Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
28 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Structure of Congress |
- Bi-cameral (made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate) - 100 Senators - 435 Represenatives |
|
|
Groups that Congress don’t represent well |
Women - 78 in the House and 20 in the Senate Ethnic minorities - 10% |
|
|
What are the exclusive powers of the House of Representatives? |
- Initiate money bills - Impeachment - Elect President if the EC is deadlocked |
|
|
What are the exclusive powers of the Senate? |
- Confirm Appointments - Ratify Treaties - Try cases of Impeachment - Elect VP if EC is deadlocked |
|
|
What are the concurrent powers of both houses? |
- Pass legislation - Override Veto - Initiate amendments - Declare War |
|
|
How is the Senate more important? |
- House members often seek election to Senate - 52 former House members in the Senate but no ex-senators in the House - Senators represent the whole state - Senators serve longer terms |
|
|
How isn't the Senate more important? |
- Both houses have equal power in the passage of legislation - Both houses must approve constitutional amendments - Members of both houses have equal salaries |
|
|
How often is the House Speaker elected? |
2 years |
|
|
What are some specific powers of the House Speaker? |
- Act as a presiding officer - Decide on points of order - Refer bills to standing committees - Appoint select committee chairs - Appoint the majority party members of the House Rules Committee |
|
|
How often are majority and minority leaders elected? |
2 years |
|
|
What do majority and minority leaders do? |
- Act as day to day directors of operations - Talk about party's policy agenda - Liase between the House/Senate and the White House |
|
|
What are the functions of a Standing Committee? |
- Conduct the committee stage of bills in the legislative processes - Conduct investigations within the committee's policy area |
|
|
What is a House Rules Committee? |
- Responible for prioritisng bills coming from the committee stage on to the House floor for their 2nd reading - Vital legislative role to play - Sets out the rules of a bill |
|
|
What are Conference Committees? |
- Required becuase of the important characteristics in Congress 1. Both houses have equal powers 2. Bills pass through both houses - Two different versions of a bill - Conference Committee is set up when an agreement isn't reached |
|
|
Order of a Bill to Act |
- First Reading - Committee Stage - Timetabling - Second Reading - Third Reading - Conference Committee - Presidential Action |
|
|
What is a filibuster? |
Where a Senator attempts to talk a bill to death - Senators' right of unlimited debate |
|
|
What is a Presidential Veto? |
President may return a bill to Congress unsigned |
|
|
Why does a political party make members of Congress vote the way that they do? |
- Party votes - political party may determine a vote on ideological issues such as; - civil liberties, gun-control, taxes, abortion or school prayer |
|
|
Why do constituents make members of Congress vote they way that they do? |
- Trustee Model - representative acts as the person who is vested with formal responsibility for affairs of others |
|
|
How does the administration make members of Congress vote the way that do? |
- any persuasion needs to be regular, reciprocal and bipartisan |
|
|
What is a Select Committee? |
Known as investigative committees - 2011 Debt-Ceiling Crisis (joint select committee on deficit reduction) |
|
|
What are committee chairs? |
Always drawn from the majority party in that house |
|
|
What is the Senority Rule? |
A rule stating that the chair of a congressional committee will be a majority party member with the longest service |
|
|
What is the order of the US legislative process? |
- first reading - committee stage - timetabling - second reading - third reading - conference committee - presidential action |
|
|
What are the President's 3 options on what to do with a bill? |
1. Sign the bill into law 2. Leave it on his desk 3. Veto |
|
|
What is a presidential veto? |
President may return a bill to Congress unsigned |
|
|
What are the assessment point of the legislative process? |
- crowded - complicated (Prof. Denenberg says the process is a 'legislative labyrinth') - some bills need super majority - decentralised - equal power in both house makes it more difficult - majority of opposition party msy make it hard for the president to pass the legislation he wants - weak party discipline |
|
|
What are some factors that make members of Congress vote the way they do? |
- political party - constituents - administration - pressure groups - colleagues and staff - personal beliefs |
