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52 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

How many members are in the HR

435
How are representatives assigned?
Reps are assigned by population and district drawing
How many members are in the Senate?
100 members, two per state

What are the qualifications for a HR member?

At least 25 yrs old; citizen for 7 years; must live in state where district is located

What are the terms of office for HR and how often are elections?

2 years; entire House elected once every 2 years

What are the terms of office for the Senate and how often are the elections?

6 year term; staggered terms with 1/3 of the Senate elected every 2 years.

Are the House and Senate in the building all year long?

No. The two houses meet for two year terms starting Jan. 3rd of odd-numbered years; each term is divided into two 1-year sessions. Though the President may call special sessions of Congress if there is a national emergency.
What is apportionment?
It is the distribution of HR reps among states (based on pop)
What is reapportionment
redistribution of Congressional seats after the census determines changes in pop distribution among states. One census every 10 years

What is Congressional districting?

When state legislatures draw congressional districts for HR seats alloted to it. This only applies to states with more than one HR representative.
What is gerrymandering?
It is drawing congressional districts to favor one political party over another.
What was decided in Baker v. Carr (1962)?
"One man, one vote" applied to state legislatures. This prevents over representation from rural areas.

What was decided in Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)?

"One man, one vote" applied to House of Reps district drawing too (prevents over representation from rural areas).

What did the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) do?

It allowed for direct election of senators by the people of the state. Previously, senators were elected by state legislatures.
What is the incumbency effect?
It is the tendency of those already holding office to win reelection. This effect is stronger in the House than in the Senate.
Name some benefits of the incumbency effect.
1) Name Recognition
2) Ability to credit claim (the officeholder may have brought gov't projects and money to the state/district and can remind people of this)
3)Casework for constituents (helping constituents solve pblms involving gov't and the bureaucracy)
4) Frankling (ability to send mail using incumbent's signature as postage)
5)Media exposure
6)more experience in campaigning
7)Incumbents usu. have greater fundraising abilities
8)voting record- voters can evaluate their performance based on their record. Their as in the person running for office.
9) money from PACs
Who controls leadership positions in Congress?
The majority political party gets all the leadership positions. Even committees are divided by proportion of political party (so the majority party has majority in each committee too).

What are the duties of the Speaker of the House?

1) Presiding officer of HR
2) assigns bills to committee(decides which committee a bill goes to)
3) controls floor debate
4) appoints members to committees

What are the duties of the majority floor leader in the House?

1) assistant to speaker of House
2) helps plan party's legislative program
3) directs floor debate

What are the duties of the majority floor leader in the Senate?

1)MOST influential member of S
2) majority party spokesperson

The Minority leader in the House and the one in the Senate have the same duties. What are they?

1) major spokesperson for the minority party
2) organized opposition to the majority party

Whips in both houses have the same duties. What are they?

1) tell party members about upcoming voting (i.e. here is the train bill, here are the pros and cons for our party)
2)keeps track of vote counts
3) pressure members to vote w/ the party

All in all: direct party members in voting.
Who is the president pro tempore?
Senior member of the majority party in the Senate. Presides in the absence of the Senate president. Fourth in line to be President. Ceremonial position.
Who is the president of the Senate?
The Vice President

Which house has committees?

Both
Who leads committees?
The committee chairpersons; they are members of the majority party of each house, chosen by party caucus.

What are the duties of the committee chairpersons?

1) set agendas
2) assign members to subcommittees
3) decides whether committee will hold public hearings
4) decides which witnesses to call
5) manage floor debate of the bill when presented to BOTH houses at once.
How is membership in committees determined?
It reflects the overall percentage of Democrats and Republicans in each house.

Name and describe the four types of committees

Cindy Sings Jolly Songs
Compromise
Select (temporary)
Joint (has members of both houses)
Standing (permanent)

What is the difference between a delegate and a trustee?

Both are types of representatives. A delegate ideal supporting representative votes entirely based on the wishes of constituents, regardless of their own opinions.
A trustee listens to constituents and then votes based on his/her own opinions.

What are the expressed powers of Congress? (part of legislative powers)

1) tax
2) borrow money
3) regulate interstate, foreign, and Indian commerce
4) est. bank laws
5) est. naturalization laws
6) coin money
7)est. post offices
8) grant copyrights and patents
9) create inferior (to SC) federal courts
10) punish and define piracy
11) declare war
12) raise and support navy & army
13) punish forgers
14) est. weights & measures... metric system or not.
Name the non legislative powers of Congress
1) electoral powers (select P by HR, VP by S if electoral college fails), amendment powers, impeachment power (HR to issue impeachment, Senate to hold trial), treaty making power (shared w/ executive branch), investigative powers (investigates policies and programs of the executive branch).

Who can propose a bill?

A member of Congress

How is an amendment proposed?

2/3 vote in each house OR 2/3 of state legislatures call a national convention to propose amendments (not used yet)

How is an amendment ratified?
3/4 state legislatures ratify OR ratifying conventions in 3/4 of states ratify.
What does the rules committee do? Which house does it exist in?
Rules committee decides if a bill goes to the floor and sets the terms of debate for a bill. Only the HOUSE has one.
How does a bill become a law? (draw a diagram)

refer to your packet (diagram) for answer

Where do most bills end?

In Committee

What is filibuster and which house does it occur in?
Filibuster is when the Senate debates a bill to death (unlimited debate).
What is cloture and which house does it occur in?
cloture is a method of ending filibuster through petition and vote.
What is pork barrel legislation?
An attempt to provide funds and projects for a member's home district and state; doing visible stuff for re-election.
What is logrolling?
"I'll support your bill, if you support mine."
What are riders?
additions to a bill that won't pass on its own. Riders usually don't have much to do with the actual bill.
What are amendments?
additions/changes to legislation (can be a bill? or the Constitution) that deal specifically with the legislation (the bill or the Constitution).
What is lobbying?
Lobbying is trying to influence members of Congress to support or reject legislation.
What do conference committees do?
They amend differences between House and Senate versions of a bill by tweaking the wording of the legislation. After a bill passes through the conference committees, no changes can be made to it.

Who (there are a couple) influence Congress members?

1) Constituents (the people Congressmen and women represent)
2) other lawmakers and staff
3) party influences
4) the president
5) lobbyists and interest groups

Who are your TWO California Senators?


(2015)

Barbara Boxer & Dianne Feinstein

Barbara Boxer & Dianne Feinstein

Define redistricting & who does it?

Redistricting occurs after reapportionment. The state re-draws the congressional districts (along with other state-wide elected offices), most commonly by the State Legislature (ex. CA & AZ)

How often doe reapportionment occur?

Every 10 years

Define Casework

A member of congress assisting constituents with personal issues of government concern.


(VA benefits, citizenship, social security, academy nominations, etc.)

Which chamber is considered to be the "advice & consent chamber?

Senate