Bicameralism:
the division of a legislative body into two chambers
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bicameralism: | the division of a legislative body into two chambers |
| Congress is divided into two houses: | the House of Representatives The Senate |
| The house has | 435 members apportioned according to the population of each state |
| The senate has | 100 members apportioned two per state regardless of population |
| Representatives in the House have fewer constituents than senators. | There are 1 to 532 representatives per state whereas both senators represent its entire population. |
| Representatives’ terms of office are __ years | Two |
| senators serve for __ years. | Six |
| Why are senators older? | the Constitution requires them to be at least 25 while it requires senators to be 30 |
| The Constitution designates __ | all revenue bills originating in the House (the Senate must still concur) |
| The Senate has exclusive powers to __ | confirm executive / judicial appointments and ratify treaties negotiated between the United States / other nations. |
| Does Congress truly represent the public? No | In 2021, the ages in the House / Senate are 58 and 64 and most are lawyers or political professionals. Also, women and minorities are underrepresented. In 2021, 26.9% of Congress was female compared to over 50% and over 11% of Congress was African American compared to 13% of the general public. |
| Over the last 25 years, re-election rates in the House average __ | over 90% and have not dropped lower than 87%. |
| Federal law also requires the creation of districts where minority groups comprise the __ | majority of the district population where possible Population shifts and demographic changes are measured by the decennial United States Census -- redrawn at least every decade. |
| Gerrymandering | describes districts drawn to advantage one group of people over another. Most battles have been fought over racial, ethnic, and partisan. |
| “packing” Another method of gerrymandering | involves concentrating a group into as few districts as possible which guarantees electing someone from that group in those districts but leaves surrounding districts lacking in that group. |
| delegate theory of representation: | the legislator’s role as “representative” is to reflect constituents’ wishes |
| trustee theory of representation: | legislator’s role is to use their knowledge to do what is best, regardless of what the constituents say. |
| The institutional leader of the House is the Speaker– who is elected by __ | majority vote of the entire House- traditionally a party-line vote, Speaker is from the majority party. |
| The institutional leaders of the Senate are the | Senate president (VP, may not be Senate’s partisan majority) and president pro-tempore (senior-most member of the majority party) |
| House rules empower the Speaker, who has the authority to __ | decide to which committee bills are referred. |
| The Speaker has the power to enforce __ | limits on floor activity—debating / amending bills set by the House Rules Committee and to appoint the majority party members of that committee. The Speaker controls the legislative process: speaker shapes the committee that sets the rules for legislative consideration and has the authority to enforce those rules. |
| The partisan leaders: | Each party in each house has its own leadership to coordinate party policy positions and manage the party’s voting. The majority party leader (leader of party with most seats) in each house is in charge of scheduling floor activity. |
| party “whips” (“assistant floor leaders”): | act as the eyes and ears of their party-- link leadership to everyone else, vote-counters and negotiators, keep everyone informed of the legislative schedule and round up votes in support of their party. |
| In the House, the majority leader serves under the __ as a team. | Speaker (always member of majority party). |
| in the Senate, the _ _ leader runs the show. With few formal rules in the Senate, power is exercised informally and strategically. | the majority leader |
| THE “JOHNSON TREATMENT”: | using thorough knowledge of those with whom he would interact. |
| Lyndon B. Johnsons history TEXAS: | (VP in the 1960), representative (1937-1949), senator (1949-1961), Senate majority (Democratic) leader (1955-1961). |
| pork barrel legislation | legislation / funding for projects of little to no benefit beyond a single district. Mutual support (logrolling) assures their passage. House of Representatives banned them in 2010, but they came back in 2021. |
| congressional caucuses: | legislators promoting interests. demographic interests are popular recently. Policy entrepreneurism among the rank and file and its attendant effects on legislating produce advantages for incumbent legislators. |
| Committees contain members of how many chambers? | Standing and select: members of one Joint and conference: members from both |
| Subcommittee Bill of Rights | House rules that steered power away from committee chairs-- stated committees must follow rules, have subcommittees, chairs could not control what the subcommittees did, limited number of chairs anyone could hold, said that legislation must be referred to the subcommittees. Subcommittees (younger liberals) became the focus in the House. When Republicans controlled Congress in 1995, they attempted to reverse it by repealing the Subcommittee Bill of Rights. |
| The process of creating laws: | Most proposals come from the president. The Executive Branch carries out the laws; Proposals go through the legislative path in which they must pass both houses before being sent to the president. They may begin in either house (or both), with one exception: all bills for raising revenue must begin in the House. |
| Of the 14,000 proposals introduced in recent congresses, only __ become law and often over __ are ceremonial. | 400-500, 100 |
| one exception: all bills for raising revenue must begin in the __ | house |
| In the House, bills are first submitted to the __ | Speaker’s office who determines which committee(s) to send the bill. once in committee, bills are referred to a subcommittee, where they hold hearings then “markup” the bill and vote on sending the bill to the full committee. the full committee is the same. |
| In the Senate, bills are first submitted to the __ | office of the majority leader who will, with the minority leader, refer the bill to committee(s). The process in the Senate is identical to the House. If the full Senate committee supports the bill, it will also go before the entire chamber. |
| Where the House and Senate paths differ: | In the House: strict limits on debating and amending legislation on the floor. every bill gets a rule from the committee before it is scheduled for action, the rule may place limits -- max one hour per member. The rules require all talk to be relevant and may enact stricter limits (down to no debate at all). In the Senate, there are no limits. Debate and amendments are unlimited and need not be related to the issue. |
| The Senate considers legislation using unanimous consent agreements (UCAs) which are | agreements (negotiated between proponents and opponents) on debate and amendment limits that require the consent of everyone in the chamber. |
| filibuster | an attempt to talk a bill to death / hold. To debate legislation, senators seek recognition to speak. When granted, they engage in discussion, as long as they are recognized, no other action takes place on the Senate floor. Under UCAs, they voluntarily give up that recognition after a while so others may speak. However, a senator wishing to disrupt may continue to speak |
| The record for an individual filibuster was set in 1957 by Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC), who spoke for just over __ hours | 24 hours in opposition to civil rights |
| what recent changes led to an explosion of filibustering? | - majority leaders of both parties began scheduling multiple bills for floor action at a time (they bring up one of the bills for debate—but try to invoke cloture before any debate. If cloture vote fails, the bill is pulled off the floor and bills may be kept off the floor with the threat of a filibuster.) - instead of forcing around-the-clock sessions, the Senate will adjourn each evening. |
| In the 1920s through the 1960s—there were a total of __ cloture petitions. In 2019-2020, there were __ petitions. | 56, 328 petitions. |
| “nuclear option”: | The democratic majority changed the rules on all but Supreme Court nominations to allow debate to be stopped by a simple majority vote. Was extended to cover Supreme Court nominees by Republicans in 2017. In 2021, Senate Democrats debated eliminating filibusters but as of June 2021, they lacked enough votes to invoke the “nuclear option” again. context: presidential nominations to the executive branch / courts are subject to filibusters (over 300 in 2007-2011) which led Democrats to change the rules |
| When a bill is vetoed, it is returned to __ | Congress |
| two-thirds vote: | - If a bill is vetoed, it is returned to Congress, where both houses try to override the veto. If a vote is successful, the bill becomes a law without the support of the president. |
| annual budget: The president submits a yearly budget proposal to congress who creates a budget (Feb / mid-April) - authorization must be completed by April 15th, when Congress approves a preliminary budget. | The president submits a yearly budget proposal to congress who creates a budget (Feb / mid-April) - authorization must be completed by April 15th, when Congress approves a preliminary budget. |
| In general, for laws to take effect the following year, they must be authorized by __ of the current year. | mid-April |
| The appropriations process: | The Appropriations Committees in each house decide how much funding each policy/program gets-- From May through mid-June but must be completed by June 15th |
| reconciliation orders: | Orders from the Appropriations Committees to rewrite -- must be complete by the end of September as the new (“fiscal”) year begins on October 1st. |
| continuing resolution: | a joint resolution passed by congress and signed by the president that allows the government to continue spending at current levels. |
| The first time since the budget process was adopted in 1974 that the government failed to finish the process: | The budget for 2007 was never completed. the Democratic majority assumed control of both houses in and realized that they couldn't work on the 2007 and 2008 budget, so they passed a continuing resolution to fund the year at the 2006 levels. in 2008? Congress did not complete a budget in time, so they had to pass another continuing resolution until December of 2007. |
| The “Traditional” Process: | Pre 1970s, Bills were referred to a single committee in each house. In the House, the rules for debate and amendments were open allowing members endless debate and unrestricted ability to propose amendments. In the Senate, Unanimous consent agreements were simple and filibusters were rare. House-Senate differences in legislation were minor and resolved in small conference committees. |
| The Modern Process: | Post 1970s: congressional power became dispersed and parties became polarized in the 1980s. Bills were referred to several committees in each house which led to action within each committee, negotiations, and rules limiting amendments became normal. In the Senate, uca's became more limiting. Negotiations among senators to avoid filibusters became common yet filibustering increased. |
| How Members Decide: | John Kingdon (1977, 1981) -- factors that influence congressional voting are constituents, legislators, party / committee leadership, interest groups, the Executive Branch, staff, and media. |
| When voters care, homogeneous constituencies may not possess an opinion. Many voters may hold an opinion and may not feel strongly about it. Should a legislator vote with an __ majority, or with an __ minority? | apathetic majority VS intense minority |
| legislators look to: | • Fellow legislators (party and committee leaders). party leaders provide a trusted source, the leadership is a strategic source. • interest groups when there is no constituency or when legislators lack knowledge of the issue • Their staff • Internet sources and media affect members through their influence and access to classified information. |
| legislators DONT look to: | • The Executive Branch because a large portion of Congress is not from the president’s party and local constituencies are often at odds with the president’s national concerns. |
| Oversight and it's two related forms: | . • First: The review of existing laws and programs to see if they are functioning as Congress intended– connected to the budget process. • Second: investigations into businesses, industries, society in the wake of scandals—to see if government action is warranted. |
| The Senate's powers to confirm appointments and ratify treaties with other nations gives them an __ | importance in input with other branches of government and acts as a check on presidential power. |
| Congress has the ability to discipline and remove __ | its members / members of the other branches. |
| The 25th Amendment requires the House join the Senate in confirming appointments to fill __. | vice presidential vacancies. |
| The House has the sole power of impeachment where an official is tried by the Senate (with the chief justice of the Supreme Court), which requires a__ vote to convict and remove from office. | two-thirds |