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121 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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state 3 ways a bill can become law |
1. president signs & approves the bill into law 2. sits on the presidents desk for more than 10 days and congress stays in session 3. president vetoes but congress decides with a 2/3 majority vote |
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what traits increase the likelihood of voting |
college grad, married |
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what is a reconciliation bill |
it is a last minute revision and changes that the president makes on the budget that revises laws that just passed so that the new budget can be confirmed |
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the incumbent party is not likely to win the presidency if there is a recession or a high rate of inflation during what period |
the period 9 month prior to the election because people ______ at the _____ of the nation that can be determined from the recent past |
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why in 1977 did rural congressmen representing very few poor people vote for food stamps |
by voting for food stamps it was a way to show cooporate voting, they traded votes in return for urban congressmen to vote for agricultural subsidies |
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what person of body schedules bills for debate and voting in the House |
rules committee, they are the "gate keepers" |
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what person of body schedules bills for debate and voting in the senate |
the majority leader |
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in which chamber can that person or body limit debate and amendments |
house of reps |
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in a congressional election, there are three candidates a liberal, a moderate and a conservative. each is supported by a minority of the electorate the liberal by the largest minority. which candidate wins under the plurality rule |
liberal |
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in the same election which candidate is probably preferred to each of the other two my a majority of voters |
moderate |
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define entitlement program |
a government program that gives certain people rights to federal funds according to a formula set out in the authorizing legislation, they don't need to be appropriated every year
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give an example of one |
social security/medicare non-discretionary spending in the federal budget |
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who ratifies treaties |
senate |
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who confirms judicial appointments |
senate |
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who confirms the new appointment of the VP |
both |
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how does fire-alarm oversight of the bureaucracy work |
like a waiting game, you wait for complaints to made and the people aren't satisfied with the bureaucracy. it's less centralized because you don't go out to do the searching you wait for an alarm (citizen's reports of abuse of power) and then react to it accordingly, more effective less time consuming, preferred |
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why is voting hard to explain as a rational act |
the idea that one vote could make a difference is not true so why should someone participate and vote is everyone isnt doing it? the cost outweighs the benefit because it takes time and its not going to make a difference |
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what political pressure would congress face if it regulated the money supply itself |
if something goes wrong congress will have the responsibility, people will directly associate bad economy, inflation, deflation with congress and that would harm chances of reelection, as well as great consequences if corruption was involved |
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how has congress avoided this problem |
the federal reserve handles the regulation of money and it is independent from congress |
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what is the relationship between wealth and the likelihood of voting |
many think wealth causes voting but its a spurious correlation and a 3rd factor influences is --> education, although the wealthy have time, resources and connections to candidates it is that reach people are more likely to be educated which cause them to vote |
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what is the sequence of actions that congress takes to enact and annual budget |
ANSWER |
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median voter model |
the closer to the middle you are the better chance you have, both parties racing to the middle |
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how does a bill become a law in the house |
bill is introduced by a member, assigned to a committee, hearings, marked with amendments, positive report, scheduled for floor debate by the rules committee |
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how does a bill become a law in the senate |
bill is introduced by a member, assigned to a committee, hearings, marked with amendments, positive report, scheduled for floor debate by the majority leader |
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if the house and the senate have the same form of the bill then what happens |
it goes to the president |
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if the house and the senate have different forms of the bill then what happens |
the house and senate must meet and draft a single bill at the conference committee, one final vote
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if it passes then what happens |
it gets to the desk of the president |
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who is most likely to vote |
married, educated, old |
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why did the federal reserve come about in the first place? |
ANSWER |
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what does it do on a general level |
ANSWER controls the money supply |
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gerrymandering why can it effect electoral outcomes when there's unequal population |
ANSWER |
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gerrymandering why can it effect electoral outcomes when there's equal population |
ANSWER |
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which party is persuasive about: economy, social welfare, foreign affairs, moral, crime/drugs |
economy R social welfare D foreign affairs R moral R crime/drugs R |
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what is congressional oversight |
overseeing the federal bureaucracy, making sure agencies are doing what they are suppose to be doing with the money they're allocated |
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Police patrol |
congress actively seeks out wrong doings, can be time consuming, opportunity costs, unlikely to catch the real offenses, unlikely to be effective |
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what is a spurious correlation |
two things that move together on a graph but one isn't explaining the other, there is a 3rd variable |
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how does congress spend tax payers money |
Taxation Create the agencies that are going to be the arms of congress, authorize gov activity (authorization) Appropriate money to them (annually) (appropriation) The last step can be bypassed entitlements have budget in the already |
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what is logrolling |
congress members trade votes so the other constituency will vote for what they want both have to be cooperative, if they both defect then neither will get what they want |
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what is plurality |
the greatest amount of votes regardless of majority can lead to antimajoritarian outcomes |
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term, constituency, presiding officer and political leader of senate |
ANSWER ANSWER 6 years state VP majority leader |
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term, constituency, presiding officer and political leader of the house |
ANSWER ANSWER 2 years district speaker speaker
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what was the shift in relationship between the president and his cabinet in the early 20th century |
cabinet was close to the president and had an influence on him, cabinet dropped off as an influential body |
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what is the difference between authorization and appropriation bills |
allow for a program to be started and funded allot money for each program and how much funding it will receive |
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who can the president fire |
attorney general sec of state |
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the bill didnt pass, why? |
it didnt pass because schumer added a killer amendment to the bull so that it wouldnt pass, he knew that conservatives would favor B over B+A, but the other 2 would favor B+A over B so B+A would win, from there social liberals want status quo, so SL and EC want B+A both have their first choices however with the decision in the hands of the republicans they ?????? |
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the head of the government of the US |
president |
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the chief of state of the US |
president |
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what is a fillibuster and where does it occur |
used to waste time so one person keeps talking so that the bill or whatever is being discussed stays on the floor and isn't voted on, this happens in the senate |
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what is required to stop a fillibuster |
it is stopped with 3/5 vote from the senate |
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what is meant by divided government |
the parties differ from the executive branch and the legislative branch, pres bush was R and majority in congress was D |
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what were the 2 major parties in 1800 |
republicans and federalists |
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what were the 2 major parties in 1820 |
democrat republicans and national republics |
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what were the 2 major parties in 1840 |
democrats and whigs |
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to tell whether congress really controls the bureaucracy is it enough to find out whether congress frequently penalizes officials and agencies why or why not |
no, this is not enough because the problem is in not enough enforcement/oversight of congress or because they do such a good job enforcing, its like the empty jail situation |
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chief problem facing US --> health care, what party would you bet on |
democrats |
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if you preferred the other party would you urge the party's candidate not to say much about the campaign |
health care --> social welfare |
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what issues would you urge him to emphasize instead |
sell point to republican party foreign affairs, national security |
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the house and the senate pass different versions of a bill. what two things must now happen before a bill is sent to the white house |
a conference committee writes a new version of the bill, both houses vote on it and pass it |
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in a nonpartesan election for dog catcher, libby a liberal with 25%, maude a centerist with 35%, arch a conservative with 40% under plurality who wins |
arch |
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if a runoff were held who would win |
maude |
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who is likely the condorcet winner? why? |
maude because a majority prefers her to either of the other 2 in head to head contests, liberals and moderates (65%) prefer her to arch and conservatives and moderates (75%) prefer her to libby |
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as a democrat mcBlather dislikes B+A he dislikes any version of B. why did he introduce A? |
the amendment was likely offered as a killer amendment to kill the bill |
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why in 1977 did urban congressmen vote for farm subsidies? |
in a vote trade to get rural support for food stamps |
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what were the 2 major parties in 1984 |
democrats and republicans |
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bush (already the president) v H clinton. unemployment and inflation below range but they were bad in his term. who do you vote for? why? |
bush, voters look to 9 months prior to the present election as to which way the nation is going, if the 9 months are prosperous then the incumbent is likely to win |
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5 US reps write give bills, each likes only his own but agrees to support the other 4 what is this called |
logrolling |
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why would they have made it |
each member needs the support of the others to pass their bill by agreeing to support other bills they get support for their own |
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what 2 things does the house rules committee do with a bill |
schedule the bill for floor action, limit debate and amendability |
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does anyone do either of these things in the senate? which things? |
schedule floor action |
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who? |
majority leader, minority leader |
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how did federal election campaign act help incumbents |
the can easily create PACs or fundraising organizations |
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if incentive is reelection what will they engage in |
credit claiming, advertising, position taking, pork barreling, universalism, particularism |
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2 things the senate alone gets to vote on |
treaties, appointments, conviction of impeachments, VP if electoral collect fails |
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congressional committees enjoy a great deal of power within their assigned jurisdictions. state two plausable explanations for these observations |
efficient division of labor, greater chance to make a + difference for constituents |
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after OMB submits its budget, congress passes _______ resolution. after passing authorization and appropriation bills congress pasess ______ resolution and possibly one or more ______ bills to resolve discrepancies. the fiscal year begins on _______. |
1st concurrent budget resolution 2nd concurrent budget resolution reconciliation bills october 1st |
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in xonia, gore receives 45% bush 36% buchanan 19%. xonia has 3 reps how many electoral votes does gore receive from xonia |
5, the size of xonias congressional delegation, 3 US reps and 2 senators |
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international conflict the chief problem facing the US who would you vote for |
republicans |
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if you favored the other candidate what would you urge its candidate not to say much about in the campaign |
foreign affairs |
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and what issues would you urge him to emphasize instead |
social and welfare issues |
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how is the pres chosen if no candidate receives an electoral college majority |
by the house from the top 3 candidates in the electoral college, by majority rule, with each state casting 1 vote, a majority wins |
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to beat cain, bush moved right, gore didnt have to move left to beat bradly, what effect might that difference have on the general election |
gore is better positioned to capture the center of the electorate therefore the election and/or bush may have trouble reversing his rightward move in the primary to head toward the middle for the general election |
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proportional representation |
method of voting where political parties are given legislative representation in proportion to their popular vote |
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in terms of required congressional action distinguish: treaties ______; pure executive agreements ______ |
2/3 vote in senate none |
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who initiate revenue bills? impeaches? elections VP when electoral college doesn't? ratifies treaties? |
house house senate senate |
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which party is each of these likely to support? a union member international investment banker black teacher jewish social worker |
D R D D |
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what oversight? senate natural resources committee selects a random sample of federal timber sales and demands that the forest service provide full documentation of those sales |
police patrol |
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what oversight? a congressional aid yells at a local postmaster because a constituent has not received his veteran's pension check on time |
fire alarm |
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what oversight? the us court of appeals for the federal circuit reserves an FDA ban on the sale of schwartz armadillo extract to pregnant minors |
fire alarm |
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how many electoral votes is a state entitled |
ANSWER |
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what type of voting legislator votes for X if he prefers it legislator votes for X if her prefers the consequence of X legislator abides by an agreement |
sincere strategic cooperative |
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most important difference between a law that makes an international agreement and a treaty |
treaty needs 2/3 vote in senate and law needs a simple majority in either house |
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what does a conference committee do |
meshes 2 bills together that passed both the house and the senate but in slightly different versions or language |
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why is it so powerful |
because once the meshed bill is produced it can either be passed or rejected and cannot have any more amendments. if not passes the bill is killed |
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why does the pres have less control over the chairman of the federal reserve board than he has over the sec of state |
he can fire the sec of state but not the federal reserve chairman the sec of state is appointed by the pres and he pays him whereas the fed reserve chairman is not |
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what is gerrymandering |
dividing districts to benefit the incumbent candidate, or to favor one party |
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which chamber of congress does gerrymandering effect |
house |
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how might gerrymandering contribute to under-representation of one of the 2 parties, in the chamber that is effected by it |
dominate party controls the drawing of districts so they will be drawn in favor of the party in power |
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if the pres and congress are the same party what is this referred to as? |
unified government |
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which chamber is responsible for confirming presidential nomination |
senate |
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what other powers are peculiar to this chamber? to the other one? |
try impeachments and ratify treaties initiate public revenue bills, impeach public officers |
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if congress were to attempt to remove the president, how would this occur? how much is required to impeach him |
senate convicts him and the house tries him 2/3 majority |
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are legislatures more likely to be strategic or sincere |
strategic |
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what 2 primary functions does the speaker of the house perform? |
tells who can speak and 3rd in line for the presidency |
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is it the same for the senate? |
no, VP, majority and minority leaders |
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today congressional committee chairmen belong to which party |
democrats |
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congressional committees enjoy a great deal of power within their assigned jurisdictions, state 2 explanations |
specialization of labor, congress has a lot to cover, the committees are smaller than the house and senate. committee is where it is easier for representatives and senators to make a difference for their constituents |
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what did lincoln do in the lincoln-douglas debate of 1858 to help his presidential prospects in 1860 |
lincoln put douglas in a position that made him move significantly close to the median in 1858. in 1860 the S democrats felt that he was so removed they got their own candidate to run, which split the democratic vote and left all the republican vote to lincoln alone and he got a plurality |
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what is a single member district |
in each congressional district only one member is elected (to be in the house) |
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what is proportional representation |
method of voting by which political parties are given legislative representation in proportion to their popular vote |
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when there are 2 main parties and they offer voters pretty much the same policies, does that not reflect the absence of effective electoral competition, of real democracy |
no there is a difference on the issue of ownership and salience. a way to win is to stay as close to the middle as possible on the liberal-conservative political spectrum. even though both parties have similar policies there is a facotr who can be pushed further than the other from the middle and who can pull the middle closest to him |
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what is a continuing resolution |
if deadline is not mean and a final budget is not ready by fiscal year, congress passes a continuing resolution when constituting a temporary budget to keep the federal government running |
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who schedules votes in the house in the senate |
rules committee the majority leader with consultation of the minority leader |
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what does the rules committee do |
says when bills come up and in what form also limits debates and amendments |
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what does a pure executive agreement require for passing |
no congressional consent |
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what is the difference between a single member plurality (winner take all rule) and a proportional representation system |
a proportional representation represents votes proportionally while in a single member plurality the most votes gets all of the representatives |
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what system dominates every state except maine and nebraska |
winner take all rule |
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today congressional committee chairmen belong to which party |
senate: democrats house: republicans |
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what is the difference between a committee chairman and a ranking member |
dictates policy under their issue jurisdictions the majority leader in the senate deals with chairmanship and scheduling |
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in congress what is a caucus |
a meeting of a party (Democrats call it this, republicans call it a conference) usually annually to pick leaders in congress |
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what is the presidential selection process from primary to election |
declare candidacies, run in caucuses and primaries, collect delegates, official nomination, general election, in december the electoral college casts ballots |
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list 3 sources of ideology |
political parties, interest groups, intellectuals |
