AP Gov Legislative Branch Flashcards
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| 7686048746 | Issues the 113th Congress did NOT resolve | Farmers in midwest faced droughts and needed relief, national debt was growing, international conflicts persisted in the Baltic States and the Middle East, status of a national health care bill, education, student grants and loans. abortion and contraceptives and same sex marriage. | 0 | |
| 7686087490 | Roles of Congressmen(and women) | Lawmaker, policy maker, budgeter, representative of their district, state party and sometimes race, ethnicity, and gender. | 1 | |
| 7686118186 | Hyper partisanship | A sharply polarized situation in which political parties are in fierce disagreement with each other. Ex. 113th Congress because there are 2 sharp political sides. | 2 | |
| 7686152746 | How is the decennial census connected to the House of Reps? | It is a census that comes out every 10 years that counts all the Americans which then determines House of Reps representatives numbers. | 3 | |
| 7686167892 | How is apportionment connected to the House of Reps? | It determines how many seats there are in the House of Reps depending on the population. | 4 | |
| 7686183648 | How is redistricting connected to the House of Reps? | After seats are appropriated state legislators must reflect populations so each congress member represents the same # of residents. | 5 | |
| 7686214077 | What are the enumerated=delegated powers of Congress? | Make laws, raise and spend revenues. Power to declare war, raise army and navy, coin money, regulate commerce, establish the Federal courts and set forth immigration rules and all laws "necessary and proper" | 6 | |
| 7686243326 | Key differences between House and Senate | House:435 reps, tax &revenue, 2 yr term, centralized, committee on rules, more efficient. Senate:100 reps, 4 yr term, less centralized, no rule committee, foreign policy, difficult to pass legislation. | 7 | |
| 7686274050 | Law making power of executive , bureaucracy, and judicial branch. | Executive-Presidents issue proclamations & executive orders. Bureaucracy-Issue quasi-legislation rules & are charged with enforcing laws. Judicial- (Supreme Court) render opinions that generate principles also have the force of all. umm that doesn't make sense so judicial review I guess. | 8 | |
| 7686323523 | Bicameral Legislature | 2-house legislature. Ex Congress bc house and senate. | 9 | |
| 7686338996 | Naturalization | Admittance of a foreigner to the citizenship of a country. Ex | 10 | |
| 7686348932 | Impeachment Process | House of Reps charge a official with "Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Senate conducts the trial with a 2/3 vote of being guilty. | 11 | |
| 7686414119 | demographic groups over represented in Congress | Educated, wealthy, white males/males compared to rest of the population. | 12 | |
| 7686425455 | demographic groups underrepresented in Congress | Women, African Americans and other minorities, poor people compared to the rest of the population. | 13 | |
| 7686444128 | Who are non-voting members of Congress representing? | American Samoa, DC, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico. | 14 | |
| 7686449508 | Incumbency | Helps members stay in office once they are elected bc they have advantages. Ex. access to media. | 15 | |
| 7686458024 | Redistricting | Redrawing congressional districts to reflect increase or decreases in seats allotted to the states. As well as population shifts within a state. Occurs every 10 yrs im pretty sure. | 16 | |
| 7686479924 | Gerrymandering | The drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to shape of the district. Can be used for political advantages. | 17 | |
| 7686497256 | Advantages of incumbency | Name recognition, casework, media access, redistricting, credit claiming, franking privilege, ease in fundraising, experience in running a campaign. | 18 | |
| 7686533778 | Origins of "Gerrymandering" | Come from the last name of MA governor bc he first politicized the redistricting process, Elbridge Gerry. And the word salamander bc the was one wonky shaped district that looked like a dragon or some shiz. | 19 | |
| 7686555647 | Majority Party | The political party in each house of congress with the most members. And im not gonna add why its important bc its kinda obvi. | 20 | |
| 7686567142 | Minority Party | Party in each house with the 2nd most members. | 21 | |
| 7686580272 | Party Caucus | A formal gathering of all party members. Democrates only tho. | 22 | |
| 7686584770 | Party Conference | Same thing but for the Republicans. | 23 | |
| 7686597372 | Committee on Committees | Make committee assignments. Important bc it helps get things done at conferences. Republicans only. | 24 | |
| 7686610833 | Steering Committee | Same thing as committee on committees but for Democrates. | 25 | |
| 7686639084 | Speaker of the House | The only officer of the House of Reps specifically mentioned in the constitution. Chambers most powerful position. Paul Ryan | 26 | |
| 7686650812 | Majority Leader | Head of the party controlling the most seats in the House/Senate. 2nd most powerful position. Senate-Mitch McConnell aka turtle senator (I added a pic to make gretchen laugh). House- Kevin McCarthy. |  | 27 |
| 7686706522 | Minority Leader | Same as Majority leader but for the Minority party. House- Nancy Pelosi. Senate-Chuck Schumer. | 28 | |
| 7686725760 | Whips | Assits speaker, majority, and minority leaders in their leadership efforts. Help persuade party members. House: Majority- Steve Scalise, Minority- Steny Hoyer. Senate: Majority-John Cornyn, Minority-Dick Durbine. | 29 | |
| 7686940102 | President Pro Tempore | Official chair of the Senate. Presiding officer of the Senator. Orrin Hatch. the official who presides over the Senate in the absence of the vice president | 30 | |
| 7686983050 | How is the House of Reps organized? | Look at chart in study guide. | 31 | |
| 7686988151 | How is the Senate organized? | Look at chart in study guide. | 32 | |
| 7686995710 | Standing committee | Committee to which proposed bills are referred. Ex is Agriculture. Pushes from one congress to another. | 33 | |
| 7687003848 | Joint committee | Standing committee that includes members from both houses. Ex is Economics. Focus on major matters. | 34 | |
| 7687020591 | Conference committee | Special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills. Helps pass bills. | 35 | |
| 7687035479 | Select(special) committees | Temporary committee appointed for specific purpose. Ex Select Benghazi. Helps solve a particular issue. | 36 | |
| 7687045529 | closed rule bill | phrbphibits amendments to bills up for debate floor. | 37 | |
| 7687050925 | seniority | Time of continuous service on a committee | 38 | |
| 7687062064 | Explain why House committee members are specialists while Senate committee members are generalists. | House members have few committee assignments, while Senators are generalist bc they have 3-4 committees and 7 sub committees. | 39 | |
| 7687079495 | Explain why the Appropriation and Budget Committee wields great power in both houses. | It has a monetary impact and bc some members are interested in it. | 40 | |
| 7687123123 | Power of committee chairman. How are they selected | Select all subcommittee chairs, call meetings and are command Majority members to sit on conference committees. Senate is chosen by seniority and House by party loyalty. | 41 | |
| 7687155662 | Traffic cop power | The Committee on Rules gives each bill a date the bill will be debated this is called a rule. A discharge petition can allow the majority to free bills out of a House committee. Report out means to tell the house or Senate the bills assigned to them. | 42 | |
| 7687209951 | How long is a session in Congress | as long as Congress wants | 43 | |
| 7687212860 | Mark-up | session in which committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor. | 44 | |
| 7687217632 | hold out | Senator asks to be informed before a bill or nomination is brought to floor. | 45 | |
| 7687238961 | Filibuster | Formal way of stopping Senate action by long speeches or debates. | 46 | |
| 7687245136 | cloture | requires the vote of 60 senators to stop a debate | 47 | |
| 7687249474 | pocket veto | If congress adjourns before the President signs the bill, the bill is vetoed. | 48 | |
| 7687258786 | override veto | President vetos the bill | 49 | |
| 7687264205 | Significance of the Budgetary Function to the legislative process | President and congress work together to create a budget. | 50 | |
| 7687271721 | Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and CBO | laid out a plan for congressional action on the annual budget resolution appropriations, reconciliation and and other revenue bills. | 51 | |
| 7687289564 | Office of Management and Budget | aids the executive branch in its role of creating the budget. | 52 | |
| 7687294884 | reconciliation | consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to 20 hrs. | 53 | |
| 7687312964 | Why pork appropriations and programmatic requests insure a member of Congress reelection | Because the legislator brings old and new public work programs so they are hard defund. I think?? | 54 | |
| 7687334803 | Significance of the Congressional Oversight function | It holds the executive branch responsible for the implementation of its authority. | 55 | |
| 7687403364 | How the War Powers Resolution the demonstrates oversight function | Because Congress must give its approval for the President to deploy a certain number of troops. | 56 | |
| 7687423077 | Why the war powers resolution is probs unconstitutional | It limits presidential power as commander in chief | 57 | |
| 7687440451 | purpose of the Congressional Review Act and when Congress has used it. | Allows Congress to exercise its oversight powers by nullifying (some word here that I dont know bc I can't read my own handwriting) regulations. The 112th Congress tried to make greater use of act and question all regulations. | 58 | |
| 7687528287 | How Congress has used the Confirmation power to oversee presidential appointments | The Senate confirms members of the executive branch and a President will ask the Senators of the State that the person the president wants to appoint, if they favor them. | 59 | |
| 7687554034 | When has Congress used its Impeachment Power | Congress has voted to impeach 17 federal officals. | 60 | |
| 7687563205 | Describe the factors considered in the four resolutions against presidents | John Tyler charged with corruption and misconduct 1843, The House rejected the charges against Tyler. Andrew Johnson, charged with serious misconduct in 1868, the Senate acquitted Johnson by a one-margin. Richard M. Nixon charged with obstruction of justice and abuse of power in 1974, Nixon resigned before the full House voted on the articles of impeachment. Bill Clinton charged with perjury and obstruction of justice 1998, acquitted Clinton by a vote of 55-45 | 61 | |
| 7687563206 | trustee | Listens to constituents opinions and then uses his own best judgment to make a final decision. | 62 | |
| 7687571012 | delegate | Votes the way their constituents would want regardless of opinion. | 63 | |
| 7687575791 | politico | Acts as a trustee or a delegate depending on issue, | 64 | |
| 7687590120 | Political parties in Congress | Political parties have strong influence. Democratic and Republican parties vote on 90% of legislation. | 65 | |
| 7687605605 | Difference between divided government and unified government | Divided-political party controlling congress and Presidency is different Unified-Same political party controlling congress and presidency. | 66 | |
| 7687622887 | How memebers of Congress learn about constitutes | Act on the preference of trustees. Social media. Town meetings. Go home and ask constituents. | 67 | |
| 7687636589 | how members of Congress influence and collaborate with colleagues and caucuses | ask for advice from colleagues who know about the legislation | 68 | |
| 7687643755 | logrolling | Vote trading, takes place on specialized bills. | 69 | |
| 7687654335 | How legislators are influenced by Interest Groups, Lobbyists, and PACs | They provide information to supportive legislators, ex is NRAs position on gun ownership. Pay for campaigns. | 70 | |
| 7687663605 | CRS | Responds to quater million congressional requests for information each year. Conducts studies, makes summaries and tracks progress of bills introduced. | 71 | |
| 7687679794 | GAO | Sets government standards for accounting, provides legal opinions, settles claims against the government, conducts studies upon congressional request. | 72 | |
| 7687690465 | CBO | Gives congress a 2nd opinion on budget debates. | 73 | |
| 7687826111 | Districting | Specific lines for each electoral district. | 74 | |
| 7687841294 | "at large" | They represent the entire state. | 75 | |
| 7687845339 | single-member district | Each election district chooses one representative | 76 | |
| 7687850729 | "one person, one vote" | a persons vote counts equally no matter where they live. | 77 | |
| 7687857972 | Why is "one person, one vote" sometimes impossible to achieve | Because the Senate has 2 reps for each states. | 78 | |
| 7687861288 | Majority-Minority district | Districts where the majority of voters are members of a minority group. | 79 | |
| 7687869631 | who draws congressional districts | People working for the state legislator. | 80 | |
| 7687877670 | SCOTUS requirements that district are "same size" and contiguous | So they can't be divided completely by other districts | 81 | |
| 7687881495 | Why Gerrymandering is still a part of redistricting | To make district even with populations and to capture the characteristics of a population. | 82 | |
| 7687903445 | Contiguity | Traditional redistricting principle that districts are a single unbroken state. | 83 | |
| 7687907361 | compactness | how spread apart or closed in a district is. | 84 | |
| 7687911671 | Cracking and Packing | Method to minimize impact of a voting block by packing its members of the group into a single district so they have less of an impact. Cracking splits the group across so they dilut the impact. | 85 | |
| 7687933441 | Racial Gerrymandering | Boundaries were drawn with the goal to dilute voting favor of the minority | 86 | |
| 7687943986 | Baker v Carr(1962) | Required districts to be proportional bc of the 14th amendment to ensure everyone is equal. | 87 | |
| 7687951183 | Wesberry v Sanders (1964) | Stated the district lines had to contain roughly the same amount of people | 88 | |
| 7687970801 | Reynolds v Sims (1964) | the legislative districts across states be equal in population. | 89 | |
| 7687977012 | Shaw v Reno | based on race must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause. Racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional. | 90 |