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AP GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS CHAPTER 9

Terms in this set (24)

incumbents
those already holding office. in congressional elections, incumbents usually win.
casework
activities of members of congress that help constituents as individuals, particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get.
pork barrel
federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district.
bicameral legislature
a legislature divided into two houses. the US congress and all state legislatures (except nebraska) are bicameral.
House Rules Committee
the committee in the House of Representatives that reviews most bills coming from a house committee before they go to the full house.
filibuster
a strategy unique to the senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the senate from ever voting on a bill. sixty members present and voting can halt a filibuster
Speaker of the House
an office mandated by the constitution. the speaker is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant.
majority leader
the principal partisan ally of the speaker of the house, or the party's manager in the senate. the majority leader is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes in behalf of the party's legislative positions
whips
party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party.
minority leader
the principal leader of the minority party in the House of representatives or the senate
standing committees
separate subject-matter committees in each house of congress that handle bills in different policy areas
joint committees
congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses.
conference committees
congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pass a particular bill in different forms. Party leadership appoints members from each house into iron out the differences and bring back a single bill.
select committees
congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation
legislative oversight
congress's monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through hearings
committee chairs
the most important influencers of the congressional agenda. they pay dominant roles in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house.
seniority system
a simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. the member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled the chamber became chair, regardless of party loyalty, mental state, or competence.
caucus (congressional)
a group of members of congress sharing some interest or characteristics. many are composed of members from both parties and from both houses
bill
a proposed law, drafted in legal language. anyone can draft a bill, but only a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration
Characterize the background of members of congress and assess their impact on the ability of members of congress to represent average americans.
congress has proportionately more whites and males than the general population, and members of congress are wealthier and better educated, and more likely to be white males than the average american. although they are not descriptively representative of americans, they may engage in substantive representation
identify the principal factors influencing the outcomes in congressional elections.
incumbents usually win elections, because they usually draw weak opponents, are usually better known and better funded than their opponents, typically represent constituencies where a clear majority share their party party affiliation, and can claim credit for aiding their constituents. however, incumbents can lose if they are involved in a scandal, if their policy position are substantially out of line with their constituents, or if the boundaries of their districts are redrawn to reduce the percentage of their constituents identifying with their party.
compare and contrast the house and senate, and describe the roles of congressional leaders, committees, caucuses, and staff
the house is much larger than the senate, and is also characterized by greater centralization of power in the party leadership and by more party discipline. senators are more equal in power and may exercise the option of the filibuster to stop a majority from passing a bill. congressional leaders are elected by their party members and must remain responsive to them. they cannot always depend on the votes of the members of their party. committees do most of the work in congress, considering legislation and overseeing the administration of policy. although commmittees are run more democratically than in past decades, chairs have conderable more power to set their committees' agendas. caucuses are part of the informal organization of congress and are composed of representatives and senators who have a shared interest of characteristic. personal, committee, and agency staff are crucial components of congress, providing policy expertise and constituency service.
outline the path of bills to passage and explain the influences on congressional decision making.
congress is typically a cumbersome decision-making body, and the process for considering a bill has many stages. this complexity gives rise to unorthodox lawmaking, in which the congressional leadership bypasses traditional legislative stages. presidents try to persuade congress to support their policies, which usually earn space on the congressional agenda. their ultimate influence on congressional decision making is at the margins, however. parties have become more homogeneous and more polarized in recent years and provide an important pull on their members on most issues. constituencies have strong influence on congressional decision making on a few visible issues, while members' own ideologies exert more influence on less visible issues. interest groups play a key role in informing congress and sometimes the threat of their opposition influences vote outcomes
assess congress's role as a representative body and the impact of representation on the scope of the government.
although congress is an elite institution, it is a responsive to the public when the public makes its wishes clear. it is open to influence, an openness that makes it responsive to many interests but also may reduce its ability to make good public policy. members of congress often support expanding government to aid their constituents, generally in response to public demands for policy, but may also fight to limit the scope of the government.
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