AP Gov Chapter 12

mindset of voters

"i am going to vote for who my party recommends and who they vote for"

Role of Party Identification

-

Staff Agencies:

-Assist congress

what is redistricting

-redistribute those 435 house seats every 10 years so people may not be in a favorable district anymore -redrawing the district lines

Hispanics make up ______% of the house members and _____% of the total population and _____ senators are hispanics

5.5 15 3

how many members

535 members: 100 senators 435 representatives

Focus on the

CBO Congressional Budget Office

Staff Agencies:

CRS, GAO, and CBO provide specific information into congress

Conference committees

Formed when the senate and the house pass a bill in different forms to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill

Incumbents:

Those already holding office

New members expressed

committee preferences to party leaders

Caucuses are

composed of members from both parties and from both houses and their goal is to promote the interests around which they are formed.

15% of americans think

congress is doing a good job

most congress members represent

constituencies where their party is in the clear majority

Major political tidal wave may

defeat incumbents

All members must reside in the __________ from which they are elected, you don't have to live in the district you are elected in

state

Voters go with

what they know than what they don't know

most people identify

with a party

Native Americans: ____ house member

1

House Rules Committee:

The committee in the House that reviews most bills combing from a house committee before they go to the full House

Older you get the less

change you want

60 members present and voting can halt a ______________

filibuster

Democrats control the

house rules committee now

They send the same people back to

preserve the status quo and prevent radical change

The CBO looks at

the bill that is being proposed that is strictly for the members of congress

Personal Staff

-Homestate and respond to letters and questions -One more lives in washington dc to help them

Why did we want two houses because it slows the legislative process down?

-Our founding fathers wanted change to happen slowly -2 house legislature may change happen slower -Protect the mob rule

Open Seats

-When someone retires and says they will not run for reelection -Now there is no incumbent -Greater likelihood of competition -Most turnover occurs in open seats -People don't run again so open seats are fair game (happened in 2018 with the democrats- they won the seats back)

Why Aren't there more women in congress?

-fewer women than men are *major party nominees* -Women with *children* run for office less than mean because of child care responsibilities -Women are *more selective*, they won't run unless they *actually have a chance of winning*; men will run knowing they probably won't win -Women are less likely than men are to run when they *perceive their odds to be poor.*

to beat an incumbent, they would have to become vulnerable. How does this happen.

-tarnished by scandal or corruption becomes vulnerable to a challenger -if scandal breaks out, the candidate cannot win reelection

Stability and Change

-why vote incumbents?

African Americans make up about _____% of the House members and _____% of the total population, and 1 senator is African Americans

10//13

In the house:

116th congress

Females make up more than ______% of the population, but only ______ of the members of congress with 72 in the House and _____ senators

17 17

house members Years of service:

2 years

Asian Americans: _____ house members and ____ senators

4 2

about ________ of voters who identify with a party vote for the house candidates of their party

90%

More than ________ bills are submitted by members in the course of a two year period

9000

Filibuster:

A strategy unique to the senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the senate from ever voting on a bill

Advertising

Ads in newspapers and on television

The Advantages of Incumbency

Advertising Credit claiming position taking weak opponents Campaign spending

Speaker of the House:

An office mandated by the constitution and chosen by the majority party

Select committees

Created for a specific purpose, such as the watergate investigation

Committee Chair

Dominant role in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills on the floor

Joint committees:

Few subject matter areas with membership drawn from house and senate

90% of the incumbents seeking reelection win and most of them win with more than 60% of the vote

House elections:

In the senate: Majority leader of the senate: Minority Leader: President pro-tem:

Majority leader of the senate: Mitch McConnell (R) Minority Leader: Chuck Schumer (D) President pro-tem: Chuck Grassly (R)

Senator years in office

More prestigious Years of office a senator serves: 6 years

_________ committee is the most important committee

Rules

Office mandated by the constitution Speaker of the House: House Majority Leader: Minority Leader:

Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi (Democrat) House Majority Leader: Steny Hoyer (Democrat) Minority Leader: Kevin McCarthy (Republican)

Standing Committees

Subject matter committees that handle bills in different policies

example of redistricting

Ventura county- was republicans until the 2010 census where it is now more democratic (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018) and the District is not favorable to them anymore

Position taking:

Voting and responding to constituents questions. They have a voting record. We know how certain people have voted on an issue.

why aren't there as many women in congress

Women do not run as much, incumbents are men, more of a role at home

Committee staff

Written with legal documentation Law background

Every bill goes to

a committee which has virtually the power of life and death over it

Caucus:

a group of members of congress sharing some interest or characteristic

Senators requirements :

at least 30 and US citizen for 9 years

House members requirements-

at least age 25 and US citizen for 7 years

The US congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are

bicameral

Harder for the other party to

get bills passed because of this

High reelection rates in the

house (95%) and senate (80%)

Legislative oversight:

how the congress monitors bureaucracy

In congressional elections, ________________ usually win

incumbents

Mindset of how they vote:

keep what has always been

Change in congress occurs

less frequency through elections

Committee assignments help

members get reelected, gain influence, and make policy

Seniority system:

members who have served on the committee the longest and whose party is the chamber majority become chair

Weak opponents:

not well known or well qualified and lack experience and organization and financial backing. You can out raise and out spend your opponents. Opponents have not been through the process so it is hard for them to defeat the incumbent.

Younger people are

ok with change

The females seats in congress is growing-

over 100 women now

Does not equal the number of

people in society as a whole

Party in power has more __________ and has the ______________

power//control

_________________ may also weaken the incumbency advantage

redistricting

Descriptive representation:

representing constituents (people who vote in a district) by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics

Substantive representation:

representing the interests of groups as a whole, do not mirror personal characteristics (political party)

Rules Committee:

responsive to the House leadership because the Speaker of the house appointed the committee members

Two houses-

senate and HOR

Credit claiming;

servicing the constituency through casework and pork barrel. They can say exactly what they have done and they can credit for their successes.

Incumbents provide

stability in congress

Older people want a

stable, reliable government

Those who have ??? are favored in the selection process as parties try to grant committee preferences

supported their party's leadership

In the district where most people are a particular party, then

that particular party candidate is most likely to win

Campaign Spending:

the typical incumbent outspent the typical challenger by a ratio of more than 3 to 1 in Congressional races in 2008.

people reliably vote for

their parties candidates

Committee staff:

they organize hearings, and research and write legislation

Personal Staff:

they provide constituent service and help with legislation

A legislature divided into

two houses

Minorities have less seats/they are _____________________

underrepresented

They are

underrepresented in congress based on the percent of the population they make up