Government Test 3
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62 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Article I describes what? | the structure of the legislative branch of government |
| bicameral legislature | a two-house legislature |
| Each state is represented by how many senators? | 2 per state |
| HOR qualifications | 25 years old, citizen of the US for at least 7 years, and must be a resident of the state they are representing |
| Senate qualifications | 30 years old, citizen of the US for at least 9 years, must be a resident of the state they are representing |
| Article I | longest articles, 10 sections |
| seventeenth amendment | provides for the direct elections of senators by voters. |
| senators are elected for? | 6 year terms |
| HOR are elected for? | 2 year terms |
| Number of voting HORs | 435 |
| apportionment (congress) | the process of allotting congressional seats to each state following the decennial census according to their proportion of the population |
| bill | a proposed law |
| the constitution gives congress its most important power: | the authorities to make laws and raise and spend revenues |
| powers of congress are found where? | Article 1, section 8 |
| Number of voting senate members? | 100 |
| who deals with impeachment | house |
| who approves treaties | senate |
| House | more centralized, more formal, stronger leadership, common people |
| senate | less centralized, less formal; weaker leadership, elite |
| Emphasizes on tax and revenue policy, power distributed less evenly? | house |
| emphasizes foreign policy, power distributed more evenly? | senate |
| census conducted by who? | Department of commerce |
| who deals with redistricting? | state legislator |
| impeachment | the power delegated to the HOR in the constitution to charge the president, vice-president, or other civil officers, including federal judges, with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." This is the first step in the constitutional process of removing government officials from office |
| HORs (impeachment) | investigate allegations |
| Senate (impeachment) | conducts impeachment trials, with a two-thirds yea cote being necessary before a federal official can be removed form office. Jury of 100 senators |
| congressional demographics | better educated, richer, more male, and more white than the general population |
| incumbency | already holding an office |
| redistricting | the process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect increases or decreases in seats allotted to the states, as well as population shifts within a state |
| gerrymandering | the drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district |
| Wesberry v. Sanders | congressional as well as state legislative districts must be apportioned on the basis of population |
| Thornburg v. Gingles | purposeful gerrymandering of a congressional district to dilute minority strength is illegal under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
| LULAC v. Perry | states may redistrict more than every ten years |
| majority party (Rep) | the political party in each house of Congress with the most members |
| minority party (Dem) | the political party in each house of Congress with the second most members |
| Speaker of the house | the only officer of the House of Representative specifically mentioned in the Constitution; the chamber's most powerful position; traditionally a member of the majority party |
| majority leader | the head of the party controlling the most seats in the HOR of the Senate; is second in authority to the Speaker of the House and in the Senate is regarded as its most powerful member |
| minority leader | the head of the party with the second number of elected representatives in the HOR or the Senate |
| whips | party leader who keeps close contact with all members of his or her party, takes vote counts on key legislation, prepares summaries of bills, and acts as a communications link within a party |
| president pro tempore | the official chair of the Senate; usually the most senior member of the majority party |
| presiding officer of the senate? | the Vice president of the US |
| standing committees | committee to which proposed bills are referred; continues from one Congress to the next. The first and last places to which most bills go |
| Conference committee | special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate |
| seniority | time of continuous service on a committee |
| committee chairs in the House are selected how? | interviewed by party leaders to ensure that candidates demonstrate loyalty to the party |
| Committee chairs in the Senate are selected how? | by seniority |
| Article I, section 7 | deals with the procedures by which Congress can make laws and raise revenues |
| Congress's Law making | only members of the House or Senate can formally submit a bill for congressional consideration |
| filibuster | a formal way of halting Senate action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate |
| cloture | mechanism requiring sixty senators to vote to cut off debate; the only way to end a filibuster |
| who has authority over budget? | Congress |
| pork | legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs. |
| earmarks | funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or congressional district |
| War Powers Act | passed by Congress in 1973; the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra thirty days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period |
| senatorial courtesy | a process by which presidents, when selecting districts court judges, defer to the senators in whose state the vacancy occurs |
| divided government | the political condition in which different political parties control the presidency and Congress |
| unified government | the political condition in which the same political party controls the presidency and Congress |
| what are the congressional support agencies? | Congressional Research Service (CRS), Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Budget Office (CBO) |
| how is the speaker of the house chosen? | a majority vote by HOR |
| censure | verbal correction |
| interest group | an organization of people with similar policy goals that tries to influence the political process to try to achieve those goals. |
| lobbying | the activities of a group or organization that seek to persuade political leaders to support the group's position |
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