

• Civil Service Act: A bi-partisan group who ensure a candidate qualify for a job, and aren’t required to make campaign contributions

• Civil Service Reform Act: Created fair standards for dismissal, merit, diversity and presidential control 

• Office of Personnel Management: Replaced the civil service commission, stronger merit-based requirements 

• National Performance Review: 1993 overhauls under Clinton to male bureaucracy more functional 

Delegated Discretionary Authority: the power to interpret legislation and create rules

• Administrative Procedures Act: Guidelines for agencies to make rules/procedures that are transparent and fair

• Congressional Regulation: Members of congress are elected; they must oversee the authority of agencies to prevent abuse

• Independent Regulatory Agencies: Regulatory agencies have board members that keep a term despite a change in the presidency 

• Implementing the law: Discretionary Authority allowed agency experts to determine laws and best actions 

  • Code of Federal Regulations: All laws and regulations made by agencies are recorded in the Federal Register 

Accountability for the Bureaucracy:

• Congressional Oversight: Congressional committees check and balance the authority of agencies 

• Power of the Purse: Appropriates committees authorize how much money goes to each agency every year

• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: the President can review bureaucratic regulations to see if they comply with the President’s agenda 

• Policy Challenges: Acting on the president’s interests, agencies enforce compliance monitoring: ensuring that industries within their realm are complying with regulations 

Competing Interests:

• Committee Clearance: Congress reserves the authority to review and approve agency actions

• Legislative Veto: Congressional attempt to control agencies; in the 1980s it was declared unlawful as it violated checks and balances

• Whistleblower Protection Act: Prohibits a federal agency from retaliating against a whistleblower

• Judicial Review: Allows the courts to have a check on agency lawlessness

  • The U.S Circuit Court of Appeals takes most civil cases dealing with agencies

  • Interpretation is difficult because of agencies Discretionary Authority bestowed by Congress