ap gov ch. 13 quiz

the senate

"advise and consent" powers; ratify treaties with a 2/3 vote; conduct impeachment trials; filibuster and holds; 60 votes needed for full control of the Senate; cloture motion; riders; unanimous consent agreements; less reliant on leadership positions

Congressional Caucuses

Caucus- an association of congressional members created to advance a political ideology or regional, ethnic or economic interest; Growing rival to political parties and a source of policy leadership

committee leadership

Committees are controlled by the majority party; Committee chairs have a lot of power: select all subcommittee chairs; ​schedule and preside over meetings and hearings; Recommend majority members to sit on conference committees​; Can kill a bill by not scheduling hearings on it; Chair person decides on agenda, of majority party

the committee system

Committees: where the real work in Congress takes place: consider legislation hold hearings (congressional oversight)conduct investigations; Policy Specialization; Members seek prestigious committee assignments There are approximately 2 dozen committees and 100 subcommittees:

Staffs and Specialized offices

Congressional Research service (CRS): politically neutral and supplies information to both sides part of LOC​; Government Accountability Office (GAO): investigates policy and makes recommendations on almost every aspect of government ; Congressional Budget Office (CBO): advises Congress on the likely impact of different spending programs and attempts to estimate future trends; (scores legislation proposals); All non-partisan and permanent fixtures in government

Limits on Gerrymandering

Districts can be drawn in bizzare shapes to: protect incumbents, benefit a party, increase minority representation Gerrymandering cannot: be drawn solely based on race, can't dilute minority votes, be broken up (most be contiguous)

The Budget Process

Generating a budget- complicated and multistep process​; Initiated by president-proposal; Congress gets final decision

congressional behavior

Ideology divisions can lead to stalemate or create the need for negotiation and compromise: gridlock; congressional refusal confirm appointment of "lame-duck" presidents

Explain the following: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."

If all people acted peacefully and respectfully to each other, there would be no need for government. If people acted the way they should in society, a government wouldn't be needed to reprimand any wrong actions.

congressional views

In a decentralized, individualistic institution, it is not obvious how members will act​; Members influence legislation in many ways besides voting: ​Conduct hearings, mark up bills in committee and offer amendments to bills; Theories about how members of Congress behave

What does it mean that "ambition must be made to counteract ambition"?

It means that checks and balances were created in order to stop any single branch from becoming too powerful which helps create a stable government and to protect rights.

the house

Leadership has more power; The House Rules Committee; Debate is limited and structured; Amendments must be germane; discharge petitions; Revenue bills most originate here (tax bills)

leadership positions in congress

Speaker of the House House Majority Leader Houe Minority Leader Majority Whip Minority Whip Senate Majority Leader Senate Minority Leader President of the Senate Presient Pro Tempore Majority Whip Minority Whip

Incumbency Advantages

Stronger name recognition​ more media coverage​ Campaign contributions More organized on the ground Reputation from past accomplishments​ Voter loyalty​ Franking ​privilege Incumbent gets reelcted more than 90% of the time

baker v. carr

Tennessee was using old boundaries that were no longer accurate Many people moved around making the districts uneven State lawmakers ignored notion to revise district lines every 10 years Charles Baker fought against this because he felt it was unfair Tennessee argued they couldn't solve the problem Decision: Federal courts can decide how to draw state lines around state electoral districts because it isn't a political question Constitutional issues: 14th Amendment and Equal Protection Clause

Redistricting in Congress

The House of Representatives has single-member legislative districts

Madison's three "AUXILIARY PRECAUTIONS" are: Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances and Federalism. How does each of these prevent tyranny?

The separation of powers prevents tyranny by dividing the government into different branches so that one won't use the powers of another. Checks and balances prevents tyranny by blocking one branch from becoming more powerful than another. Federalism prevents tyranny by allowing each state to make up their own laws separate from the federal government that prevents this federal government from becoming too powerful.

In a republican government, which branch is the strongest? Identify three ways of "remedying this inconveniency." (What did the framers do to keep the strongest branch in check?)

The strongest branch is the legislative branch. Three ways to remedy this inconveniency is to divide the branches of Congress to prevent the overpowering of one, to divide the houses into two with different term lengths and different responsibilities as well, and finally, the President in the executive branch was given the power to veto certain things Congress had come up with.

Staffs and Specialized Offices

Today, there are more than 10,000 people who work directly for members of Congress​ Help their members of Congress get reelected​ Help members serve constituents (helps explain why incumbents get reelected so often) ​ Legislative staff helps with details of proposals and bills​ Lobbyists spend a lot of time cultivating congressional staffers

shaw v. reno

When North Carolina gained a 12th Congressional seat, they had no black members of Congress They came up with a plan to create one majority-minority-district in order to ensure the win of an African-American representative Dept. Of Justics said they need two of these districts District 12 was a majority-minority district that was drawn with extremely odd lines White votes filed lawsuit saying this violated the 14th Amendment and brought the case to the Supreme Court Decision: Classifications of citizens predominantly on the basis of race are undesirable in a free society and conflict with the American political value of equality Constitutional provisions: 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment

Marginal seats

a district that is competitive; less than 55%

discharge petition

a means of bringing a bill out of committee and to the floor for consideration without a report from the committee by "discharging" the committee from further consideration of a bill or resolution

filibuster

a political procedure where one or more members of Congress debate over a proposed piece of legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision being made on the proposal

legislative process

anyone can introduce a bill; revenue bill starts in house; bill gets studied and investigated by committee; gets debated and may be submitted to subcommittee; needs to get voted in committee to get house or senate floor; gets debated on house or senate floor; needs to pass both house and senate to get to president's desk; bill has to be identical; president can sign it or veto it

house

based on population; 2 year terms; more rules oriented; originally the only position w/ direct election

Joint Committee

can have people from both senate and house

applied and consent powers

congress' ability to confirm presidential appointments

Discretionary Spending

debate; things that Congress can decide how much to fund

Malapportionment

districts are not equal in size and not equally balanced based on population

Mandatory Spending

entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

The ___ and ____ powers allow Congress to create policy to address a wide range of economic, environmental and social issues

enumerated, implied

senate

equal representation; 6 years; 17th amendment; more deliberation; fewer rules

Pork Barrel Spending/ earmarking

leveraging your power to get tangible benefits for your constituents or donors

Select Committee

made for specific issue, temporary

Safe seats

not competitive; over 55%

Standing committee

permanent committee, split into policy areas

Reapportionment

reallocating all the house sats throughout all the states to account for population changes

Redistricting definition

redrawing the district lines every 10 years

log rolling

trading votes

Trustee Model

voting based on their own beliefs

Delegate Model

voting to please their voters

​Politico Model

voting to please your party

Divided government

when one of more (house, senate, and president) are of separate parties

Unified government

when the house, senate, and president are all of the same party

cloture motion

when there's 60 votes to end a filibuster