Unit 6 - Chapter 11 Flashcards

1
Q

Connecticut Compromise

A

compromise founders made for bicameral legislature (rep. by population in House, equal rep. in Senate, gives smaller states more power)

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2
Q

Requirements to be member of the Senate:

A

legal resident of state, 30 years or older, have lived in US for 9 years, serve 6 year terms

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3
Q

Requirements to be member of the House:

A

legal resident of state, 25 years or older, have lived in US for 7 years, serve 2 year terms

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4
Q

Powers unique to the House:

A

initiates revenue bills, can formally start impeachment accusations, decides president if electoral tie

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5
Q

Powers unique to the Senate:

A

ratifies treaties, approves presidential nominations, conduct impeachment trials, if president doesn’t get 270 electoral votes Senate chooses president, House choose VP

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6
Q

Part of constitution that lists powers of Congress:

A

Article 1, section 8, expresses powers of Congress, application of limited government since can only do what is spelled out

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7
Q

elastic clause

A

gives Congress implied powers to make laws that “necessary and proper” to carry out given powers

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8
Q

McCulloch v. Maryland

A

court cases that justifies/establishes elastic clause

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9
Q

The 5 types of governmental powers:

A

expressed, implied, reserved (power just for the states, 10th amendment), concurrent (shared by state and federal), inherent (powers presumed to be the govt’s)

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10
Q

imminent domain

A

government can take private property for government use (part of inherent powers)

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11
Q

Non-legislative powers (definition and examples in Congress):

A

powers that don’t require making a law (approving members of cabinet, declaring war, amendment process 2/3 needed to propose, 3/4 state approval to ratify)

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12
Q

Strict Constitutionists

A

someone that follows exactly what the constitution spells out (doesn’t support elastic clause)

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13
Q

Baker v. Carr

A

court case that allows fed. courts to take apportionment related cases, says everybody’s vote should be one-to-one

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14
Q

Reno v. Shaw

A

district drawing can’t be based solely on race but allowed to be considered (states draw districts)

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15
Q

Gerrymandering

A

drawing congressional districts to benefit certain party, legal but frowned upon by many

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16
Q

Swing Districts

A

winner gets less than 55% of vote, easier to sway one way or another

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17
Q

Majority/Safe Districts

A

winner gets more than 55%

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18
Q

Incumbency Advantage

A

people currently in office running for reelection, highly likely to win, more likely in House than in Senate (sen. rep. more of state, better challengers)

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19
Q

Franking Privelige

A

allows current congressmen to send ads for free to people in district

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20
Q

Pork Barrel Bill

A

bill that benefits a particular group of people, congressmen pushes for it so can claim credit w/constituents

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21
Q

Speaker of the House

A

most powerful seat in House, decides which bills will be brought to floor, makes committee assignments, member of party that has House majority

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22
Q

Majority Leader/Majority Floor Leader

A

most powerful seat in Senate, member of majority party

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23
Q

VP’s role in Congress

A

president of the senate, votes if there’s a tie, usually too busy to be presiding president

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24
Q

President Pro Tempore

A

pres. in place of VP, senior member of majority party, 4th in line of presidential succession, not powerful position

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25
Q

Standing committee

A

permanent committees, handle bills in different policy areas

26
Q

Joint committee

A

members from House and Senate

27
Q

Conference commitee

A

compromise committee, when different versions of bills pass in different parts of the House/Senate, come together to make one version of bill

28
Q

Select committee

A

limited time or permanent committee with specific purpose

29
Q

Rules committee

A

most powerful committee in House, decides which bills hit floor, how long given to debate it

30
Q

caucus

A

groups congressmen can belong to based on background, allows parties to decide leadership

31
Q

quorum

A

minimum number necessary for something to count as official meeting

32
Q

Committee of the Whole

A

special case of 100 people making up House session, can’t vote but can have official discussions and vote when more people there, speeds up process

33
Q

markup

A

editing process of bill by a committtee/subcommittee

34
Q

Pigeonhole

A

bill set aside by committee, ideally will be forgotten

35
Q

Discharge Petition

A

allows a bill to be forced out of committee, combats pigeonholes

36
Q

Fillibuster

A

action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill in Senate (no time limits on debate)

37
Q

Log rolling

A

congresspeople trade votes so their bill will get passed

38
Q

cloture

A

people vote to try to stop filibuster, must have 60+ votes to stop, so rarely happens

39
Q

Christmas Tree Bill

A

added on bills are like ornaments, a bill that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments

40
Q

sweetener amendments

A

things added to a bill to make people want to vote for it

41
Q

killer amendments

A

things added to a bill to make supporters not want to vote for it

42
Q

engrossed

A

the final copy of a bill (including all amendments) as it has been passed by the house or senate

43
Q

trustee

A

congressmen trusting their judgment, vote how they want regardless of constituents

44
Q

delegate

A

voting how constituents want regardless of personal opinion

45
Q

politico

A

situationally, congressmen will trust judgment or vote how constituents want

46
Q

influences on congressmen’s voting:

A

constituents (top priority)

47
Q

advantages of being an incumbent:

A

name recognition (greatest reason), greater media access, can raise more money, greater campaign experience, casework (solving indiv. constituents’ problems for credit), franking, pork barrel

48
Q

apportionment

A

the way the number of Representatives for each state is determined every 10 years, as required by the Constitution

49
Q

authorization bill/legislative oversight

A

congress watches to make sure federal agency carries out bill, holds trials sometime to do so

50
Q

redistributive policy

A

policies or actions taken by governments that result in wealth being moved from one group of society to another

51
Q

continuing resolution

A

when Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year

52
Q

incrementalism

A

increasing budget of agencies/bills by small amounts

53
Q

reconciliation

A

a way for Congress to enact legislation on taxes, spending, and the debt limit with only a majority in the Senate, avoiding the threat of a filibuster

54
Q

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

A

gives information out, tracks progress of bills, summarizes bills, makes bill info available

55
Q

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

A

reviews activities of executive branch, sees if law is being followed and being executed effectively

56
Q

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

A

analyzes president’s budget, makes projections about economy’s performance, cost of proposed policies, economic effects of taxing/spending alternatives

57
Q

Difference between House/Senate

A

House (controlled debate, more centralized, reps. specialized on few committees, leadership means more)
Senate (unlimited debate, less centralized, reps. generalized on many committees)

58
Q

rider

A

bill won’t pass by itself so gets something added to it to help

59
Q

earmark

A

“hidden” congressional provision that directs federal government to fund specific project or exempts specific people or groups from paying specific taxes

60
Q

seniority system

A

rule for picking committee chairs, less used in modern day, longest serving majority party members would be committee chair (now appointed by Speaker)