POLS101 - Getting elected to congress

Introduction

A bill is introduced in the house or the senate where it is sent to the relevant committee. Bill introduced in house of representatives and senate.

Party caucus

A group that consists of a party's members in the house or senate and that serves to elect the party's leadership set policy goals and plan party strategy.

Law as enacted by congress

A legislative proposal or bill that is passed by both the house and the senate and is not vetoed by the president.

Bicameral legislature

A legislature that has two chambers the house and the senate in the case of the united states.

Seniority

A member of congress' consecutive years of service on particular committee.

Cloture

A parliamentary maneuver that if a three fifths majority votes for it limits senate debate to 30 hours and has the effect of defeating the filibuster.

Filibuster

A procedural tactic in the US senate whereby a minority of legislators prevents a bill from coming to a vote by holding the floor and talking until the majority gives in and the bill is withdrawn from consideration.

Bill

A proposed law legislative act within congress or another legislature.

In terms of passing laws, what is the relative advantage and disadvantage of the way in which Congress is structured, compared with a national legislature with a single dominant chamber in which the majority party can count on its members to support its policy agenda?

A relative advantage of Congress is that it's structured in a way that slows the passage of legislation, which can be a safeguard against hastily prepared, ill-considered, or weakly supported bills. A relative disadvantage of Congress's structure is that it can result in legislative deadlock even on pressing national issues. The Senate filibuster can enable a determined minority to block legislation even if it has majority support within and outside Congress. And if one party controls the House and the other party controls the Senate, each party has the power to block the other from acting.

Oversight function

A supervisory activity of congress that centers on its constitutional responsibility to see that the executive carries out the laws faithfully. Through it constitutional responsibility to see that the executive branch carries out the laws faithfully and spends appropriations properly congress oversees and sometimes investigates executive action.

Conference committee

A temporary committee that is formed to bargain over the differences in the house and senate versions of a bill. A conference committee's members are usually appointed from the house and senate standing committees that originally worked on the bill. Finally congress has joint committees formed temporarily to work out differences in house and senate versions of a particular bill.

House of representative standing committee of congress

Agriculture Appropriations Armed services Budget Education and the workforce Energy and commerce Ethics Financial services Foreign affairs Homeland security House administration Judiciary Natural resources Oversight and government reform Rules Science space and technology Small business Transportation and infrastructure Veterans' affairs Ways and means

Senate standing committees of congress

Agriculture nutrition and forestry Appropriations Armed services Banking housing and urban affairs Buget Commerce science and transportation Energy and natural resources Environment and public works Finance Foreign relations Heath education labor and pensions Homeland security and governmental affairs Judiciary Rules and administration Small business and entrepreneurship Veterans' affairs

Open seat election

An election in which there is no incumbent in the race.

Diffuse cost

And ideally it's a bill that imposes a...so that those who are paying for it are unaware they are doing so.

Floor action

Before debate takes place in the house the house rules committee defines the rules for debate. In the senate the leadership proposes rules for floor action. The legislation is debated on the floor amendments are proposed and the bill is voted on by the full membership of the house or the senate. Senate and house floor.

Logrolling

Committees are also the site of most...—the practice of trading one's vote with another member's so that both get what they want, as in the case of agricultural committee members from corn-producing northern states trading votes with members from cotton-producing southern states.

Conference action

Conference committee. If the bill passes and no similar bill has been passed by the other chamber it is sent to that chamber for consideration. If the other chamber has passed a similar bill a conference committee of members of both chambers is formed to work out a compromise version which is sent to the full membership of both chambers for final approval. Only if a bill passes both chambers in identical form is it sent to the president.

Joint committees

Congress also has composed of members of both houses which perform advisory functions.

Congressional elections usually result in the reelection of the incumbent.

Congressional office provides incumbents with substantial resources free publicity staff and legislative influence that give them particularly house members a major advantage in election campaigns.

Executive privilege

Except in cases involving...the right of the executive branch to withhold confidential information affecting national security executive branch officials are required to testify when called by congress to do so.

A congressperson's failure to fulfill campaign promises is usually overlooked by voters.

False failure to fulfill promises is a major issue in election campaigns.

A midterm election is one that occurs midway through the congressperson's term

False it is an election that occurs midway through the president's term

Personal scandals have little effect on the careers of incumbent house and senate members.

False personal scandals can destroy the careers of incumbent house and senate members.

Concentrated benefit

Ideally its a bill that offers a...so that the recipients are aware of the benefit and might lend their support in the next election.

Select committees

In addition to its permanent standing committees congress also has a few that have a designated responsibility but unlike the standing committees do not produce legislation.

Mark up

In the house both the full committee and a subcommittee can a bill that is they have the authority to change its content.

Fundraising

Incumbents tend to be reelected because of staff recognition and advantages.

Boundaries

It is up to the state to determine the of each district.

Ranking members

Less than a dozen members hold a party leadership position but several hundred serve as committee or subcommittee chairs or are the term for the minority party's committee and subcommittee leaders.

Party leaders

Members of the house and senate who are chosen by the democratic or republican caucus in each chamber to represent the party's interests in that chamber and who give some central direction to the chamber's work.

Should partisan gerrymandering be banned?

Most House districts lopsidedly favor the Republican or Democratic candidate, and partisan gerrymandering is among the reasons. In redrawing election district boundaries after the census, state legislatures tend to configure them in ways designed to create safe Democratic or Republican districts. Do you think that state legislatures should do the redistricting? Or do you favor the system used by a few states where an independent bipartisan commission is in charge of drawing congressional district boundaries after each census? What's the basis for your preferred method?

Committee action

Most of the work on legislation is done in committees and subcommittees. Hearings are held the bill can be revised and a recommendation to pass the bill is made. Full committee

The points emphasized in the chapter are

Much of the work of Congress is done through its committees, each of which has its own leadership and its designated policy jurisdiction. Because of its fragmented structure, Congress is not well suited to take the lead on major national policies, which has allowed the president to assume this role. On the other hand, Congress is well organized to handle policies of narrower scope. In recent decades, congressional Republicans have become more uniformly conservative and congressional Democrats have become more uniformly liberal, which has made it easier for each party's members to band together but harder for them to reach agreement with the other party's members, which has increased the frequency of legislative deadlock. Congress's policymaking role is based on three major functions: lawmaking, representation, and oversight.

Why do northeastern and western regions have the most women legislators?

One reason is that northeastern and western regions have a higher proportion of college-educated women in the workforce than do other regions. College-educated working women are more likely to run for public office and to actively support those who do run.

Leadership in congress is provided by party leaders including the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader.

Party leaders are in a stronger position today than a few decades ago because the party caucuses in congress are more ideologically cohesive than in the past.

Standing committees

Permanent congressional committees with responsibility for a particular area of public policy. An example is the senate foreign relations committee.

Executive action

President. If the president signs the bill it becomes law. A presidential veto can be overridden by a two thirds majority in each chamber.

Weakens

Some people support term limits because they believe re election of incumbents democracy.

Pork pork barrel spending projects

Spending whose tangible benefits are targeted at a particular legislator's constituency. Members of congress take on to appease their constituencies in hopes of winning future elections.

Riders

Such amendments are called

Lawmaking function

The authority of a legislature to make the laws necessary to carry out the government's powers. Through its constitutional grant to enact law congress makes the laws authorizing federal programs and appropriating the funds necessary to carry them out.

Midterm election

The congressional election that occurs midway through the president's term of office.

Incumbent

The current holder of a particular public office. Voters tend to elect.

Party unity

The degree to which a party's house or senate member act as a unified group to exert collective control over legislative action.

Population

The number of house members each state has depends on the of the state. The state must make sure that each district is roughly the same size in.

Constituency

The people residing within the geographic area represented by an elected official. Members of congress represent the needs and desires of their. The people who live within a certain district and are represented by an elected official are known as a.

Jurisdiction of a congressional committee

The policy area in which a particular congressional committee is authorized to act.

Veto

The president's rejection of a bill thereby keeping it from becoming law unless congress overrides the veto.

Gerrymandering

The process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that enhances the reelection prospects of its candidates. The act of creating district boundaries that favor a certain political party is called.

Redistricting

The process of altering election districts in order to make them as nearly equal in population as possible. Redistricting takes place ever 10 years after each population census. The act of changing district boundaries to ensure that districts are equal in population size is called.

Reapportionment

The reallocation of house seats among states after each census as a result of population changes. The act of reallocating the house's seat to reflect population shifts ifs known as

Representation function

The responsibility of a legislature to represent various interests in society. Through its elected constitutional officers US senators and representatives congress represents the interests of constituents and the nation in its deliberations and its lawmaking.

Two

The senate has senators for every state.

Roll call votes

The trend can be seen by looking at the party distribution on roll call votes these are votes on which each member's vote is officially recorded as opposed to voice votes where the members simply say aye or nay in unison and the presiding officer indicates which side prevails without tallying individual members' positions.

When voters are unhappy with congress in general incumbents are more likely to lose elections. Incumbents sometimes lose elections simply because their opponents are stronger. During a presidential election voters tend to vote for the congressional candidate of the same party.

True

Service strategy

Use of personal staff by members of congress to perform services for constituents in order to gain their support in future elections. A is a congressperson's practice of using personal staff members to assist constituents.