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What are the qualifications for a member of the House of Representatives?
- -Minimum age of 25
- -Citizen of the United States for 7 years
- -Have to live in the state
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What are the qualifications for a member of the Senate?
- -Minimum age of 30
- -Citizen of the United states for 9 years
- -Have to be a legal resident of the state from which elected.
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What is a privilege of a member of congress?
-they are free from arrest in most cases (if congress is in session.)
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What are the characteristics of members of congress?
- -Being a lawyer
- -Older
- -White
- -Male
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What are the purposes to comittees?
- allow congress to divide the work
- pick through bills that will receive serious consideration
- supposed to help citizens learn about key issues
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What is the importance of committee assignment?
- it increases the likelihood of re-election
- increases your potential influence on policy
- proves a measure of control with other law makers
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What are some reasons that so few bills become a law?
- a long, complicated compromise
- requires too much bargaining/compromise
- some bills are introduced with the understanding that they will not pass
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What is the Presidential action in making a new law?
- sign the bill= a simple "yes"
- send it back unsigned= simple "no"
- bill sits on dest without signing (while congress is in session)=passes
- keeps it on desk for 10 days without signing= not passed, pocket veto
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Who is the Speaker of the House?
- most important person in the House of Representatives
- agent of the chamber
- presiding officer
- majority
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Who is the House Majority Leader
- majority
- agent of the party
- plans the legislative agenda
- Top assistent to the Speaker of the House
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Who is the House Minority Leader
- agent of the party
- plans the legislative agenda
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Who are the Whips?
- they are for both Parties
- assistant floor leaders
- they vote with their party
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Who is the Senate Minority Leader?
- agent of the senate party
- plans the legislative agenda
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Who is the Senate Majority Leader?
- agent of the senate party
- plans the legislative agenda
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Who is the President Pro-Tempore?
- senate
- majority
- seniority
- agent of the senate
- Presiding officer in the absence of the Vice President
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Union Calender:
- House of Representatives
- lists all bills dealing with money
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House Calendar:
- House of Representatives
- lists most public bills that deal with anything except for money
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Private Calendar:
- House of Representatives
- lists all bills that deal with individual people or places
- decreasingly used
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Concent Calender:
- House of representatives
- any bill from any calender can be debated
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Discharge Calender:
- House of Representatives
- used to petition the removal (discharge) of a bill from the comittee
- it is a threat
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Calendendar of General orders:
- Senate
- considers all bills
- they all reach the floor with unanimous conscent
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Executive Calendar:
- Senate
- schedules items that deal with the executive branch such as treaties and confirmation proceedings on niminees made by the president
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Introducing a bill:
- anyone can write a bill
- can only be introduced by a senator or congressman
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First reading:
Bill receives a name and number
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What is pigeonhilding:
- the bill goes to appropriate committee
- then a sub-comittee
- then dies
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Comittee Hearings:
When and if they decide to act on a bill, a hearing takes place
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Reporting a bill:
sending a full report to the full house and the full senate for a vote
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Floor action:
When a bill is debated and voted on
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Conference Comittee Action:
- House of Reps. and Senate
- works out a compromise between similar bills
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Registering a law:
- goes to the National Archive and Record service
- gets a new name and a new number
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Voice Vote:
- Both the House and the Senate
- everything is done aloud
- usind aye's, no's
- keeps no record
- used for non-controversial
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Standing Vote:
- Both the House and the Senate
- Yes's stand. No's remain seated
- aka. the Division vote
- leaves a nemerical record
- used for controversial issues
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Recorded Vote:
- House of Representatives
- everything is done electronically
- Responses: "yes," "no," or "abstention"
- keeps both an individual record and numerical record
- increasingly common
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Roll-call Vote:
- Senate
- each member responds with their vote when name is called
- keeps both a nemerical and individual record
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Structure of the U.S Congress:
- Upper= Senate
- Lower= House of Representatives
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Terms of Congress:
2 years
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Session of Congress:
2 sessions per term
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Wesberry vs. Sanders:
- Supreme court case
- it was a "one person. one vote" decision
- the population of each congressional district should be nearly as equal as possible to the population of other congressional districts
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What is Gerrymandering?
- drawing congressional districts to favor one party over the other
- illeagal... but very difficult to prove
- packing= try to concentrate the opposing party into as few districts as possible
- cracking= trying to diide the opposing party into as many congressional districts as possible
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Membership in the House of Representatives:
- 435 voting members
- capped at this number because they dont want it to grow
- they are re-apportioned after every census
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Membership in the Senate
100 full voting members
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Seats in the Senate
- 2 per state
- (doubled states= 100 members)
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Term of office for the senate:
- 6 years
- 1/3 of them are up for re-election
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What is Franking Privilege?
- free postage for official business
- helps them get re-elected
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Rules of congress:
Each house sets their own rules
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Rules comittes of the House of Representatives:
- old and powerful
- control flow of major legislation
- settle disputes between comittees
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Quorum in the House of Representatives:
- regular session= 218 people (debate/final vote)
- comittee of the whole = 50 people (debate/amend)
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Atmosphere in the House of Representatives:
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Atmosphere in the Senate:
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Vice President's role in the Senate:
- He is the presiding officer
- recognizes the members
- puts things to a vote
- may NOT debate on the floor
- swing vote
- rarely attends
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What is a fillibuster?
- Senate
- excessive talking to avoid voting on a bill
- First three hours= issues (tag-teaming allowed)
- 2 track system lets them break the meetings up
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What is a cloture?
- stops a fillibuster
- 3/5 (60 senators)
- rare
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What are committees?
they do most of the real work in congress
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Assignment to comittees:
- 60% Republican, 40% Democrat
- seniority
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Role of Comittee Chair:
- makes decisions about the work
- hire comittee staff
- control the comittee budget
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Library of Congress:
- one of the largest libraries on eath
- administrates copyright
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Congressional Budget Office:
coordinates the budget making work of congress
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General accounting office:
Watchdog over Government appropriations
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Government printing office"
- largest multi-purpose printing press on earth
- does all the printing for the government
- prints the congressional record
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Private bills:
- individual people or places
- examle: immigration, money, claims
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Public Bills:
- general issues that apply to everyone
- Example: healthcare
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Joint Resolution
- passed by both houses
- has to be signed by the president
- used to correct errors in previous legislation
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Concurrent Resolution
- not a law
- deals with both houses
- Example: adjournment of congress
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Conference Report:
- Senatore and Representtives
- cannot be ammended
- answers are imply a yes or no
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Line Item Veto:
- Ececutive Branch
- cuts parts of billswhile signing other parts into a law
- most govenors have this power
- the president does not
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Clinton vs. City of New York:
- supreme court case
- takes the ime-item veto capability away from the president
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Revenue and Tax Measures:
revenue starts in the house, not the senate
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Weighs and means comittee:
- does all the tax-work
- House of Representatives
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Appropriations bills:
- actually provide money for the program
- always smaller the the authorization bills
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Entitlements:
- money that the government is committed to spenp
- makes up over 70% of the federal government
- example: social security, medicare
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Influences on Law Makers:
- lawmakers personality
- congressional staff
- party
- voters
- interest groups
- the President
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Voter Expectations:
if it directly influences the voters, you go with the voter's wishes
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Learning what Voter's want:
- frequent home trips
- screen mail or phone calls
- questionaires
- professionally conducted polls
- views of faithful supporters
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Influence of Party:
- the #1 indicator
- party voting= same as the majority of the party, (stronger in the House of Representatives, weakest on local and international issues)
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Influence of Interest groups:
- provide the congressman with informationprovisional visits to lawmakers
- encourages people to contact the congressman
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Political action comittee:
- fundraising groups
- single issue
- does not count as a donation
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Casework:
- helping individual constituants with their probles
- much more common in the House of Representatives
- Most representatives have at least one full-time caseworker
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