Exam 2 - Congress

know what a continuing resolution is and how this influences the budgetary process

-Congress is responsible for passing legislation to fund the govt (decides how to spend taxpayer money each fiscal year) -if congress doesn't pass legislation to fund the govt before a new fiscal year begins, they can pass legislation to keep federal operations going at the current spending levels -

what do joint committees, ad hoc committees, select committees, and conference committees do? how are they different from standing committees?

-Joint committee: permanent congressional committees made up of members of both the house and the senate. They do not have legislative authority; they monitor specific activities and compile reports -Ad hoc committee: a congressional committee appointed for a limited time to design and report a specific piece of legislation -Select committee: a temporary legislative committee created for a specific purpose and dissolved after its tasks are completed -Conference committee: a temporary joint committee of the house and senate appointed to reconcile the differences between the 2 chambers on a particular piece of legislation -all except the joint committees are temporary where standing committees are permanent, they also all seem to have less authority and very specific duties

your textbook talks about whether floor debates have an effect on the shape of legislation and whether they persuade legislators to vote in a particular way. they also note how the House and Senate differ in terms of how they regulate floor debate. be able to discuss what the textbook concludes about differences between the two chambers in terms of what the consequences of floor debate are (material or symbolic; persuasive or preaching to the choir) .

-floor debates change few minds because politicians are rarely swayed by one anothers eloquence, these debates are for public consumption: to make arguments members will use to justify their votes to the constituents and others, to shape public perceptions through the media, to guide administrators and courts when they apply and interpret the legislation, to stake out partisan positions, or to show off -floor action does more to shape legislation in the senate than in the house. members in the senate can spend unlimited time debating a bill. unlike in the house, most conflicts in the senate are resolved on the floor, not in committees. Amendments in the senate can also be riders or even totally unrelated.

what has happened to the incumbency advantage over time? what are the potential sources of incumbency advantage?

-incumbent: necessary of someone as a duty or responsibility -it's gone down over time -sources: greater financial resources, more press coverage, more experienced campaign operations

read Article I; know the powers the Constitution specifically delegates to Congress (and, thus, the concept of delegated powers); also be attentive to the reserved powers clause

-lay and collect taxes -pay debts -provide for common defense and general welfare of the US -borrow money on the credit of the US -regulate commerce with foreign nations, several states, and with the indian tribes -establish rule of naturalization and laws on bankruptcy -coin money and regulate vlaue -standardize weights and measures -provide for the punishment of counterfeiting -establish post offices and post roads -promote science and art and the rights to the creators intellectual property and discoveries -define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offences against the law of nations -declare war and make rules concerning captures on land and water -raise and support armies, but not use the money for more than 2 years -provide and maintain a navy -make rules for govt and regulation of the land and naval forces -organize, arm, and discipline the military, and states appoint officers, and the authority of training the military according to the discipline of congress -make all laws needed for future powers -the reserved powers clause is in the 10th amendment, it reserves all other powers to the states

what are some of the limitations on the powers of the Speaker of the House, as explained by your textbook? what does it mean to say that Congress is subject to conditional party government?

-speakers were given the authority to appoint committees, make rules, and manage the legislative process on the majority party's behalf -the degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional party leaders varies with -is conditioned by- the extent of election-driven ideological consensus among members

what is the Committee of the Whole? What is a quorum?

-the house often debates bills as a committee of the whole because, acting in the guise of a committee, the house is less encumbered by formal procedures. the quorum for this is 100 rather than the usually majority of 218 -quorum: the number of members who must be present for the house to act officially

what are the different ways that political parties influence Congress? think about how Congress is organized, as well as how its members behave

-the party that wins the most representatives is the majority and the other is the minority -the majority party holds the most significant leadership positions -usually the same party holds both houses but sometimes it's split -the speaker of the house and leader of the senate are voted on by the whole house but the majority party basically picks

what does your textbook mean by the nationalization of congressional elections? how does this relate to presidential coattails (discussed earlier when we talked about elections)? how is nationalization influence surge and decline (again, from our topic on elections, where we discussed the president's ability to bring elected officials into the legislature with them, but yet be at risk for losing those seats in the midterm; your textbook describes this without labeling it)

-they have gained attention and focus from voters, similar to that of presidential elections -

your textbook talks about how party leaders in the House have "resources to induce members to cooperate." what does this mean, and what are potential examples of this?

-when the members are temped to go their own way as free riders (for example, by breaking ranks on roll-call votes to enhance their own electoral fortunes). These resources mainly take the form of favors the leaders may grant or withhold -EX: party leaders control the legislative agenda and how much of their own time and resources are devoted to each legislative proposal

1) what is the size of the House? 2) the size of the Senate? 3) what is the length of a House term? 4) a Senate term? 5) how is representation in the House allocated? 6) how is representation in the Senate allocated? 7) how are members chosen for the House? 8) how are members chosen for the Senate? 9) how often are congressional elections held and when are they held?

1) 435 2) 100 3) serve 2 year terms and are considered for reelection every even year 4) serve 6 year terms and elections are staggered over even years so that only about 1/3 of the senate is up for reelection during any election 5) each state is apportioned a number of seats based on population, but every state is guaranteed at least one seat 6) each state has 2 senators 7) members are chosen every 2 years by direct popular vote by voters in each congressional district 8) 1/3 members are chosen every 2 years by state legislatures 9) every 2 years on the even year, between presidential elections

1) what is descriptive representation? 2) how does Congress fare in this respect? 3) how has Congress changed over time (is descriptive representation improving, getting worse, or staying the same? 4) does our conclusion depend on which element of descriptive representation we are looking at?) 5) what are other ways that we can evaluate representation (how effectively we're being represented), other than descriptive representation?

1) a segment of politicians who represent the larger population from which they come. these are representatives that advocate in the name of a specific group or groups that are homogeneous to the background of the politician 2) 3) 4) 5)

1) what is impoundment? 2) what does the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 do? (your textbook discusses impoundment under Congress; we discussed it in class under the presidency and only in passing under Congress)

1) an act by the president of the US of not spending money that has been appropriated by the US congress 2) designed to help congress regain power over the budget process, it had 2 main goals: to strengthen and centralize congress' budget authority and to reduce the president's impoundment authority

1) what is party unity? 2) how has party unity changed over time? 3)what do the textbook's charts on the ideological gap between the Democratic and Republican party members of the House Senate tell us about party polarization in Congress? 4) what are some of the potential causes to this pattern?

1) extent of which members of a party vote together in the house and senate 2) the votes on which the party majorities took opposite positions has increased since the 1970's (more steeply and uniformly in the senate than in the house) but more recently, these party unity votes have risen steadily 3) ideological gap between democratic and republican party has been widening a lot since the 1970's and has reached its widest point. Tells us that the republicans on average have grown more conservative, accounting for most of the polarization. Democrats have also become more liberal as their party's conservative southern members were gradually replaced in Congress by Republicans, leaving the remaining southern democrats ideologically more similar to other congressional democrats. 4) as the congressional parties become more unified, they also became more polarized along ideological lines -ideological polarization helps unite the parties internally, separate them from each other, and strengthen party leaders

1) why do the House and Senate have permanent (standing) committees? 2) how did these evolve, and what functions do they serve? 3) how many standing committees does each chamber have? 4) what are some of the most important standing committees in each chamber? 5) who assigns members to committees? 6) what types of powers do committees (and their leaders) have over policy legislation, and over other members of the committee?

1) it was too difficult and time consuming to elect a new committee to draft each bill 2) they exist from one congress to the next unless they are explicitly disbanded 3) the house has 20 standing with 1 select committee. the senate has 16 standing with 4 select. there are also 4 joint committees 4) the money committees - the Ways and Means and the Appropriations Committees in the House, the Finance and the Appropriations Committees in the senate - because their activities are so central to Congress's main source of power in the federal system, its control over the budget. The house and senate Budget Committees are also important. As well as the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees because of the senates special authority over treaties and diplomatic and judicial appointments. 5) assignments to committees are made by party committees under the firm control of senior party leaders and are ratified by the party membership 6) Committee powers: monitor ongoing government operations, identify issues suitable for legislative review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action Committee leader powers: set committee's agenda, determine when or whether bills will be considered, calling the committee together, maintaining order over meetings

1) what is the difference between an open rule and a closed rule (and a restricted rule)? 2) how can rules be used to influence the fate of a piece of legislation? 3) your textbook charts the trends in the number (and %) of open and restrictive or closed rules in the House. What do these trends tell us?

1) open rule: a provision governing debate of a pending bill and permitting any germane amendment to be offered on the floor of the house. closed rule: an order from the house rules committee limiting floor debate on a particular bill and disallowing or limiting amendment restricted rule: a provision that governs consideration of a bill and that specifies and limits the kinds of amendments that may be made of the floor of the house of representatives 2) the rules govern the procedures under which the bill will be considered by the house, which can have a major impact on whether the bill passes 3) the percentage of open rules are decreasing from the late 1970's while the percent of closed rules are increasing

1) where are the current public approval rates of Congress? (are they high, middle of the road, or low?) 2) if we look at the overall trend of congressional approval ratings, are they on the decline, or are they headed upward, or maintaining stable? 3) are there any common traits to the time periods shown in the approval chart in your book where congressional approval is high (i.e., one party in control rather than divided control, a particular party in control, or particular events )? 4) what are some of the factors that contribute to congressional public approval (or disapproval)?

1) since 2011, fewer than 1/6 of Americans have approved of its performance. this is very low. 2) they seem to be declining a lot since the record high in september 2001 3) congressional approval seems to be higher when controlled by republicans, and it seems to be lowest when the control is divided between parties. -approval was high during clinton's presidency and the booming economy in 1998 -approval was low dealing with the clinton monica lewinsky scandal -approval was high dealing with al-Queda and the world trade center and pentagon attacks (the public approves how they dealt) -declined during 2006 midterm and ever since 4) the public seems to approve more when the economy is booming or when congress is dealing with disasters and disapprove when there are government scandals or during controversial elections

1) What is the GAO? 2) What is the CBO? 3)What is the CRS? 4) How do these entities contribute to Congress's independence?

1) the government accountability office: a legislative branch government agency that audits and investigates federal programs and expenditures, probing for waste, fraud, and inefficiency 2) the congressional budget office: a federal agency within the legislative branch of the US government that provides congress with the economic expertise it needs to make informed fiscal decisions and to hold its own in conflicts with the president's office of management 3) congressional research service: provides policy and legal analysis to committees and members of both the house and the senate, regardless of party affiliation 4) it allows members of congress to not rely on the word of experts from the executive branch or interest groups, who cannot always be trusted to impart unbiased information

1) how does the veto process work? 2) what are Congress's options if an item of legislation is vetoed? 3) what is a pocket veto? 4) how frequently are vetoes used? 5) how frequently are they overriden?

1) upon receiving a bill from congress, the president has the choice of signing the bill into a law, ignoring the bill (it will become a law in 10 days unless congress adjourns first then its a pocket veto), or vetoing the bill 2) congress can override a veto with 2/3 vote in each chamber (which is rare). if the override succeeds, the bill becomes a law 3) when the president ignores a veto and then congress adjourns before the 10 days are up. There's no way for congress to override these 4) 499 vetos were used from 1945-2016. the president usually uses them as a statement to congress. If the president knows by a headcount that an override is possible, they hesitate to use a veto because the override could make them look weak 5) not frequently, 52/499 were overridden from 1945-2016 because usually the president can persuade people

1) what does your textbook mean by "unorthodox lawmaking"? 2) when is this type of strategy likely to be used? 3) what are some of the potential examples of unorthodox lawmaking as a strategy? 4) what are some of the costs of unorthodox lawmaking? 5) what might be the benefits?

1) using out of the ordinary legislative procedures to make laws 2) majority party leaders often use to overcome minority party obstruction. in dealing with important and controversial legislation, unorthodox procedures have in fact become the congressional norm 3) in the house: designing complex special rules to structure debate and amendment to minimize the minority's influence, bypassing or overriding committees to draft bills directly, rewriting legislation in conference committee after it has passed the floor, and combining separate bills into huge omnibus packages that leave members the choice of accepting all or getting nothing. in the senate: unbridled use of the filibuster, compelling leaders to negotiate supermajority coalitions of at least sixty votes to act on controversial issues. 4) requires a heady investment of leaders' resources - time, energy, and favors - reflecting high transaction costs incurred in getting congress to act collectively on issues that provoke strong disagreement 5) has allowed important but controversial legislation to pass

1) what is ticket splitting? 2) how should ticket splitting be affected by candidate centered politics? 3) how should ticket splitting be affected by a polarized partisan environment? 4) has ticket splitting gone up over time or is it going down?

1) voting for candidates of different parties for different offices 2) evidence indicates that the incumbency (office holder) advantage in congressional elections is an important source of ticket splitting. 3) partisanship is also a factor - strong partisans are less likely to split their tickets than independents 4) recently it's been going down

what is the normal path that a bill is supposed to take before it can become a law?

Bill is drafted Introduction in senate (house) and referred to committees senate (house) committee hearings, markup, reported out (house only) rules committee (house only) conference committee to reconcile house-senate differences senate (house) floor President for signature or veto

who is the current Speaker of the House? who are the other floor leaders of the House and the Senate, both for the majority and the minority party?

Nancy Pelosi -floor leaders of the house: Steny Hoyer (Majority), Kevin McCarthy (minority) -floor leaders of the senate: Mitch McConnel (majority), Charles Schumer (minority)

your textbook has a chart that shows apportionment winners and losers; be able to discern the difference between reapportionment and redistricting; on the basis of the apportionment chart, which areas of the U.S. are gaining political influence (gaining House seats)? which areas are losing political influence (losing House seats)?

Reapportionment: the process of redistributing seats in the house of representatives, or other legislative body, according to the population in each state Redistricting: the process of redrawing legislative districts gaining: the west coast (washington-texas), the southeast coast (florida-maryland) nevada, utah, colorado, alaska, hawaii losing: all the states except those listed above and idaho, wyoming, tennesse, new hampshire, vermont, delaware

what is the difference between an amendment and a rider, according to your textbook?

When debating bills, sometimes amendments are allowed, in this case they must be an amendment and not a rider -amendments must be germane (pertinent) to the purpose of the bill -riders: extraneous proposals

what is a filibuster? how does a filibuster end? who is entitled to filibuster? what are recent changes in the filibuster rules, and how do those changes affect the minority (opposition) party? how has the use of the filibuster changed over time (in terms of how it is executed and how often it is used)?

a tactic used in the US senate to block or delay action on a bill or other measure -ended with a cloture: allows the senate to end a debate with a 2/3 majority vote (which is difficult to obtain) so it is now a 3/5 majority vote -1. in the beginning, representatives and senators could filibuster and debate on any issue. 2. The debate soon became limited. 3. Majority vote (2/3) could end. 4. Then the majority vote required to end has gotten smaller, so the minority (in opposition) now has an even harder time getting their way -became popular in the 1850's used to hold the senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill -useful to southern senators to block civil rights legislation

what is a unanimous consent agreement? how are they used?

a unanimous resolution in the Senate restricting debate and limiting amendments to bills on the floor -these agreements, which can be killed by a single objection, might govern, for example, the order in which bills are considered and the length of the debate allotted to them. -the minority party has greater influence in the senate because so much of that body's business is conducted under these and negotiated by party leaders

what is the status quo bias, and how does it affect what Congress does?

an emotional bias. a preference for the current state of affairs -its not at all unusual for many years to elapse between the initial introduction of a major piece of legislation and its final enactment

what is casework, and how is this related to a legislator's job? is it related to their reelection chances?

assistance provided by members of Congress to constituents who encounter a grievance with a federal agency or the federal government -casework is integral to the representational duties of a member of congress -

why do political scientists argue that the Senate creates unequal representation for citizens?

because all states are represented by 2 senators in the senate, regardless of the states population. so some senators represent 38 million people while others represent 582,000 people

how has the balance of power between the executive branch and Congress changed over time? what kinds of evidence do we have of these changes? what are the potential reasons for these changes?

congress remains the most powerful and independent legislature in the world. the constitution granted the house and senate extensive legislative powers and provided the basis for electoral independence from the executive -the 115th congress, elected in 2016, faces a fundamental challenge to its influence and integrity from a new administration dedicated to disrupting the federal government across the board -the president is testing their capacity to act as an independent force and check on the executive

what is the necessary and proper (elastic) clause? how has this affected Congress's role over time?

in article 1 section 8 of the constitution -gives congress the power and flexibility to fulfill its legal powers (to achieve the powers that are listed)

what is a discharge petition? under what circumstances is a discharge petition likely to be used?

it brings a bill directly to the floor without committee approval when signed by a majority of house members (218, which is rare), the senate has no equivalent to this -the way the house is set up, basically if the majority party leadership doesn't want a bill considered, in all likelihood it won't be. The discharge petition is one of the few mechanisms available to fight that

what is an exclusive committee? why do they exist? what are the exclusive committees?

members of these typically sit on no other committee -typically very important committees with a lot of power -appropriations, rules, ways and means, energy and commerce, financial services

your textbook identifies a series of problems of legislative organization: need for information; coordination problems; resolving conflicts; collective action; transaction costs; and time pressure. be able to explain these concepts and identify examples.

need for information: as the US has become more and more complex - socially, economically, and technologically - and the activities of the federal government have expanded, the informational demands on congress have grown enormously. congress has combated this issue with division of labor (committee and subcommittee system) and specialization (members can master an area of expertise) -ex: a legislator can't regulate the stock market without knowing how the market works coordination problems: as the volume and complexity of congress's work have grown, so has its need for traffic management: dividing up the work, directing the flow of bills through the legislative process, scheduling debates and votes on the floor resolving conflicts: agreement requires successful politicking: getting people who are pursuing divergent, even conflicting, ends to take a common course of action. the presence of ready-made coalitions resolves many conflicts in advance, reducing the transaction costs of negotiating agreements on legislation collective action: what members do to pursue individual goals may undermine the reputation of their party or of congress as a whole. congress developed individual incentives to work for collectively beneficial ends to combat this. -ex: members who contribute to congress's performance by becoming well informed about issues in their subcommittee's jurisdiction are rewarded with preeminent influence over policy in that area Transaction costs: these are the price of doing politics - the time, effort, and bargaining resources that go into negotiating agreements. congress attempts to reduce this by making use of fixed rules to automate decisions -ex: the seniority rule reduces the time and energy members would otherwise put into competing for these valued positions Time pressures: the pressure to avoid unnecessary transaction costs is intensified by the ticking clock. the house combats this by following strict procedures and having greater control, the senate doesn't have to do this as extremely since they are smaller in size

what does it mean to cast an "explainable" vote?

one that can be defended publicly if it is brought up by a challenger in some future campaign

what is gerrymandering? who draws congressional district lines? how often are they drawn? what are some of the reasons that legislatures might engage in gerrymandering (what kind of benefits might it provide)? what are some of the arguments against gerrymandering? how has the Supreme Court ruled on different types of gerrymandering thus far?

practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries -different people in charge of drawing the district lines in different states. In most states its primarily the state legislature (for drawing both state legislative districts and congressional districts) -they do it so their party can control more legislatures -Arguments: politicians are choosing voters not the other way around, rewards extremism, outcomes don't match votes -I don't think they've done anything to stop it

what is the difference between a roll call vote and a voice vote? when might one be preferred over the other and why?

roll call vote: vote taken by a call of the roll to determine whether a quorum is present, to establish a quorum, or to vote on a question. usually the house uses its electronic voting system for a roll call, but when the system is malfunctioning the speaker directs the clerk to read the names. the senate does not have an electronic voting system, the roll is called by a clerk. voice vote: the presiding officer first asks those in favor to say "aye" and opposed to say "no". any senator may ask for a recorded vote. the chair then may estimate which side had more members. -roll call votes are recorded and allow people to know how each member voted, whereas voice votes are not specifically published anywhere

what is a multiple referral?

the act of sending a proposed piece of legislation to more than one committee in the same chamber

what is bicameralism? why do we have a bicameral structure? think about the framers' intentions here, as well as potential differences in how these chambers function and what differences in purpose they might have

the practice of having 2 legislative or parliamentary chambers (like 2 houses) -provided a perfect opportunity for compromise (the great compromise) -the framers expressed in the constitution that they believe power should be shared among all units of government (separation of powers to prevent tyranny)

which congressional leaders are mentioned in the Constitution? where do the other floor leader positions derive their status from?

the speaker of the house (of representatives)