Vocab of the unit

Question 1

Pork barrel spending

Answer 1

When members allocate direct moneys, through earmarks, to projects/ groups within their districts or states in legislation
+eliminating earmarks takes away the incentive to pass bills on time
- putting narrow interests ahead of their voters

Question 2

Oversight

Answer 2

Efforts to ensure laws of E branch agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments are in accordance of congressional goals
- hearings or investigations

Question 3

Constituency

Answer 3

Bodies of voters that elect rep or senator

Question 4

Redistricting

Answer 4

Process of drawing new lines for voting districts

Question 5

Gerrymandering

Answer 5

Drawing district borders with a particular interest in mind

Question 6

Partisan gerrymandering

Answer 6

Drawing district borders with a party’s interest in mind

Question 7

Majority-minority districts

Answer 7

Drawing districts with the intent of increasing number of minority voters within that electoral district

Question 8

Malapportionment

Answer 8

Uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts
> made unconstitutional in Reynolds’s v sims
>baker v Carr

Question 9

Incumbency

Answer 9

• rep or senator running for re-election ‘
• leads to an advantage, incumbency advantage, over first time candidates

Question 10

Speaker of the House

Answer 10

-highest/most relevant position in the House of Representatives besides the Vice President
- chosen by house members
- chooses who speaks first

Question 11

Political action committees

Answer 11

Organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns

Question 12

House majority leader

Answer 12

Assists the speaker, not as relevant as senate majority leader

Question 13

Whip

Answer 13

Collects information about how individuals will vote
Ensure party unity and discipline

Question 14

Senate majority leader

Answer 14

Most powerful position
- shapes the legislative agenda

Question 15

Committee chair

Answer 15

Leader who has authority over committees agenda

Question 16

Standing committee

Answer 16

Consider legislation and exercise oversight of bureaucratic agencies (funding)
- often split into subcommittees

Question 17

Joint committees

Answer 17

Contain members of house and senate
- focus public attention on issue, gather info for congress,

Question 18

Conference committee

Answer 18

Resolves differences between H and S versions of a bill to send to president
-required process by Const.

Question 19

Special committee

Answer 19

Investigate issues / scandals

Question 20

Discharge petition

Answer 20

• petition to get a bill out of committee and onto the floor

Question 21

House rules committee

Answer 21

Powerful committee in house formal debate agenda, and decide if a bill will pass or not
- members chosen by speaker
- determines when a bill will be subject for debate and vote
- how long debate will last
- if a bill can be amendments

Question 22

Committee of the whole

Answer 22

All members of HOR
- only 100 needed
-last consideration of all complex and controversial legislation

Question 23

Hold

Answer 23

Delay placed on legislation by senator who objects a bill
- indication of filibuster

Question 24

Unanimous consent agreement

Answer 24

Agreement in the senate that sets the terms for consideration of a bill
- limit debate time
- permit specified amendments

Question 25

Filibuster

Answer 25

Senate speaks on and on to delay or postpone action on piece of legislation

Question 26

Cloture

Answer 26

Procedure which senators can end debate “or filibuster” and and proceed it to action
- 3/5 vote (60)

Question 27

OMB- office of management and budget

Answer 27

Executive branch of office that assists the president in setting national spending priorities

Question 28

Entitlement program

Answer 28

A program in which is has mandatory spending to provide benefits to those who qualify for them by law

Question 29

Mandatory spending

Answer 29

Spending required by existing laws that is already allocated in fed budget

Question 30

Discretionary spending

Answer 30

Spending for programs and policies at the discretion of congress and president

Question 31

Budget surplus

Answer 31

Takes in more money than spends

Question 32

Budget deficit

Answer 32

Spends more money than it takes in

Question 33

Delegate role

Answer 33

Representative who follows constituents beliefs and wants q

Question 34

Trustee

Answer 34

Rep who follows their own beliefs because they believe they were entrusted by the constituents

Question 35

Politico role

Answer 35

Combination of trustee and delegate

Question 36

Divided government

Answer 36

Happens when president is a different majority party than congress

Question 37

President formal powers

Answer 37

Chief executive: oversee executive agencies
Chief diplomat: guiding foreign policy and interacting with heads of other nations
Commander in chief:
Legislation leader
Party leader

Question 38

Informal powers

Answer 38

Executive agreements, executive orders, signing statements
- expansion of informal powers

Question 39

Executive privilege

Answer 39

Presidents can keep certain conversations, records, and transcripts confidential from congress and the people

Question 40

Executive agreements

Answer 40

Signed with foreign nations by president without going to senate for approval
- bypasses advice and consent

Question 41

Signing statements

Answer 41

Written comments issued by presidents while signing a bill,
- include presidents interpretation of the law, and reasoning why he signed it

Question 42

Executive orders

Answer 42

Policy directed issues by presidents that do not require congressional approval

Question 43

Bargaining and persuasion

Answer 43

Informal tool used by president to persuade members of congress to support their policy initiatives

Question 44

Bully pulpit

Answer 44

President goes public to appeal to citizens to pressure other branches of gov to support policy initiatives

Question 45

Pendleton Act

Answer 45

An act that created the first us civil service commission to draw up a merit system of choosing members of civil service

Question 46

Political patronage

Answer 46

Filling of administrative positions as a reward for support and loyalty rather than merit

Question 47

Implementation

Answer 47

The bureaucracy’s role in putting congressional laws into action
- includes bureaucratic discretion and regulation

Question 48

Bureaucratic discretion

Answer 48

• Bureaucrats have the power to decide how a law is implemented, and what congress meant when it passed a given law

Question 49

Regulation

Answer 49

The process through which the federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law
- published in the federal register; notify the public about anticipated impact of proposed rules

Question 50

Bureaucratic adjudication

Answer 50

When the B settles disputes between parties that arise over the implementation of fed laws or determining which individuals are covered under a regulation or program

Question 51

Process of regulation

Answer 51

• announce a proposed set of rules, and allow interested parties to weigh in (notice and comment)
• notify president or congress about anticipated impact of proposed rules
• all regulations must be published in fed register
• they matter because they carry the same weight as congressional legislation, executive orders, and judicial decisions

Question 52

Checks over the bureaucracy

Answer 52

P= appoint and remove top players, and shape bureaucratic priorities in proposed fed budget
S= confirm appointees, pass legislation creating or terminating B policy, give budget, conduct hearings
J= restrict scope of action by overturning policy

Question 53

Checks on president

Answer 53

C- override presidential vetoes, impeachment
J- can overturn executive orders and other presidential orders that violate constution
B- The bureaucracy is so expansive that often, it can act independent form the president

Question 54

War Powers resolution

Answer 54

Law that restricts power of president to maintain troops in combat for mor than 60 days without congressional authorization

Question 55

Federalist 78

Answer 55

Federal judiciary would be likely to infringe upon rights and liberties but would serve as a check on other two branches
- lifetime tenure ensures independence- apart form politics (no re-election worries)

Question 56

Fed 70

Answer 56

One energy, one responsibility/ accountability

Question 57

Baker v Carr

Answer 57

-Tennessee had not changed its borders in year, which ensued malapportionment between rural and urban districts. Whole state got 1 vote
- Do federal courts have the power to determine cases about the apportionment of population in state legislative districts (political question cuz elections is pol process)
- Yes, because the case deals with the 14 amendment one man one vote doctrine.

Question 58

Shaw v Reno

Answer 58

North Carolina had created two black minority-majority districts
Shaw said, hell no we wont go: racial gerrymandering is unnecessary in securing black voters, and creates racial discrimination
-Is racial Redistricting discriminating on the base of race a valid constitutional issue under 14 amendment
- yes The Court held that although North Carolina’s reapportionment plan was racially neutral on its face, the resulting district shape was bizarre enough to suggest that it constituted an effort to separate voters into different districts based on race

Question 59

Marbury v Madison

Answer 59

Do the plaintiffs have a right to receive their commissions?
Can they sue for their commissions in court?
Does the Supreme Court have the authority to order the delivery of their commissions?

Yes, yes, no; because the section of the judiciary act that expanded original jurisdiction of the const. Contradicted the original jurisdiction under Article 3 of the const.