105 final

Question 1

Why bills rarely become laws (The legislative game)

Answer 1

Congress rules and structures of the parties and committee systems are designed to enable majorities to make laws

Question 2

Why bills rarely become laws (The legislative game)

Answer 2

The lawmaking process presents opponents of a bill with many opportunities to sidetrack or kill legislation

Question 3

How many bills are introduced

Answer 3

Roughly 10,000 bills

Question 4

How many bills become law on average

Answer 4

500

Question 5

a bias against action

Answer 5

opponents only need to win once to defeat a bill

Question 6

how a bill becomes a law (House)

Answer 6

1. a bill is drafted
2. introduced in the House and refereed to committee(s)
3. goes to House committee hearings; markups; reported out
4. goes to Rules Committee
5. goes to House floor
6. goes back and fourth between the Conference committee to reconcile House-Senate differences
7. goes to president for signature or veto

Question 7

how a bill becomes a law (Senate)

Answer 7

1. bill is drafted
2. it is introduced in the Senate and referred to committee(s)
3. goes to senate committee hearings; markups; reported out
4. goes to senate floor
5. goes back and fourth between the Conference committee to reconcile House-Senate differences
6. goes to president for signature or veto

Question 8

Form of congressional action

Answer 8

Joint resolutions (ex. constitutional amendment, war declaration, etc.)

Question 9

joint resolutions

Answer 9

a tool Congress uses for significant actions, including proposing constitutional amendments, funding measures, and other urgent matters

Question 10

form of congressional action

Answer 10

concurrent resolutions (ex. budget resolution)

Question 11

concurrent resolutions

Answer 11

a way for Congress to address internal matters, express opinions, or set procedures, but they don’t carry the legal authority that bills or joint resolutions do

Question 12

cloture

Answer 12

cloture is a mechanism that allows the Senate to end extended debates (like filibusters) and move forward with voting on a bill or nomination

Question 13

filibuster

Answer 13

a tactic used in the Senate to delay or block a vote on a bill or nomination, typically by extending debate. It can be ended through the cloture process, which requires 60 votes to limit further debate

Question 14

unanimous consent agreements (UCA’s)

Answer 14

the Senate does not have a rules committee, so the leaders of both parties routinely negotiate unanimous consent agreements (UCA’s) to arrange for the orderly consideration of legislation

Question 15

two-track process for getting bills to the floor

Answer 15

1. suspension of the rules
2. rules committee (“the traffic cop”)

Question 16

rules committee

Answer 16

in the U.S. House of Representatives it is a highly influential body that decides how bills will be considered, debated, and amended on the House floor. By controlling the terms of debate, the Rules Committee has significant power over the legislative process

Question 17

suspension of the rules

Answer 17

procedure in the U.S. House of Representatives that allows for the quick passage of non-controversial bills with limited debate and no amendments. It requires a two-thirds majority vote of those present and is typically used for routine, widely supported legislation that doesn’t require the usual legislative process.

Question 18

non-controversial bills are considered under _______

Answer 18

“suspension of the rules”

Question 19

scheduling debate

Answer 19

there is no limit on how long senators can talk or how many amendments they can offer

Question 20

cloture

Answer 20

3/5th’s of the Senate (60 votes) are needed to invoke cloture, which allows an additional 30 hours of debate on a bill before a vote is finally taken

Question 21

Spatial model of ideological voting in Congress

Answer 21

provides a framework for understanding voting behavior in Congress by focusing on how legislators’ ideological preferences and the relative positions of proposed policies influence their decisions

Question 22

how to determine legislator ideology

Answer 22

standard way to measure is to analyze roll-call votes (“yeas” and “nays”)

Question 23

method 1 of determining legislator ideology (interest group scores)

Answer 23

interest groups keep a “scorecard” of legislator roll-call votes on those roll-calls relevant to the interest group

Question 24

method 2 of determining legislator ideology (nominate scores)

Answer 24

based on all (non-unanimous) roll-call votes, scores range from -1 to 1, scores for all Congress can be found at VoteView.com (constantly updated)

Question 25

types of committees

Answer 25

1. standing (can originate legislation) 2. select/special (can originate legislation) 3. joint 4. conference

Question 26

committee assignments (House)

Answer 26

no member can serve on more than 2 committees (appropriations, energy and commerce, rules, ways and means are "exclusive")

Question 27

committee assignments (Senate)

Answer 27

- A, B, C committees - senators can serve on more than 2 "A" committees (the top committees) - they can only serve on ONE "super A" committee (appropriations, armed services, finance, foreign relations) - Johnson rule: every senator gets a chance to serve on a "super A" committee

Question 28

what do committees do?

Answer 28

- study issues - investigate & oversee the executive & bureaucracy - distribution - "congress in session is congress on public exhibition, whilst congress in its committee rooms is congress at work"

Question 29

negative agenda control

Answer 29

the majority party controls the legislative agenda-negative agenda control. the majority party leadership, through their control of the agenda prevent vetoes on legislation that the party favors will be voted on

Question 30

the structure of party organization (house)

Answer 30

- the majority party in the House is lead by the Speaker of the House, whose chief assistants are the majority leader & the majority whip - the Rules committee is also a tool if the majority party

Question 31

the structure of party organization (senate)

Answer 31

- party leadership in the senate is more collegial & less formal than in the house - the minority party has greater influence in the Senate because so much of that body's business is conducted under unanimous consent agreements negotiated by party leaders

Question 32

authorization committees

Answer 32

play a critical role in the legislative process by drafting, reviewing, and overseeing authorization bills, which lay out the framework for how federal government programs and agencies function. However, they do not directly provide funding, which is handled by appropriations committees

Question 33

appropriations committees

Answer 33

- 12 separate bills - the annual appropriations process deals primarily with discretionary spending (about 30% of federal spending) - responsible for ensuring that federal agencies and programs receive the necessary funds to carry out their missions. They draft appropriations bills that allocate money for specific programs, and they have significant influence over government spending. While authorization committees set the legal framework and policies for programs, the appropriations committees provide the financial resources to make those policies a reality

Question 34

Strategies president’s use to influence congressional legislation

Answer 34

-bargaining & persuasion - going public - unilateral actions - veto politics

Question 35

what happens if they don't pass the appropriation bills in time?

Answer 35

either a government shutdown or they pass a "continuing resolution" (CR). A CR keeps the government funded temporarily at current spending levels

Question 36

bargaining & persuasion (strategies president’s use to influence congressional legislation)

Answer 36

- presidents cannot command others, including congress to do their bidding - instead presidents must rely on persuasion - presidential power is the power to persuade according to Neustadt - persuasion & bargaining are an "insider activity"

Question 37

going public (president’s use to influence congressional legislation)

Answer 37

- the rise of the public presidency gave presidents abetter strategic alternative - appealing to the public, over the heads of congress

Question 38

unilateral actions (president’s use to influence congressional legislation)

Answer 38

- direct policymaking not requiring congressional approval - executive orders (need to have a basis in a congressional statute of a constitutional clause)

Question 39

veto politics (president’s use to influence congressional legislation)

Answer 39

- the veto is a negative power - can sometimes give the presidents bargaining power with congress - its importance varies according to the preferences of congress and the president