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| Confrence Committe | An adhoc joint committe of a bicameral legislature. Appointed by and consists members of chambers to resolve disagreement on a bill. |
| Joint Committe | Both houses of the US. |
| Veto | Stop changes, or not to adopt them. |
| Pocket Veto | In good economic times the party holding the while house normally does well; in poor times it does badly. |
| Override | Cancel something or change an action or decision taken by somebody else. |
| Discretionary | Left to or regulated by ones own descretion or judgement. |
| Graham-Rudman-Holings Act (1995) | Balanced budget and emergency deficit control act. |
| Continuing Resolutions | Specific amount of money for department agency or program. |
| Issue Advocacy | is different from candidate support as roles for interest groups in that issue advocacies do more of the advertisement and directly support the candidates. |
| Federalist No. 10 | In Federalist No. 10, Madison warned of the "mischief of faction" and argued that the best way to control it was through a lot of groups vs. one dominant group. |
| Examples of Interest groups | Economic: National affordable Housing Network; Labor: American Association of Manufacturers; Public interest: Aids Action Council; Foreign Policy: Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Single Interest: Sierra Club; Government: Council for Excellence in Government; Professional: National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals; |
| Senate Vs. House of Representatives (structure and power) [MarioV] | The differences in structure and power between the senate and the house are that in structure the term of the house is 2 years while the senate's is 6 years. The house must also be 25 or older meanwhile the senate is a 30 or over age requirement. The majority elects speaker and officer while senators choose officers and a president pro tempore. The senate is said to have greater power due to the longer term (6 years) |
| Enumerate powers and elastic clause interpretation of these powers [MarioV] | The enumerated powers of the legislative branch are powers to tax, borrow money, regulate commerce, establish a uniform law over naturalization and bankruptcies; coin money, provide punishment of counterfeiting, make a post office and post roads; rights of patents and copy rights, create courts, punish piracies, declare war, create an army and navy, call the militia, govern D.C. as well as establish a "necessary and proper clause". The elastic clause adds greatly to those powers because it allows to pass laws that will allow governments to do things not specifically enumerated to them. |
| Org. structure of house, roles of speaker, majority and minority leaders and committee [Mario] | The speaker has the most power and importance in the house. The speaker uses the power to preside over all meetings. A term for a house rep is 2 years. The majority leader is elected by the majority party. The minority leader is elected by the minority part. An advantage of being the majority leader is that, if the speakers party is still the majority at the time of his death, the majority leader will take the roll of the speaker. Democrats discuss and made a committee assignments, and the scheduling of legislation in a steering and policy committee. There is a congressional campaign committee that belongs individually to each party and is responsible for providing funds for them. |
| Distinguish between original and appellate jurisdictions of the federal courts. | Original: The court’s right to hear a case for the first time. Appellate: The court’s right to review and change decisions made by lower or inferior courts, most consist of appeals, entirely new hearings and a review of particular rulings given by the lower court. |
| Describe the process of judicial selection. List all the factors that may influence the choice of a federal judge. | The constitution states that the Senate must approve and consent to the President’s appointments to the federal bench before they are appointed. Once appointed, federal judges serve for life unless removed through impeachment or they resign. Although there are no special qualifications to become a judge of these courts, those who are nominated are typically very accomplished private or government attorneys, judges in state courts, magistrate judges or bankruptcy judges, or law professors. |
| Describe the debate between justices who believe in judicial restraint (original intent) and justices who favor judicial activism (contemporary ratification). | Judicial activism and judicial restraint are to opposing views of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Liberals and Democrats tend to favor judicial activism and Conservatives and Republicans tend to favor judicial restraint. Judicial Activism is rulings by the Judges that are said to be based upon personal or political considerations other than the existing law. Judicial Restraint is a school of thought that encourages judges to limit their decisions unless they are obviously stated in the constitution. The United States has been activist in its rulings, trying to undo the wrongs of their previous decisions. In the Dred Scott case and Plessy V. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans did not constitutionally have the right to sue for their freedom. However, Brown v. the Board of Education expressed judicial activism and ruled their previous rulings unconstitutional. |
| Explain the process by which a case reaches the Supreme Court and is decided. | There are three separate ways a case can reach the Supreme Court. The first is through original jurisdiction-no other federal court can here disputes between different states, so the Supreme Court has exclusive/original jurisdiction. The most common way for a case to reach the Supreme Court is to file a petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. This appeal informs the court of the case’s request for review, but unlike any other court the Supreme Court can directly decide which cases it will here upon these reviews. The third route is through an appeal from a state Supreme court, although the Supreme court will generally not challenge the state Supreme Court rulings. |
| Differentiate between an open rule and a closed rule in the House. | Closed rules set time limits on debates over bills and nominations. They also restrict amendments from being passed. Open rules allow amendments to be passed from the floor to the House. The legislation passing is controlled by these. |
| Describe the organizational structure of the Senate and how the filibuster creates a need for supermajorities in Senate deliberations over legislation and confirmations. | The filibuster creates a need for a supermajority because a filibuster delays a bill passing. A supermaority closes a debate on a bill because it requires a 3/5 vote to move through a cloture motion. Each U.S. State has 2 senators. Each party has Senate party leaders. The Senate Majority Leader is responsible for controlling the agenda. There are also several officers who are not members. |
| Role of the Federal Reserve Board (The Fed) | Consists of seven members appointed by the president, with consent of the Senate, for a fourteen year term. The chairman serves for four years. The Fed is independent of both the president and Congress. Its most important function is to regulate the supply of money and the price of money and sets monetary policy by buying and selling federal government securities, regulating the amount of money that a member bank must keep in hand as reserves, and changing the interest charged banks. |
| Interest Rates | A rate wich is charged or paid for the use of money. The Federal Reserve influences interest rates by manipulating reserves. With more money around, interest rates tend to drop, and more money is borrowed and spent. When the Fed sells government securities, in effect takes money out of circulation, causing interest rates to rise and making borrowing more difficult. |
| Reserve Requirements | The amount of funds that a depository institution must hold in reserve against specified deposit liabilities. Depository institutions must hold reserves in the form of vault cash or deosits with Federal Reserve Banks. |
| Laissez Fair | An economic theory that government should not regulate or interfere with commerce. It states the importance of free competative market, and stresses the need to keep state regulation to a minimum. |
| Explain how each of the following hold the President accountable: reelection and legacy, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Media, public opinion. | The president wants to get reelected so he/she has to satisfy the demands of the people who are going to vote for him. In his legacy the president wants to be remembered well. The Congress can veto the bills of the President and vice versa. The supreme court can state whether the President's laws are constitutional or not. The media can give the President the message that he wants to get out to the people so they will vote for him/her. The people's public opinion can have an impact on the President because if he doesn't address their concerns then the people won't vote for him. |
| Describe the structure and the duties of the White House Staggm the Executive Office of the President, and the Cabinet. | The White House has a Chief of Staff whose duties are to choose the staff members and controls the flow of people and information within his office. He also negotiates with Congress and political groups about implementing the President's daily agenda. The Executive Office of the President has a senior staff with many mini divisions under the Chief of Staff some of thier duties are to help support the President in decision making so he can govern effectively. The Cabinet is made up of officers appointed by the President to be in charge of different divisions in the government their duties are to assist the President with his duties so he can focus on more important matters and everyone else in the Cabinet can focus on their group. |
| Describe the conflicts created between the legislative and executive branches over each of the following: war powers, confirmation politics, executive privilege, executive orders, veto politics, budget and spending. | The executive and legislative branch conflict with war powers because the executive can get armies ready to go to war but the legislative has to approve that the army can go to war. In confirmation politics when they veto each other's laws because the executive can veto and so can the legislative. The executive vetos the legislative laws and the legislative revises them, confirms them, then veto the executive's laws they revise the law and veto the legislative law and the whole thing is a big cycle.In executive privileges when the executive claims executive privilege the legislature cannot intervene with the decision. In executive orders when the legislature has no say in enacting the order or not because the executive has already ordered it to be final. Veto politics whtn the branches take advantage of the veto power and veto laws that don't favor a party to get the preffered laws to pass. In budget and spending when the legislature sets a balance and then the executive goes over the budget and is spending more money even after a budget was set to control the flow of money. |
| Differentiate between the role of trustee and the role of delegate for members of Congress. | The trustee in the Congress uses their best judgement on issues without regard to the preferences of the district and will seek out committee assignments that give them a chance to address large questions, such as foreign affairs, that may have no implications at all for their districts. The delegate in the congress do what their district wants and will seek out committee assignments and projects that will produce benefits for their districts. |
| Describe how the votes of members of Congress may be effected by each of the following: ideology, votes of constituents, colleagues, staff, party, interest groups, and the President. | Ideology: affects votes because each member has their own ideologies and will vote accordingly. Votes of constituents: If the congressmen's votes do not align with their districts or their are no benefits, they will not be re-elected. Parties: Congressmen usually vote according to their party or issues that relate to the party. Interest groups: These groups usually influence or bribe congressmen to vote their way. Colleagues: Congressmen often surround themselves with like-minded people and will vote according to their opinions. Staff: The staff decides which issue will go on the congressmen's agenda. President: He vetoes laws. |
| Describe in detail the process by which a bill becomes a law. | http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Pubinfo/BillBecomeLaw/Chart.gif |
