AP Gov Congress Study Guide

Constituency caucuses:

- established to represent groups, regions or both - Ex. Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Women's Issues, Sunbelt Caucus, Suburban Caucus, Steel Caucus.

Issue with Senate:

- filibuster: restricted by Rule 22 (1917) Cloture, which allows a vote of cloture=60 votes to stop a filibuster. - Filibuster literally is a lack of rule. No rules on DEBATE.

What happens to each bill?

- given to a certain committee with political purposes of intentional failure or passage in mind

Two major issues of the senate:

- how members should be chosen and filibusters

What is gridlock?

- inability to function

Senate Whips:

- inform leaders as to what party is thinking, round up votes, head counts, reliable.

Speaker of the House:

- is leader of majority party and presides over House, elected by whole house, recognizes all speakers, rules on relevance, sends bills to committees, appoints to committees, extra powers. - Schedules votes

What happens to a bill after the Rules Committee?

- it goes to the Full Senate

House Whips:

- keep leaders informed and round up votes

Congress's principal job?

- lawmaking and administration

House Majority leader:

- lead majority party on floor - Few formal powers

House Minority leader:

- lead minority party on the floor, watchdog.

Senate Minority leader:

- leads opposition, watchdog

Does President have more or less power under a gridlock?

- less

Diversity in 113th Congress:

- less male and less white

Intra-party caucuses:

- members share a similar ideology - Ex. Tuesday Lunch Bunch

Personal interest caucuses:

- members share an interest in an issue - Ex. Art Caucus

Representational View:

- members vote to please their constituents, in order to secure re-election - Civil Rights law example. - All depends on how close issue is to the people. - Some conflicting issue- guns, abortion - Be out of town.

Incumbency advantage:

- membership in Congress became a career - Incumbents still have a great electoral advantage - marginal vs. safe districts

Becoming a member of Parliament:

- no primary. - National and local party selects candidate - Each local party in district chooses candidate

Congressional privileges:

- office (up to 22 staff), travel, computers, "franking," $150,000

Congress's focus:

- on constituents - being decentralized

Are US cabinet members inside or outside executive branch?

- outside - No sitting member of Congress can be in executive branch- Constitutional.

A divided government results in:

- partisan politics, bickering, gridlock

Individual organization of the House:

- power struggles have occurred between members and leadership - Recent decentralization and power to individual member. But still less individual then Senate - House wants power to individual and group.

What is different between presidential and parliamentary elections?

- president is popularly elected - Prime Minister chosen by parliament. Majority party or a coalition.

President pro tempore (Senate):

- presides in place of VP - this is the member with most seniority in majority party (a largely honorific office)

How to become a member of Congress:

- primary. - Little party control.

Senate Majority leader:

- real power - Schedules business, recognized 1st on floor, committees, need skill

Truly important for productivity:

- similar ideology

Who does bill go to after Full House votes on the bill?

- the President

Attitudinal View:

- the member's ideology determines her/his vote

Republican and Democratic Caucus:

- the parties

Parliament's principal job?

- to debate

What privileges do parliamentary members get?

- very little

What happens when the Full Senate gets the bill for the second time?

- votes on the bill. If it passes, it goes to the President

Organizational View:

- where constituency interests are not vitally at stake, members primarily respond to cues from colleagues

Voting methods:

1) Role Call Vote- senate 2) Voice Vote- procedural 3) Standing Vote- senate 4) Teller Vote- house only

How to end a filibuster:

- Cloture

Is Congress or Parliament more independent?

- Congress

What is Congress's check on the President?

- Congress can override it by 2/3 majority vote in the House and Senate.

What do committees do?

- Consider bills or legislative proposals- vote, amend, table, mark up, change, investigate - Maintain oversight of executive agencies - Conduct investigations

Congress means:

- "a coming together"

Parliament means:

- "to talk"

About how many bills are introduced per year?

- 10,000

Divided government 1952-2000:

- 10/24 presidential or congressional elections resulted in divided govt.

113th House diversity:

- 101+ women (Nancy Pelosi) - 45 AFA - 37 Latino - 7 openly gay - 37 Hispanic - 13 Asian - 2 Native American

How many committees are there in the Senate?

- 15

How many cabinet members are there?

- 15 members (GWB only 4 formally in Congress) - Usually close personal friends and campaign aides.

How many countries have a presidential system of government?

- 16

Examples of productivity with gridlocked governments:

- 1946 Marshall Plan - 1986 Tax Cuts.

113th Senate diversity:

- 20 women - 2 AFA (Scott, Booker) - 4 Hispanic (Menendez, Rubio, Cruz, Flake) - 21 Asian (Hirono)

First unified government since 1964:

- 2008- unified govt. 4th Rep. since 1953. - lasted until Jim Jeffords from VT went Independent. time since 1964- Bush 1st

How many committees are there in the House?

- 22

113th House parties:

- 231 Republicans - 206 Democrats

113th Senate parties:

- 52 Democrats - 46 Republicans - 2 Independents

Averages ages of 113th Congress members:

- 57 to 62

113th Congress religious division:

- 57% Protestant - 31% Catholic - 7% Jewish, Quaker, LDS, Buddhist, Muslim

What is a cloture?

- 60 votes to stop filibuster

Organization of Senate:

- A Much More Independent Body - The Senate escaped many of the leadership tensions encountered by the House (only 100). because of their LACK OF RULES. - The major struggle in the Senate was about how its members should be chosen; 17th amendment (1913)

Do Americans like gridlocks?

- Americans like the checks and balances of gridlock. - 25% of people split ticket between Pres. and Congress on purpose.

What happens after a bill is drafted and sent to the Senate?

- Bill is introduced and assigned to a Committee which refers to a Subcommittee.

What happens after a bill is drafted and sent to the House?

- Bill is introduced and assigned to a Committee which refers to a Subcommittee. Only members can introduce bills.

What does the President do with a bill?

- Can sign or veto the bill. - President can sign the bill, veto it or do nothing.

Popularly elected AFA:

- Carol Mosley Braun - Obama - Edward Brooke

Who promised to end gridlock?

- Clinton

What happens in the Full Senate?

- Debates the bill and may amend it. If it is different from the House version, it must go to a Conference Committee.

What happens in the Full House?

- Debates the bill and may amend it. If it is different from the Senate version, it must go to a Conference Committee.

What happens in a Senate committee?

- Full Committee considers the bill. If it approves the bill in some form, the bill goes to the Rules Committee.

What happens in the House committee?

- Full Committee considers the bill. If it approves the bill in some form, the bill goes to the Rules Committee.

Do gridlocks matter?

- Hard to tell. - Do about same amount as unified ones as far as being productive

Effect from incumbency advantage in Congress:

- In the past low pay, travel, and less importance of federal govt. turned people away. - Decreased party strength made things less competitive.

What does the Rules Committee do?

- It issues a rule to govern debate on the floor. Sends it to the Full House.

Incumbent advantage in electoral college:

- Media coverage is higher for incumbents - Incumbents have greater name recognition due to franking, travel to the district, news coverage - Members secure policies and programs for voters. PORK

Who drafts bills?

- Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and even outside groups can draft (write or draw up) bills.

What happens in the House subcommittee?

- Members study the bill, hold hearings, and debate provisions. Marks up the bill. If it passes goes to Committee.

What happens in the Senate subcommittee?

- Members study the bill, hold hearings, and debate provisions. Marks up the bill. If it passes goes to Committee.

Majority of Congressional members 113th:

- Middle Aged - White - Protestant - lawyer - male

Does the senate have a Rules Comittee?

- No

What do Parliament members do?

- Party in power selects Prime Minister. And Cabinet - Refuse to vote with party and lose seat - Parties form coalitions. - Power to vote "no confidence"

President v. Parliament:

- Popularly elected President. An American invention. - Parliament- Western Euro., Japan, Israel. o France has a combo of both.

Where are presidents normally from? Why?

- Pres. Are outsiders from DC • Easy to win in US if you are not from • Carter, Reagan, Clinton, GWB- all governors. Washington.

Differences between president and parliament?

- Pres. Popularly elected - Pres. Are outsiders - Cabinet from outside of Congress - Pres. have no guaranteed majority

President vs. Prime Minister majority:

- President has no guaranteed majority; however, PM will always have a majority - President often does NOT have congressional majority

Types of member behavior:

- Representational - Organizational - Attitudinal

What happens in the Senate Conference Committee?

- Senators and Representatives meet to reconcile differences between bills. When agreement is reached, a compromise bill is sent to Full Senate.

why unified doesn't mean "unified":

- Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans

Divided government:

- They often work at Cross-Purposes even when Congress and Pres. are from the same party they often do not work together - JFK vs. Democrat Congress- only passed 1⁄4 of his proposals. - FDR, LBJ, GWB- had some success.

Framers intent of Congress:

- To oppose the concentration of power in a single institution. No oppressive majority. • "First Branch of Govt." - To balance large and small states •Bicameralism- "two chamber" - House and Senate

What do members of Congress do?

- Voters choose President and Pres. Choose Cabinet. - "no fear" of govt falling apart. - Have independent Constitutional Powers. Art. 1 Sec. 8 - Free to express views.

First step for how a bill becomes a law:

- a bill is drafted

Where is the bill sent after the House subcommittee?

- a committee hears the bill

Where is the bill sent after the House committee?

- a rules committee

Are prime ministers usually inside or outside government prior to obtaining their position?

- always inside the government

Congressional Committees:

- are the most important organizational feature of Congress -The "Real Work" is done and the "Real Power" lay - make the law

VP power in Senate:

- constitutional head of the Senate. - No real power except to vote in case of a tie and preside at ceremonies.

What did framers want Congress to be:

- dominant institution

Caucus:

-an association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional or economic interest. Push an agenda.

Uncertainty/Issues with gridlock:

1. No proof gridlock produces less than unified govt. 2. Not sure gridlock is bad for country.

Organization of House since 1994:

1994 brought changes: - Committee chairs hold positions for only 6 years - Reduced the number of committees and subcommittees - The Speaker dominated the selection of committee chairs - The Speaker set the agenda (Contract with America) and sustained high Republican discipline in 1995