Unit 6

Terms	Definitions
Expenditures	Government spending of revenues. Major areas of federal spending are social services and national defense.
Uncontrollable expenditures	result from policies that make some group automatically eligible for benefits.
incrementalism	Small changes in policy over long periods of time; usually in reference to budget-making--that th ebest indicator of this year's budget is last year's budget plus a small increase
16th Amendment	Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913) gave Congress the power to tax income.
Congressional Budget Office	staff agency that advises Congress on the likely economic effects of different spending programs and provides information on the costs of the proposed policies.
Tax Expenditures	Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions on federal tax law.
Revenues	The financial resources of the federal government. The individual income tax and Social Security tax are two major sources of revenue.
Deficit	An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues.
Senate Finance Committee	The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.
Social Security Act	guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health
House Ways and Means Committee	The House of Representatives committee that, along with the Senate Finance Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.
Federal Debt	all the money borrowed by the federal government over the years and still outstanding
Medicare	a federal program of health insurance for persons 65 years of age and older
Authorization Bill	An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs.
Appropriations Bill	An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. Appropriations usually cover one year.
Judicial Implementation	how and whether court decisions are translated into actual policy, thereby affecting the behavior of others; the courts rely on other units of government to enforce their decisions
Precedent	(civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial decisions
Senatorial Courtesy	Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.
Original Intent	A view that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intent of the framers. Many conservatives support this view.
Class Action Suits	Lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated.
Supreme Court	The pinnacle of the American judicial system. The court ensures uniformity in interpreting national laws, resolves conflicts among states, and maintains national supremacy in law. It has both original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction, but unlike other federal courts, it controls its own agenda.
Marbury v. Madison	The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, (the Judiciary Act of 1789).
Court of Appeal	an appellate court which reviews the decisions of federal district courts and hears appeals to orders issued by regulatory agencies such as the federal communications commission.
Political Questions	A doctrine developed by the federal courts and used as a means to avoid deciding some cases, principally those involving conflicts between the president and Congress.
Standing to Sue	the requirement that plaintiffs have a serious interest in a case, which depends on whether they have sustained or are likely to sustain a direct and substantial injury from a party or an action of government
Justiciable Disputes	a constraint on the courts requiring case be capable of being settled by legal methods
Original Jurisdiction	The jurisdiction of courts that hear a case first, usually in a trial. These are the courts that determine the facts about a case.
Judicial Restraint	view that the courts should reject any active lawmaking functions and stick to judicial interpretations of the past
Statutory Construction	The judicial interpretation of an act of Congress. In some cases where statutory construction is an issue, Congress passes new legislation to clarify existing laws.
Judicial Activism	an interpretation of the U.S. constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions (particularly decisions of the Supreme Court)
Amicus Curiae Briefs	Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These briefs attempt to influence a court's decision.
District Courts	The lowest federal courts where federal cases begin. They are the only federal courts where trials are held.
Stare Decisis	Let the decision stand; decisions are based on precedents from previous cases