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Government > Chapter 4C > Flashcards

Chapter 4C Flashcards

1
Q

When does Congress convene?

A
  • every two years

- January 3rd of every odd-numbered year

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2
Q

Organizational Procedures Within House (7 Steps)

A
  1. Clerk of House from preceding term presides at beginning of first day’s session.
  2. Members-to-be choose speaker.
  3. Speaker takes oath of office.
  4. Speaker swears in rest of members (as body).
  5. House elects clerk, parliamentarian, sergeant at arms, chief administrative officer, and chaplain.
  6. House adopts rules that will govern its proceedings through the term.
  7. Members of twenty permanent committees are appointed by floor vote.
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3
Q

Organizational Procedures Within Senate

A

Senate = continuous body (only 1/3 of members are up for election every two years), so it does not face large organizational problems at beginning of its term

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4
Q

Speaker of House

A
  • more powerful presiding officer than Vice President

- elected presiding officer of House and acknowledged leader of his/her majority party

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5
Q

Speaker of House Duties (9)

A
  • preside and keep order
  • interprets and applies rules
  • refers bills to committees
  • rules on points of order
  • puts motions to a vote
  • decides outcome of most votes
  • names members of all select and conference committees
  • signs all bills and resolutions passed by House
  • MUST vote to break a tie
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6
Q

President of Senate

A
  • Vice President
  • unlike House, Senate does not choose its own presiding officer, and its presiding officer is not a member of Senate
  • cannot take floor to speak or debate and may ONLY vote to break tie
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7
Q

President Pro Tempore

A
  • serves in Vice President’s absence

- always leading member of majority party

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8
Q

Party Caucas

A

closed meeting of members of each party of each house

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9
Q

Floor Leaders

A

-try to carry out decisions of their parties’ caucuses and steer floor action to parties’ benefit

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10
Q

Majority v. Minority Leader

A

MA- floor leader of party that holds majority of seats in each house of Congress
MI- floor leader of party that holds minority of seats in each house of. Congress

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11
Q

Where is the bulk of Congress’s work really completed?

A

within committees

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12
Q

Committee Chairman

A
  • decides in what order and at what length committees will consider bill
  • whether public hearings are to be held
  • what witnesses the committee will call
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13
Q

Seniority Rule

A
  • unwritten custom

- most important posts in Congress will be held by those party members with the longest records of service

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14
Q

Standing Committees

A

permanent panels to which all similar bills can be sent

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15
Q

House Rules Committee

A

-decides whether and under what conditions the full House will consider a measure

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16
Q

Special Committee

A

committee appointed to perform a special function that is beyond the authority or capacity of a standing committee.

17
Q

Conference Committee

A

temporary joint body created to resolve bicameral differences of a bill

18
Q

Bill

A

proposed law presented to House or Senate for consideration

19
Q

Public v. Private Bills

A

PU- apply to nation as a whole

PR- apply to certain persons or place rather than the entire nation

20
Q

Joint v. Concurrent Resolutions

A

J: similar to bills (when passed, have force of law); often deal with unusual or temporary matters
C: do not have force of law; deal with matters in which House and Senate must act jointly

21
Q

How many readings does each bill receive?

A

First: clerk labels bill with prefix, number, and title
Second: floor consideration
Third: takes place just before final vote

22
Q

Pigeonhole

A

to “bury” bill (bill dies in committee)

23
Q

Discharge Petition

A

enables members to force a bill that has remained in committee for 30 days onto floor consideration

24
Q

Committee Actions

A
  1. report bill favorably with “do pass” recommendation
  2. pigeonhole bill
  3. report bill in amended form
  4. report bill with an unfavorable recommendation
  5. report a committee bill
25
Q

House Calendars

A
  • Union: have to do with revenue, appropriations, and government property
  • House: all other public bills
  • Private: for all private bills
  • Corrections: for all bills from Union and House calendar taken out of
  • Discharge: for petitions to discharge bills from committee
26
Q

Committee of Whole

A

includes all members of House, sitting as one large committee of House, rather than of House itself
-speeds up business on floor

27
Q

House Debate Limits

A
  • member cannot hold floor for more than an hour without unanimous consent to speak for a longer time
  • “move to the previous question” can be used to close/end debate
28
Q

House Voting Methods

A
  • voice votes
  • standing vote
  • teller vote (no longer used)
  • roll-call vote
  • computerized voting system
29
Q

Senate Debate Limits

A
  • less formal and its rules are less strict
  • Senate only has one Calendar
  • debate is unrestrained
  • members cannot “move to previous question”
30
Q

Filibuster

A
  • an attempt to “talk a bill to death”

- stalling tactic used by minority of senators to delay/kill action on a measure

31
Q

Cloture Rule

A
  • limits debate
  • if at least 60 senators vote for this rule when called to action by at least 16 senators, it becomes effective (no more than another 30 hours may be spent on measure)
32
Q

How President Can Act on Bill

A
  • President can take no action on bill; after ten days, bill becomes effective
  • President can pass bill
  • President can veto bill
  • President can use pocket veto (bill dies after ten days if Congress is not in session)
33
Q

Unorthodox Lawmaking

A
  • generic bills
  • “ping-ponging”: bill travels back and forth from each chamber until disagreements are resolved
  • omnibus measures: one bill contains many topics and issues
34
Q

How Bill Becomes Law

A
  1. Bill is introduced into either the House or the Senate (clerk labels bill with prefix, number, and title = first reading)
  2. Bill is referred to one of the House’s/Senate’s standing committees
  3. If committee approves bill (Rules Committee), bill moves onto floor consideration (second reading)
  4. If neither house can come to an agreement, concerning the bill, the bill is given to the conference committee to amend
  5. House and Senate vote on final passage of bill (third reading)
  6. President either approves or vetoes bill

Government (12 decks)

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