Congress

Front 1

1. How many members are in the House of Representatives? How many are in the Senate? How are they chosen? How long do they serve? Which is the “deliberative” body? Which is the “specialized” body?

Back 1

-435, elected every two years.
-100, 1/3rd elected every 2 years and serve for 6 years.
-House is based on population, senate is based on equality. Must be elected.
-Senate: Deliberative.
-House: Specialized.

Front 2

2. What are the various roles of a congress member? What is the most important role? How do their roles compete with each other?

Back 2

-Politician: has to get elected; policy members: study issues to make decisions about policy; committee member: where most work gets done.
-Committee member is the most important.
-"Hometown advantage," responsibilities are within district and to constituency.

Front 3

3. Who is Richard Fenno? What does he mean by a member of congress’ “Home Style”? What is “Fenno’s Paradox”?

Back 3

-Richard Fenno is a political scientist.
-Home style refers to the fact that the representatives have a hometown orientation.
-The belief that people generally disapprove of U.S. Congress as a whole, but support congressmen from their own Congressional district.

Front 4

4. What is Apportionment? What is Districting? What is Gerrymandering? Who draws the district lines? What considerations are LEGAL when drawing district lines; what considerations are ILLEGAL?

Back 4

-Allocation of population into districts based on census.
-Drawing geographic district lines based on population.
-Deliberate manipulation of boundaries to gain votes for party by dividing up opponents so dominant party stay in power.
-Supreme Court says you must reapportion as equally as possible. Redistricting based on party and political stance is legal, but basing it on race, class, or gender is unconstitutional.

Front 5

5. What is sociological representation? What is agency representation? How do congress members represent their districts? What is the Incumbency Effect? How many members of congress (average) are reelected to their office every 2 years?

Back 5

-Demographics matter: Race, gender, class similarities.
-Representation matters: Members should spend more time on casework.
-Pork barrel legislation: Benefitting constituency. Log Rolling: Trading of favors.
-Incumbency effect: the advantage that elected representatives have over first timers.
-House: 92% re-elected; Senate: 78% re-elected.

Front 6

6. How much does it cost to run for congress? How much time to members of congress spend raising money? What are the limits on campaign finance? Who is Jack Abramoff; what are the rules on congress regarding lobbying?

Back 6

-$1.2 million to run for Congress, $6 million to run for Senate.
-20 to 30 hours a week.
-Limits on campaign finance:
Requires Internet money trail: Lobbyist fundraising, including direct campaign contributions, bundled contributions & hosting events disclosed
Cooling off period: must wait 2 years before becoming lobbyist after leaving job in Congress & requires members disclose negotiations while in Congress
Lobbying disclosure:  Must report activities every 3 months on Internet
No more bribe gifts: Bans all gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers and their staff
Ends bribe junkets: 1) bans organization with lobbyists from giving trips longer than 1 day; 2) requires pre-approval & disclosure of all trips on Internet; 3) restricts use of private jets to fly members; & 4) prohibits lobbyists from going on any trips
Easier to challenge earmarks: Requires Internet disclosure of the sponsor & recipient of earmarks 48 hours before final approval of tax bills
Party’s over: Prohibits members of Congress attending lavish parties sponsored by lobbyists at the national party conventions
-Abramoff was a political lobbyist who was convicted of fraud, tax evasion, and bribery charges in 2006.

Front 7

7. What are the leadership offices of Congress? Who fills those positions? What are their powers? How are they selected for those positions? Who is the most powerful member of the House? Of the Senate?

Back 7

-Elected at the beginning of each term.
-Speaker of the House, Senate, and Majority and Minority House leaders.
-Committee assignments made according to party affiliation.
-Speaker of the House: John A. Boehner.
-House Majority Leader: Eric Cantor
-House Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi
-House Majority Whip: Kevin McCarthy
-House Minority Whip: Steny Hoyer
-Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid.
-Senate Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell
-Senate Majority Whip: Richard Durbin
-Senate Minority Whip: John Cornyn

Front 8

8. What are the various committee structures of congress? What are the committees that assign membership and leadership of the committees? What are some of the “power” committees of the House and Senate?

Back 8

-Standing: Organized by subject matter according to jurisdiction of legislation; critical for power to report bill to the floor.
Subcommittee: More important in House than Senate.
Joint: Members from both House and Senate examine special issues that concern both chambers of House and Senate.
Conference: Formed when House and Senate pass two different versions of bill and need to iron out differences.
Select: Appointed for specific purpose about temporary issues, ethics investigations, special problems, such as Watergate and Iran Contra; do NOT have power to report legislation to floor and disband when done.
Super: Deals with budget shortfall.

Front 9

9. How does a bill become a law? What are the various “choke points”? What percentage of bills become laws?

Back 9

-1. Must be passed in identical form by Both Houses and Senate by 51%; 2. President can veto or pocket veto (in 10 days); 3. If President vetoes, the House and Senate can override by 2/3rds passage in both chambers.
-Choke points occur at every level, but majority of all bills die in committee.
-In any two year session, thousands of bills are introduced and only about 4% become laws.

Front 10

10. What is the congress’ oversight authority? How does it exercise oversight? Name some famous congressional hearings in the past couple years?

Back 10

-Hold hearings, testimony. Refers to the way Congress checks President.