UNIT 2 REVIEW
The same rules apply here as they did for the first exam. These definitions are provided for your benefit to guide your study. They are not intended to provide you with the necessary answers for your exam questions. Make good use of these definitions and their applications to the real world when you are preparing for your exam. If you cannot or do not process the information contained herein, but only memorize it, you are not really learning but merely serving as a regurgitating robot incapable of functioning in the real world. Problem solving and leadership require thinking through information, not simply parroting it. Have you ever seen a large, colorful bird governing human societies? If you want to be ready to face the real world, do as I tell you to do here….Good luck to you all.
CONGRESS: the legislative body of the United States government, consisting of both the House of Representatives and the Senate
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: the so-called lower chamber of Congress; the chamber most closely connected to the people, representing 435 widely diverse electoral districts with roughly equal numbers of people in each. Chamber which has unique powers of impeachment and of the origination of all revenue raising bills; limited debate and swift movement of legislation from beginning to end
SENATE: the so-called upper chamber of Congress; the chamber that represents the states as states, two senators per state for 100 total. Chamber which has the unique powers of confirmation of presidential appointments (by majority vote), ratification of treaties (by 2/3 vote) and trial/conviction/removal of impeached officials (by 2/3 vote); unlimited debate and slower movement of legislation from beginning to end
FILIBUSTER: from the Dutch word for “pirate,” literally is an attempt to talk a bill to death. Filibusters may be broken only by first attaining the signatures of 16 senators on a petition asking for a cloture vote and then achieving a 3/5 majority vote for cloture to be invoked and thus to allow for the up or down vote to be taken.
LAWMAKING: the primary function of Congress, legislating. Lawmaking occurs through acts of compromise and logrolling to get bills passed and sent to the president’s desk
REPRESENTATION: another function of Congress, one necessary for a free society according to Madison in Federalist #10, that serves as a filtration of populist viewpoints and helps to ensure the common good is served better than if we allowed a pure democratic means of lawmaking
CONSTITUENT SERVICES: a function of Congress that allows it to provide certain benefits and rewards to their constituents, e.g., help with navigating the difficult maze of government agencies, filling requests for flags flown over the capitol building, granting letters of recommendation for the service academies, explaining legislation’s effects on certain individuals or groups, etc. AKA: CASEWORK
OVERSIGHT: a function of Congress involving “quality control” of government agencies and departments, ensuring government services are provided without waste, inefficiency or duplication
PUBLIC EDUCATION: a function of Congress involving open hearings, Congressional journals, available internet services for bill tracking, etc., as well as general agenda setting
POWERS OF CONGRESS: those specific areas of Congressional action as enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution (e.g., declaration of war, regulation of interstate commerce, regulating bankruptcy, setting standard weights and measures, building roads, make all laws necessary and proper, etc.)
FUNCTIONS OF CONGRESS: lawmaking, constituent services, oversight, representation, and public education
NECESSARY AND PROPER CLAUSE: final clause of Article I, section 8, giving Congress the ability to “make all laws necessary and proper” to carry into effect the powers listed above it; this is the source of extended federal power (hence the name the “elastic clause”) and the doctrine of implied powers, first articulated in McCullough v. Maryland (1819)
McCullough v. Maryland (1819): Supreme Court case in which the necessary and proper clause was used to justify extension of federal powers into areas not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, but not specifically prohibited by the Constitution. Said argument is based upon the distinction between “necessary” and “absolutely necessary,” with the former being the constitutional standard that applies and thus allows several possible means to reach a desired constitutional end (the exercise of Congressional power). Also, the state governments were formally made subordinate to the national government, in order to preserve national supremacy as required by the Constitution
TRUSTEE: member of Congress who sees his/her work as a commission from the people to exercise his/her best judgment in legislating; the trustee does not feel compelled to follow the opinion polls of the day and instead chooses to follow his/her own best inclinations to decide what is best for both his/her constituents and the nation. Trustees are generally more well-respected and better informed than their constituents, and they know it. There is a distrust of the popular passions of the day and a stronger desire to preserve the national interest rather than the whim of the majority of the day.
DELEGATE: member of Congress who sees his/her work as flowing as a direct mandate from the people; generally more inclined to follow the opinion polls of the day in deciding how to vote. Delegates generally are panderers and were not the kind of people who the Founders desired in government.
MAJORITY: 50% + 1 of any group
SUPERMAJORITY: any number over the simple majority of 50% + 1; usually 3/5, 2/3, or ¾
PLURALITY: simply more votes than anyone else, regardless of whether it is a majority or not
WINNER-TAKE-ALL: system in which the candidate with the plurality of the votes wins the election; commonly results in a two-way race in this country between the two major political parties
TWO-PARTY SYSTEM: develops out of necessity from the winner-take-all system. Better insures that one candidate will receive a majority of the votes in an election and thus better represent the entire district
REAPPORTIONMENT: redistribution of the 435 House seats every 10 years (after the census) according to population of each state
REDISTRICTING: redrawing the House districts after reapportionment, often becoming very political and contentious in the process; districts must be drawn to include roughly equal numbers of citizens so as to avoid advantaging smaller districts and disadvantaging larger ones (one man, one vote principle, first applied in 1964).
GERRYMANDERING: drawing House districts in such a way as to favor a certain political party or racial group. In its darker qualities, gerrymandering may also be used to discriminate against a party or racial group; benefits from gerrymandering may include predictability in congressional races, decline of marginal districts (competitive districts), and better security for state legislators wanting to run for congress in the future.
CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE: agreement at the Constitutional Convention that the lower chamber (the House) should be divvied up according to population (proportional representation, favors bigger states in the political world) and that the upper chamber (Senate) should be representative of the states (two per state, favors the smaller states in the political world); also conceded the point of taxation with representation by allowing the House alone to originate all revenue raising bills
PRIMARY ELECTIONS: elections held by each party to determine who will be the nominee of that party. Party members only are allowed to vote in the primaries, thus candidates tend to be more ideologically distinct from one another during the primary season.
PORK BARREL SPENDING/EARMARKING: tool of congressmen used to “bring home the bacon” to the district or state by tagging certain portions of the government’s budget to be spent on specific home projects and thus reducing the overall discretionary spending power an agency or bureau may have in its operations; one of the principal means members of congress use to win support back home and keep themselves in office every election cycle.
FRANKING PRIVILEGE: congressional members’ privilege of utilizing the US Postal Services free of charge for official business, which means more campaign exposure than any challenger that may come along
NAME RECOGNITION: benefit of incumbency; people know who you are and believe they can trust you
OTHER INCUMBENCY BENEFITS: unlimited long distance, free film/recording studios, better media coverage, fundraising capacity/massive donor lists, experience in government
IMPERIAL AGENCIES: powerful government bureaus given the freedom to make specific rules and regulations with the force of law; created by Congress in order to escape responsibility for passing restrictive or unpopular measures and thus to have someone to pass the buck to or foist the blame upon when things go wrong or when those rules and regulations make the constituents back home mad or disappointed
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: limitations on individual donor contributions; favors incumbents over challengers because challengers do not have the widespread appeal that incumbents have simply by virtue of their being in office
STRONG CHALLENGERS: likely will not run against strong incumbents because there is too much to lose; have a realistic chance of winning against a weak incumbent and probably will run if that is the case
WEAK CHALLENGERS: likely will run against anyone; have a chance of winning against a weak incumbent, have an opportunity to get the message out or draw attention to certain issues if the incumbent is fairly strong
PUBLIC OPINION: the sum of the aggregate of the public’s mood or ideas on a particular subject matter. Generally, the public opinion indicates majority support and minority opposition for some program or initiative or candidacy. Public opinion is not reflective of the common good, since majorities are fickle and always changing
REASONS PUBLIC OPINION MAY BE UNRELIABLE: sampling errors (too small, wrong crowd, biases in availability of respondents); outdated information; misleading poll questions, etc.
CONSENSUS OPINION: overwhelming majority favors or disfavors a certain program, initiative, idea, candidacy, etc….
DIVISIVE OPINION: relatively even numbers favor or disfavor a certain program, initiative, idea, candidacy, etc.
NON-OPINION: a large percentage of the population simply does not care one way or the other about a certain program, initiative, idea, candidacy, etc.
COMMITTEE: subdivision of the whole body of either chamber in Congress; designed to streamline the legislative process and make it capable of exponentially increasing the number of bills that can be considered each year
STANDING COMMITTEE: permanent committees in the House and Senate, every member serves on at least one and usually more than one of these
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE: ad hoc committee comprised of members of both House and Senate appointed to reconcile differences between two different versions of the same bill
VETO: president’s power to reject a bill and send it back to Congress with reasons for rejection (if Congress is still in session) or to simply kill the bill by doing nothing (if Congress has adjourned after 10 days)
MARK-UP: committee action on a bill after the hearing stage
RULES COMMITTEE: special standing committee in the House of Representatives that sets the terms for debate on the House floor
VICE-PRESIDENT: presiding officer of the Senate, casts the deciding vote in case of a tie in the Senate; VP is NOT a member of Congress!
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: presiding officer of the House of Representatives; most powerful person in Congress: SoH IS a member of Congress!
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: most powerful person in the Senate, head of the majority party in the Senate, and setter of the agenda and calendar in the Senate; represents the majority position to the White House
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: leader of the majority party in the House, the Speaker’s right-hand man and chief spokesperson for the speaker and the party’s agenda; represents the majority position to the White House
SENATE and HOUSE MINORITY LEADERS: leaders of the opposition party in either chamber of Congress, represent the opposition agenda to the people and to the White House
PARTY WHIPS: high ranking members of Congress designated as the chief vote counters and arm twisters within their respective parties; attempt to ensure everyone will be present for crucial votes and that everyone is sticking with the party line; also serve as liaisons between the leadership and the rank-and-file members of Congress
COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN: leaders of the committees in House and Senate, able to control the agenda of their respective committees, and in many cases, to kill legislation simply by refusing to schedule hearing and mark-up for a particular bill
NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Speaker of the House (2007- present)
DICK CHENEY (R-WY): Vice-President of the United States (2001- present)
ROBERT BYRD (D-WV): President Pro-Tempore of the Senate (2007- present)
STENY HOYER (D-MD): House Majority Leader (2007-present)
JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): House Minority Leader (2007-present)
HARRY REID (D-NV): Senate Majority Leader (2007- present)
MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): Senate Minority Leader (2007- present)