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| What are catagorical grants? | Categorical grants are grants issued by the U.S. which can only be spent on narrowly defined purposes. Additionally, recipients of categorical grants are often required to match a portion of the federal funds. About 90% of federal aid dollars are spent for categorical grants. |
| What are project grants? | In contrast to categorical grants, Block grants is a large sum of money given to regional districts with only loose guidelines on how it should be spent. An advantage of block grants is that they allow regional governments to experiment with different ways of spending money with the same goal in mind, though it is very difficult to compare the results of such spending and reach a conclusion. |
| What is revenue sharing? | United States government revenue sharing was in place from 1972-1987. Under this policy, Congress gave an annual amount of federal tax revenue to the states and their cities, counties and townships. Revenue sharing was extremely popular with state officials, but it lost federal support during the Reagan Administration. In 1987, revenue sharing was replaced with block grants in smaller amounts to reduce the federal deficit. |
| Define and give examples of unfunded mandates? | Unfunded mandates are regulations imposed from the government to companies in which no funds are given: Examples of this are The Americans With Disabilites Act, in which the government forced all facilities to provide equal access to disabled customers, without providing any funds for the construction. |
| Define and give examples of funded mandates? | Funded mandates are regulations imposed from the government to companies in which no funds are given: The No Child Left Behind Act forces all schools to set education standards, and requires annual testing of all students from 3rd to 8th grade. However unlike the American With Disabilites Act, in the No Child Left Behind Act, federal aid is given. |
| What is preemption? Describe its effect on state powers and give a specific example. | Preemption means that any federal law--even a regulation of a federal agency--trumpts any conflicting state law. An example would be Cipillone v. Ligget Group (1992) was a closely watched case concerning the extent of an express preemption provision in two cigarette labeling laws of the 1960s. The court held that the Surgeon General's warning did not preclude suit by smokers against tobacco companies on several claims. |
| Describe the system of checks and balances creates by the constitution. | The system of checks and balances is the consitutional safeguard designed to prevent any one branch of government from being dominant. It requires different branches of government to share power and cooperate with one another to accomlish anything of importance. Some examples of checks and balances are the: nomination of federal judges, cabinet officials, negotiation of treaties, and enactment of legislation. |
| Show how Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review and how this precedent affected the constitutional process of separation of powers. | Marbury v. Madison established the judicial review--Supreme Courts power to strike down acts of United States congress. The constitution does not specifically grant the Supreme Court the right to judge the constitutionality of laws. It graned itself the power to overturn laws past by the Legislative. |
| What is the ralation between federalism and issues such as welfare reform, health care, transportation, taxation and unemployment? | Issues such as welfare reform, health care, taxation and unemployment have been a struggle between state and federal government as to whether programs are established, how they are managed and who has authority over them. |
| What is the significance of the case McCulloch vs Maryland? | The case of McCulloch vs. Maryland further proved that federal law was supreme. James McCulloch worked for a federal bank and refused to pay a tax levied by the state of Maryland, and after reviewed by the supreme court, was deemed unconstitutional since the federal government was created by the people and not the states, thus making the federal government supreme over the states. The supreme court conclude that the state of Maryland could not tax the federal government and thus could not tax the bank created by congress. |
| What is the controversy created between clause 18 of the Article 1 section 8 and the 10th amendment? | The controversy created between clause 18 of the Article 1 section 8 and the 10th amendment is that clause 18 of Article 1 section 8 gives the federal government the right to create any federal law if it is deemed "necessary and proper" , while the 10th amendment states that any power not specifically given to the federal government is reserved for the states. This creates issues as to who has the most authority since this could make the federal government intrude on the reserved right of the states. |
| Explain the function and inportance of the committee system in Congress. | The function of the committee system in Congress is to monitor on-going governmental operations, identify issues suitable for legislative review and recommend courses of action. They also gather and evaluate information and bring specific issues to attention. |
| Explain the difference between Authorization and Appropiration in the budget process. | The Authorization legislation states that max amount of money that an agency can spend on a given program. It can either be permanent or a fixed number of years, or even annual. An appropriation is money set aside for specific use. It often is less than the amount authorized. The committee usually cuts budgets. |
| Explain the role of congressional oversight in the seperation of powers. | The of congressional oversight in the seperation of powers: the President has to share the authority of the bureaucracy with congress. Congress must pass the President's policies and provide funds for the Executive Depertments. |
| Describe the three comprimises found in the US Constitution. | The 3 comprimises are 1) The Great Comprimise (2 houses, one based on population and one which which all states are represented equally) 2) The 3/5 comprimise (slaves count as 3/5 of a person when counting population for the House) and 3) |
| Describe the weaknesses of the "The Articles of Confedertian" | There are 9 weaknesses 1)Articules creathed a "league of friendship" beween states 2) Congress could not tax, only request money from the states 3) Congress could not regulate interstate commerce 4) No seperate executive to enforce laws passed by Congress 5) No national judiciary to handle state disputes 6) States AND national government had the authority to coin money 7) Each state had one vote regardless of size or population 8) Nine of of thirteen states required to pass legislation 9) unanimous consent required inorder to amend the Articles of Confederation |
| Describes reasons for ratifying the Constitution. | It 1)allowed government to tax and regulate interstate commerce, it addressed the represntation issue, had a stronger central government, government can now support an army, elstablished the judicial branch |
| Distingush among unitary government,confederations,and federalism | In a federal system, a national government and the state governments share power. In a unitary system, all power lies with the national government, whereas in a confederation, the vast majority of power rests with the states. |
| Explain how federalism keeps the government closer to the people? | State constituencies are smaller than Congressional ones. State members can respond to more-local issues than federal members need to. |
| Distinguish between inherit,implieed,and expressed powers. | Inherent Powers are the powers of the national government in the field of foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on the constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government. The Implied Powers are Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions. Express Powers are Powers specifically granted to one of the branches of the national government by the Constitution. P.E. Harrell |
| List three arguments used against ratification of the Constitution | It lacked a bill of rights, the consition would enable the american people to preserve their liberty and independences, the nations problems use directly limited to the frail, inadequate confederation. |
