Term
| What is the very first thing you see in the Constitution? |
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Definition
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Term
| What did the Framers view Congress as? What article? |
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Definition
| The most important branch. Article 1 |
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Term
| What kind of legislature is in Congress? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who is the House appointed by? |
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Definition
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Term
| How many members are in the House? |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of terms do they have in the House? |
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Definition
| 2 years terms and everybody is up for reelection |
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Term
| What is the minimum age of the House? |
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Definition
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Term
| How is the House related with the people? |
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Definition
| They are meant to be close with the people. So if you make a bad decision, you probably won't be there next year |
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Term
| How many people does the Senate hold? |
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Definition
| 100 (equal representation for all states |
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Term
| What are the terms in the Senate? |
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Definition
| 6 year terms, and only 1/3 of the people are up for reelection |
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Term
| What is the minimum age for the Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| How closely related is the Senate to the people? |
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Definition
| They are meant to be insulated from popular pressure (Not very close to the public) |
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Term
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Definition
| The House (state legislator) |
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Term
| How much authority is in the Chambers? Is one dominant over the other? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are 7 shared powers? |
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Definition
Declare War
Raise an army or navy
Borrow and coin money
Regulate commerce
Establish federal courts and their jurisdiction(s)
Establish rules of immigration and naturalization (becoming a citizen)
Necessary and proper clause |
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Term
| What is it called when the authority is shared across chambers? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are powers that is granted to one chamber? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three exclusive powers of the House? |
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Definition
Impeach president and other federal officials (like judges)
Originate revenue bills
Determine presidential election if no majority in the electoral college |
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Term
| What are three exclusive powers of the Senate? |
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Definition
Tries impeachments
Ratifies treaties
Confirm appointments to federal courts and other national offices |
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Term
| In the House what is the approximate number that one representative has compared to the amount of people? |
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Definition
| 1 representative for every 715,000 |
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Term
| What do state legislatures draw? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is drawing district lines so as to benefit one party or faction? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three ways that drawing district lines strategically can benefit parties? |
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Definition
Can be partisan
Can be racial
Can lead to funny shaped districts |
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Term
| What did the case Wesberry v. Sanders say? |
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Definition
| Districts must have roughly equal populations |
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Term
| What did the case Thornburg v. Gingles say? |
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Definition
| Districts can't be drawn to benefit or exclude a racial group |
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Term
| What did the case Davis v. Bandemer say? |
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Definition
| Districts can't be too biased against one party |
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Term
| Which case had the strongest effect on people: Wesberry v. Sanders, Thornburg v. Gingles, or Davis v. Bandemer? |
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Definition
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Term
| What do many people say about congressmen? |
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Definition
| That they are single-minded seekers of reelection |
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Term
| How is it possible for a congressman to get a job done if the are not reelected? |
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Definition
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Term
| How much money a day do incumbents have to get to get reelected? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the percentage that an incumbent will get reelected? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why do incumbents need to work so hard to win if they win at high rates? |
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Definition
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Term
| Incumbents work to help who? |
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Definition
| voters in their districts |
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Term
| What are requests from constituents for information and help in dealing with government agencies? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the reelection rate for Senators? |
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Definition
| 85-90% (not as high as incumbents from the House) |
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Term
| What are four reasons why senators don't have as high as a reelection rate as incumbents from the House? |
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Definition
1.States have bigger, more diverse electoral bases than districts
2.States are more likely to have balanced party competition (not overwhelmingly republican or democratic)
3.Senators are more likely to face good challengers
4.States fit media markets better than districts |
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Term
| What is it called when Congress gets mostly elected because the president got elected? |
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Definition
| Riding the presidents coattail into office |
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Term
| In midterm elections, the president's party almost always loses their seats. What are 4 reasons why? |
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Definition
1. Presidential surge and midterm decline (Presidents name not on list, people don't care)
2. President's approval ratings are almost always lower at midterm than when (s)he takes office
3. Overexposure of the presidents party
4. Balancing theory (people generally want a democrat in one party and a republican in another) |
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Term
| Did the Constitution establish the institutions that have developed within Congress? |
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Definition
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Term
| Current institutions grew out of a need to overcome certain problems. What are 6 examples of these problems? |
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Definition
1. Need for information
2. Coordination problems
3. Resolving conflicts
4.Collective action vs. personal interests
5. Transaction costs
6. Time constraints |
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Term
| What increases on new issues arise in Congress? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three divisions of labor and policy specializations that are needed because new issues arise in Congress? |
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Definition
Committees
Subcommittees
Increased staff sizes |
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Term
| Which is more difficult to coordinate: the House or the Senate? Why? |
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Definition
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Term
| Coordination problems increase as the size increases. |
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Definition
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Term
| Since coordination problems increase, what does this mean that you have to get? |
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Definition
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Term
| Are leaders more powerful in the House or the Senate? Why? |
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Definition
| House because coordination problems are stronger |
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Term
| Since you have to have a majority to pass anything, what helps? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Are parties (through party leaders more powerful in the House or Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| What 2 things help the problem of members of congress want to get reelected, but they have to provide for collective good? |
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Definition
Division of Labor and
committees/subcommittees |
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Term
| Division of Labor and committees/ subcommittees help the problem of members of congress want to get reelected, but they have to provide for collective good. What are 2 ways they help? |
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Definition
1. Individual credit- claiming for collective action (ex. giving money to NASA and saying you claim some credit)
2. Control over policy area |
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Term
| Since there are high transaction costs in Congress, what do they need to have? |
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Definition
| an elaborate set of rules to streamline the process |
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Term
| What is it called when members want to run for reelection while there is still governing to do? |
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Definition
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Term
| What helps make the decision of getting a majority to do something? |
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Definition
| Majoritarian Institutions |
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Term
| Why did the first party emerge? |
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Definition
| Out of necessity because of the high transaction cost |
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Term
| What are two things that help reduce transaction costs in Congress? |
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Definition
| Parties and Party leaders |
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Term
| When do member delegate to parties? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where is there more leadership/partisanship: House or Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three reasons why there is more leadership/partisanship in the House? |
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Definition
1. Coordinating 435 vs. 100
2. In early Congresses House was "first mover on most bills
3. House's workload considerably greater in early Congress |
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Term
| Are the parties and leaders weaker or stronger in the senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| What have party leadership positions become? |
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Definition
| Institutionalized (formalized- permanent figures of the House) |
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Term
| What are three things the speaker of the House does? |
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Definition
1. Presides over the House
2. Second in line of presidential succession (after VP)
3. Can have tremendous influence |
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Term
| Who makes people vote a certain way? |
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Definition
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Term
| What give a lot of power to individual Senators? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are two rules that Senators get that give them a lot of power? |
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Definition
1. Offer any kind of amendment (non-germane)
2. Filibuster |
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Term
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Definition
| Doing anything to delay a final vote on a bill |
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Term
| Who votes when something is tied in the Senate 50 to 50? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the official chair in the senate called? |
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Definition
| The president pro tempore |
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Term
| What is it called when parties become increasingly ideologically cohesive and polarized, than party members are more likely to delegate to leaders? |
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Definition
| Conditional Party Government |
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Term
| What do committees help solve? |
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Definition
| The collective action problems members of congress face |
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Term
| In the Early Congress, how did the House meet as a committee? |
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Definition
| As a whole (One big committee) |
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Term
| What is it called when the House met as one committee, but it was too big because they couldn't deal with the problems at hand? |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of committee did the House create? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three reasons why Members of Congress want to serve on certain committees and subcommittees? |
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Definition
1. Constituency
2. Power
3. Individual interests and expertise |
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Term
| Membership to a committee is generally stable property rights |
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Definition
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Term
| Is the Senate more Republican or Democratic today? What about the House? |
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Definition
Senate- Democratic
House- Republican |
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Term
| How are committee/ subcommittee chairs typically decided? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are 5 types of committees? |
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Definition
Permanent (standing) Committee
Select/ Special Committee
Joint Committee
Ad Hoc Committee
Conference Committee |
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Term
| Which committee is drawn from both chambers? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which committee exists from one congress to the next? |
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Definition
| Permanent (standing) Committee |
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Term
| Which committee can last for multiple Congresses? |
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Definition
| Select/ Special Committee |
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Term
| Which committee handles particularly sensitive topics? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which committee often appear to deal with specific problems and then disappear? |
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Definition
| Select/ Special Committee |
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Term
| Which committee resolves differences between the House and the Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which committee gathers information and issue reports, but don't report bills? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who is the Ad Hoc Committee similar to? |
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Definition
| Select/ Special Committee |
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Term
| Who is the Conference Committee similar to? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the 9 steps in the law making process? |
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Definition
1. A bill is introduced
2. Assignment to a committee
3. Committee/Subcommittee hearings
4. Markup and reporting
5. Scheduling Debate
6. Debate and Amendment
7. The Final Vote
8. Conference
9. To the president |
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Term
| In the first step of the law making process (introducing the bill): Who has to introduce a bill? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the first step of the law making process (introducing the bill): Who can write a bill? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the first step of the law making process (introducing the bill): Where are bills introduced if it is really important? |
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Definition
| To both chambers at the same time |
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Term
| In the second step of the law making process (Assigning the bill to a committee): What does the bill receive? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| In the third step of the law making process (Committee/Subcommittee hearings): Do most bills get scheduled for hearings? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the fourth step of the law making process (Markup and reporting): What do subcommittees do? |
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Definition
| Edits a bill line by line and then reports to the full committee |
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Term
| Where is the bulk of the work done on a bill? |
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Definition
| In the Markup and reporting stage |
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Term
| What is there a lot of in the fourth step of the law making process (Markup and reporting)? (2) |
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Definition
| Deal making and coalition building |
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Term
| What is coalition building like? |
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Definition
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Term
| Who do the committees then report the report to? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is an issue of a summary of a bill's goals, provisions, and changes? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the fourth step of the law making process (Markup and reporting): what do we already know at this point? |
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Definition
| Whether or not the bill will pass or fail |
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Term
| In the fifth step of the law making process (Scheduling Debate): What kind of committee is in the House? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are three types of the rules in the rules committee? |
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Definition
Open Rule
Restricted Rule
Closed Rule |
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Term
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Definition
| Any germane (dealing with the topic at hand) amendments allowed |
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Term
| What is an Restricted Rule? |
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Definition
| Only certain amendments allowed |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Can bills die in a Rules committee? If so, how can they be revived? |
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Definition
| Yes, discharge petition pulled from the Rules Committee |
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Term
| In the fifth step of the law making process (Scheduling Debate): What kind of Committee does the Senate have? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the no rules committee, how are rules determined? |
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Definition
| by a Unanimous Consent Agreement (UCA) |
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Term
| Since there are no Unanimous Consent Agreements for controversial bills, there are no rules, so what does this allow for? |
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Definition
| Filibusters which continues the debate |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| 3/5th (60) vote of the Senators |
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Term
| Typically, what do bills need to pass? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the sixth step of the law making process (Debate and Amendment): How is the debate split in the House? |
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Definition
| evenly between proponents and opponents (1 group gets the same amount of hours as the other) |
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Term
| In the sixth step of the law making process (Debate and Amendment): What must the amendments be, if allowed? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the sixth step of the law making process (Debate and Amendment): What kind of majority does it need to pass in the House? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the sixth step of the law making process (Debate and Amendment): Do amendments have to be germane in the Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the sixth step of the law making process (Debate and Amendment): What kind of majority do you need for the Senate? |
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Definition
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Term
| In the seventh step of the law making process (The Final Vote): What are 5 ways members decide how to vote? |
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Definition
1. Constituents
2. Colleges and Caucuses
3. Interest Groups, lobbyists, and PACs
4. Staff
5. Party |
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Term
| What is the key when making a vote? |
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Definition
| Make an explainable vote. (one bad vote won't typically lose an election, but a lot of bad votes will) |
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Term
| In the eighth step of the law making process (Conference): When the bill is passed in one chamber, where does it go? |
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Definition
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Term
| If a bill passes in both chambers where does it then go? |
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Definition
| To a conference committee where the differences are ironed out |
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Term
| What is the conference committee composed of? |
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Definition
| Members of committees that initially reported the bill |
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Term
| After the conference committee is done ironing out the differences of a bill, what does it do? |
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Definition
| It issues a report, and requires another vote. (No filibustering, just straight yes or no) |
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Term
| In the ninth step of the law making process (To the President): What four options does the president have? |
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Definition
1. Sign the bill
2. Veto the bill
3. Ignore the bill
4. Pocket Veto |
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Term
| What happens when the president ignores the bill? |
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Definition
| It becomes a law in 10 days if Congress is in session |
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Term
| What happens when the president pocket vetoes the bill? |
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Definition
| He ignores it, but Congress adjourns within 10 days, so the bill dies. |
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Term
| If the president vetoes a bill, what does he have to issue with it? |
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Definition
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Term
| How can Congress override a veto? |
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Definition
| With a 2/3 vote from both chambers |
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Term
| Do bills win more or lose more? |
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Definition
| They lose more than they win |
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Term
| What is the only way for a bill to become a law? |
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Definition
| To have fairly broad support across multiple chambers |
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Term
| Americans ______ congress, but ______ the members of Congress |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of body is Congress? Why? |
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Definition
| An inefficient body because it tends not to produce legislation. |
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