1
Q
House of Representatives
A
- apportioned by population of state
- only serve 2 year terms
- more populous states have more representatives
- house members represent fewer people, able to know their constituents better
- 435 members
2
Q
Senate
A
- each state gets two
- serve six year terms
- have more constitutional responsibilities than members of the house
3
Q
Coalitions
A
the durability of the working relationships are affected by term length differences
4
Q
enumerated powers
A
- explicitly listed in Article 1 section 8 of the constitution
- federal funding
- foreign policy
- military legislation
- raise revenue through taxation
- coin money for a uniform currency
- pass a federal budget
- declare war
- raise armies
- pass draft laws
5
Q
implied powers
A
congress can pass any law that is required by the enumerated powers
- justification comes at the end of the of Article 1 section 8
- necessary and proper clause (aka elastic clause)
6
Q
House leadership - speaker of the house
A
- speaker of the house: house members choose this leader, speaker will always be a member of the majority party
7
Q
Majority and minority leaders
A
- direct debates
- guide their party members in policy making issues
8
Q
Whips
A
- render party discipline
- make sure party members walk in line with party goals
9
Q
President of the Senate
A
- vice president of the united states
- non-voting member
- votes to break a tie
10
Q
President Pro Tempore
A
- most senior member of the majority party
- has the authority to act as president of the senate if vice president is not present
11
Q
Senate majority leader
A
- sets legislative agenda
- determines which bills reach the floor for debate and which do not
12
Q
Committees
A
- small groups of representatives
- debate and draft precise legislation
- usually serve the goals of the majority party
13
Q
Standing Committees
A
- committees that endure for a long time
- standing committee on the budget
- house judiciary committee
- always needs to be done from session to session
- where legislation begins, most bills never make it past
14
Q
Joint committees
A
- members from both the house and the senate
- joint committee on the library of congress
15
Q
Select Committees
A
- temporary and created for a specific purpose
16
Q
Conference Committees
A
- formed to reconcile differences in legislation
- for a bill to become a law, it must be passed by both houses in identical form
17
Q
House Rules Committee
A
- decides which bills make it to the floor for debate
18
Q
Discharge petition
A
- used to force a bill out of committee for debate and voting
- need majority vote to bring bill out
19
Q
Senate - Filibuster
A
- an attempt to stall or kill a bill by talking for a very long time
20
Q
Cloture
A
- a three-fifths vote which ends a filibuster
21
Q
Unanimous consent
A
- acting senate president asks if they will agree to limit debate
- a way of avoiding possibility of filibuster
- requires unanimous agreement, even one senator can object which is called a hold
22
Q
Riders
A
- non-relevant additions which will usually benefit a representative’s own agenda or something added to help get the bill passed
23
Q
Pork Barrel Spending
A
- funds earmarked for special projects in a representative’s district
24
Q
Logrolling
A
- representatives say if you vote for my bill, I’ll vote for yours
25
Federal budget
- most of federal government's income is gathered from income taxes
- congress has to allocate funds to mandatory spending and discretionary spending
26
Mandatory spending
- payments required by law
- entitlement spending
- medicare
- medicaid
- interest payments on debt
27
Discretionary spending
- all funds remaining after mandatory spending
- paying federal employees
28
Deficit
the gap between the projected budget and the actual funds available
29
Divided government
- the president is of one party and congress is of another
30
Lame duck
- very little power to do anything since president is on their way out of office
31
Trustee model
they have been entrusted with the people's faith to vote according to the representative's best judgment
32
Delegate model
he or she must vote with the will of the people even if it goes against their better judgment
33
Politico model
- how they vote depends on the situation
34
redistricting/gerrymandering
- every 10 years a census must be taken to find out how many people live in the U.S and where
- Reapportionment: the doling out of representative seats
- Redistricting: the re-drawing of boundaries that those seats represent
- gerrymandering is a way of drawing districts that is a little sleazy because districts can be drawn to favor one group over another
- usually drawn in weird shapes to ensure that a certain party has the advantage in that district (partisan gerrymandering)
35
Racial gerrymandering
- districts are drawn so that certain races constitute the majority in those districts
36
Policy agenda
- every president comes into office with policies they want to see enacted
- but congress has the constitutional authority to pass laws
- president get's policy agenda enacted through formal and informal powers
37
Formal powers
- laid out in Article 2 of the constitution
- veto power (bill dies, bill is sent back to congress to revise and starts process over, or congress can override veto with a 2/3rds vote)
- commander in chief of the U.S armed forces (can't declare war)
- executive agreements (like a contract between a president and another leader)
38
Pocket veto
- president has 10 days to sign the bill into law
- president can do nothing with bill, let the session expire, the bill is effectively vetoed
- if there are more than 10 days left in veto session, and the president does nothing, the bill becomes law
39
Informal powers
- bargaining and persuasion
- executive order
- signing statement (which informs the nation how the executive branch interprets the law and how the president intends to execute it)
40
Cabinet
presidential team of advisors who lead each of the executive agencies
41
Bully Pulpit
- speaking directly to the people in hope that they'd put pressure on their representatives
- public platform to advocate
42
State of the union
- annual to congress
- for a long time state of the unions were filtered through newspapers
- FDR used fireside chats through radio
- JFK was the first to use television for state of the union
43
Federal court system
- 3 levels
- U.S district courts (have the right to hear a case for the first time, original jurisdiction)
- U.S circuit court of appeals (hear appeals from the lower courts, appellate jurisdiction)
- Supreme court (has both original and appellate jurisdiction, depending on the case)
44
Judicial activism
- the court acts to establish policy and considers more than just the constitutionality of a decision, it considers the decisions broader effects on society
45
Judicial restraint
- believe that a law should only be struck down if it violates the actual written word of the constitution
46
Bureaucracy
- falls under the authority of the executive branch
- millions of people employed to carry out the responsibilities of federal government
- not creating laws, only making a set of more refined rules that help facilitate the execution of laws
47
Cabinet Secretaries
- highest level of authority in bureaucracy
- leaders of the 15 executive departments
- department of energy, department of homeland security, department of defense, etc.
48
Agencies
- work together to accomplish the goals of the department
- internal revenue service (IRS)
49
Commissions
- regulatory groups who operate somewhat independently of the authority of the president, but still fall under the executive authority
- run by a board of individuals and are usually created for a specific purpose
- Federal communications commission (FCC)
50
Government corporations
- hybrid of business and a government agency
- government acquires businesses when they want to offer a public good, but the free market is the best way to offer that service
- PBS (public broadcasting service)
51
Delegated Discretionary Authority
- the authority given to bureaucracy by congress that gives them discretion on how to make the rules and how to carry out the laws
AP GOV
flashcards
Decks in class (5)
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