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80 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Speaker of the House
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Dennis Hastert
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House Majority Leader
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John Boehner
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House Minority Leader
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Nancy Pelosi
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House Majority Whip
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Roy Blunt
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House Minority Whip
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Steny Hoyer
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President Pro Tempore
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Ted Stevens
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Senate Majority Leader
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Bill Frist
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Senate Minority Leader
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Harry Reid
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Senate Majority Whip
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Mitch McConnell
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Senate Minority Whip
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Dick Durbin
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National Security Advisor
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Stephen Hadley
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Joint Cheifs of Staff
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General Richard Myers
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Attorney Gerneral
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Alberto Gonzaes
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Secretary of Homeland security
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Michael Chertoff
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Secretary of Commerce
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Carlos Gutierrez
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Do interest groups have any representation or accountability?
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They hold no accountability and have no widespread representation
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Specific interest groups
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Narrow, Right to Life (abortion), Great lakes
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General
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Planned paretn hood, to deal with more! Sierra club
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Economic Interest Group
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health care, pharmacy, minimum wage
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Equality interest group
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gender, income, education
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Consumer/public interest groups
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tags on mattresses (ralph nader)
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Public goods
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services and goods everyone benefits from, even if they do not pay for it (environment, nuclear weapons, air)
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free rider problem
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why join an interest group if you will benefit from their actions
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Coercion
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less common, membership is a prerequisit (law, teachers)
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selective benefits
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AARP: discounts
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Policy outcomes
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lobbying, Elections, Public, Legal System
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Lobbying
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professional-hire someone
Grassroots- members PACS- money Litigation: courts legal system |
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why are some IG more successful
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access, information, leadership skills, numbers vs. unity, money, nature of issue
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how many members in house and senate combined?
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535
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the job of linking the rank and file to the party leadership falls to the
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majority and minority leaders
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Before a bill can be signed of vetoed by the president, it must
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pass both houses in identical form
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The house rules committee
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decided what bills go before the full house and decided what amendments can be attached to the bills
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Congress is bicameral
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true- two chambers
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A bill can be introduced by any interested party in the executive or legislative branches
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false, only legislative
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A filibuster is a technique used in the house to delay the consideration of legislation
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false only in the senate
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If a bill is passed by the fast-track option, it means 2/3 of house and senate voted in favor of the legislation
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true
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According to the constitution, the last war in the u.s was world war 2
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true
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house exclusive powers
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impeachment, originates tax bills
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senate exclusive powers
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tries impeachement, advise and consent on presidential nominees and all treaties
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house or senate more prestigeous?
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senate
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who follows rules more?
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house... senate has filibuster
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where is power more concentrated?>
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house
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where is more media coverage?
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senate
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who relies more on their staff?
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senate
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who specializes in policy
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house
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who is more conservative?
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house
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house rules committee
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Very powerful, another way in which to make sure legislation will pass or fail. Responsible for two things: 1. order 2. rules of debate (how much time to spend on it, how many people can speak in favor or against, and WHAT TYPE OF AMENDMENTS!
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what are the rules/?
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3 types of rules!: open (things can be changed), closed (no amendments), restrictive (ability to change the wording or to add on certain types of amendments.)
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fast track?
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Fast Track Legislation: 40 minutes to debate a piece of legislation. 2/3 vote, to get it through quickly you need more people to support it, can’t take time to gather them through amendments.
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select committee
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Deal with policy issues: aging: problems that effect older Americans, intelligence: where the break down was: after 9/11… tend to be temporary
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standing committees
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Not equal standing… three that are very powerful since they are so important you can only serve on one committee… membership usually only comes with seniority
Rules Ways and means (taxes, how the gov’t gets the money that it needs to spend) Appropriations committee |
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log rolling
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Committee’s exist at some level to secure their electoral positions.
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coalation building
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get enough supporters to make sure your piece of legislation gets that majority needed to go onto the next step
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oversigh
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process of reviewing agency operations to determine whether an agency is carrying out policies as Congress intended.
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trustees
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Take a different view of representation. Assume that they were elected not to be the mouth piece of the people, but rather to advance, saying that they know interests better than people themselves: look at how it will help them, where the tax raise will go and if it will help them in the long run
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delegates
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Mouthpiece of the people: representative: vote for constituency: against taxes
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pork
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special money
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homestyle
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The way in which a member of congress acts and represents themselves with their voting district (constituency)… trust! Face to face interaction… creating a psychological bond.
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political parties: direct
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Involved in writing, voting, and passing accountability (vote them out) (everybody)
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interest groups: indirect
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Don’t directly write policy, just try to influence, limited, no accountability
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political parties
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group of like minded people in an attempt to take control of government!
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the 3 headed giant
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a party in the electorate how people see it, formal membership required, party as an organization (decentralized), party in government (book), weakness! (don’t vote with party because wouldn’t get re voted in), can’t make vote in parties wishes party line (no incentive), every 4 years National Organization meets, come up with party platform (used to select presidential candidates, Europe highly centralized (gather a lot)
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functions of political parties
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Operating government, coming up with issues political Agenda, suggesting solutions, educate the public, mobilize(get them involved, vote), recruitment (members and talent)
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realignment
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majority of people switching party with identification. ( large scale loss of party id!)
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dixicrates
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Republicans from South, who at one time were Democrats.
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dissatisfaction with parties... creates new parties
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Ross Peuro first time invited
Fighting within their side for votes… a liberal (fights with democratic) It’s better to have more than 2 parties… only one winner… but that person may only have 30% of the vote, like a horse race! Place vote so they will win! |
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why do third party movements fail?
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Sincere vs. Sophisticated voting in 2000, we had Bush, Gore, Nader… Sincere voter ( is going to vote for their favorite candidate, no matter what) (Gore and Nader are on the left (liberal)) if you vote for nader, your taking votes away from Gore! Do you stay sincere? Or vote for Gore, because you don’t want the person you like least (bush) to be president. Those people are sophisticated voters!~
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how is power balance created?
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Power balance between congress and president… comes from public support! Now that president rating is low, it is harder for congress to follow presidents agenda
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who can become president?
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-need to be 35 years old (used to be considered middle age, life expectancy only 50)
-natural U.S. citizen (why? No one was a natural citizen… need to be born on American soil!) Alexander Hamilton… didn’t want him to become president! That’s why this law is in place! -lived in country for at least 14 years. (good because you need to know the needs of the country) |
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presidential duties
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Chief/ head of Bureaucracy
Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces: decision when to deploy troops: not declare war Ability to sign treaties and make Appointments: only with 2/3 vote of Senate Power to pardon: federal criminals (water gate… they all got pardoned…Ford pardoned Nixon) |
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national vision of the president?
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Something he sees he needs to do when coming into office. Johnson, being president was a gift from God, poverty programs… Regan, was to reform government, and that government was the problem (huge recession at this time)
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Neustadt
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the power to persuade: congress
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veto
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Override 2/3 vote
Pocket Veto needs to happen within 10 days of adjournment (Regan famous for it, no one can override it |
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executive orders
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Regulations that carry the force of law… let presidents make decisions, usually in crisis situation, more often in foreign policy, can’t use over and over if in conflict with congress because that would be over using power
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executive privledge
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Is the ability to deny congress information, if that information would compromise the ability of the executive branch to carry out its orders or duties… George W. Bush is famous for this… press is the problem not the solution
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power is a relative commodity and is not guarenteed to every president
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Changes depending on how the president is going to use it. When Clinton came in in 1992 it was a very contested issue, people really approved and congress was really willing to work with him, until the health care reform thing. Lost a lot of power, but then regained it to win re-election, then dropped again because improper campaign financing, and Monica.
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honey mood period
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When the president comes into office. Bush was amazing in how he turned around the power of the presidency. 94% approval rating before, almost guarantee anything he wanted in congress. Now president as seen as lacking public support, so its ok for congress to go against him.
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why is there only one voice(president) in foreign policy
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One voice in foreign policy, because otherwise it shows weakness…this has changed!
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president used to have no interference with foreign policy ... now?
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War Powers Act of 1973
Presidential Decision Directive 25 (1994) The power of the purse |
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vice president:
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standby equipment... al gore exception
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