| A | B |
|---|
| Associated Press | news co-op that writes and/or distributes most news in US newspapers |
| "narrow"casting | when a media outlet targets one ideological audience (ex. Fox, MSNBC) |
| No Prior Restraint | the protection against having the government prevent a news outlet from operating |
| Near v Minnesota | established the protection of No Prior Restraint |
| Equal Time Rule | FCC rule requires networks to sell air time to parties fairly |
| Fairness doctrine | former FCC rule that required the discussion of both sides of controversial issues |
| Trial balloon | an intentional leak to the press used to gauge public opinion on a topic |
| gatekeeper | the media deciding what stories/issues we pay attention to |
| scorekeeper | the media covering the who's "winning" aspects of politics (polling etc) |
| Watchdog | the media uncovering corruption and scandals |
| reapportionment | the change in the number of seats int he House of Reps that each state will receive |
| gerrymandering | intentionally drawing districts to favor one political group |
| line item veto | briefly allowed pres to veto part of a law (used to cut "pork") |
| divided government | pres and congress are controlled by different parties. slows down legislative process |
| gridlock | nothing getting done in Congress, due to divided government |
| appropriation legislation | releases funds for specific expenditures |
| riders | amendments added on to a bill. can be used to help it pass or prevent it from passing. |
| log-rolling | congressmen trading votes on "pet" projects |
| pork barrell legislation | bills designed to only benefit a certain district or state. Often wasteful but helps serve constituents |
| open rule | allows for ulimited debate time and amendments (non germane) to be added to a bill. All bills in Senate are under open rule |
| closed rule | strict time limit for debate and limit on number of amendments (can be used in House) |
| filibuster | talking to try to delay action on a bill (used in Senate). |
| cloture | can be invoked with 6/10 vote in senate to end debate on a bill |
| standing committee | permanent established important committees in Congress. All bills must go through one. (ex. Appropriation, Ways and Means, Judiciary) |
| select committee | committee apointed for a limited time or purpose |
| conference committee | used to work out differences between house and senate versions of a bill |
| speaker of the house | always from the majority party, determines whaht committee bills are placed in, influences who serves on what committee. Strongest leadership position in House |
| majority leader | leads majority party in either House or Senate (Senate Majority Leader is strongest position in Senate) |
| Minority leader | leads minority party in either house or senate |
| whips | assist majority/minority leader in getting members to vote together |
| indicator of strong party leadership | how often party members vote together on bills |
| Vice President | serves as presiding officer of senate, breaks any tie votes |
| Pres Pro Tempore | most senior member of majority party in the Senate, presides in absence of VP. Mainly ceremonial position |
| Executive Order | issued by the president they have the force of law but can be overriden by congress or declared unconstitutional. |
| Executive Agreement | signed by the president and a foreign head of state it does not have to be ratified by the senate but only lasts as long as that president is in office |
| Executive Privilege | right of the president and his staff to withhold information from courts or congress. Designed to give pres confidentiality in his staff. |
| White House Office | The close assistants to the president who work specifically for him and not as a representative of another agency |
| Executive offfice of the President (EOP) | a group of agencies supporting the president not housed in a cabinet department. They perform specific services and tasks and vary in their closeness to the president |
| The Cabinet | the 15 major service departments of the US government |
| The Office of Management and Budget | agency in the EOP that prepares the President's budget that he submits to Congress |
| Independent Executive Agencies | Agencies not in a cabinet dept that report directly to the president (ex CIA, EPA). |
| Independent Regulatory Agencies | Independent agencies that regulate a certain aspect of the country or economy. Pres appoints their head but they serve for fixed terms (ex Fed Reserve, FCC, SEC) |
| Government Corporation | businesses owned by the federal government and run for profit (ex. USPS, Amtrak) |
| Pendleton Act | (aka civil sevice reform act) established that government jobs be awarded on basis of competitve examinations |
| Hatch Act | limited the political activity of federal employees. Designed to prevent people in executive branch from being pressured to support a certain candidate or party |
| Office of Personel and Management | agency that administers civil service exams and makes recommendations on who agencies should hire |
| Privatization | reform attempt that would turn over services provided by the government to private companies |
| Chief of Staff | head of the White House Office, manages the White House Staff |
| Iron Triangle | Three way alliance between Agencies, Congressional Committees and Interest groups that many say dictates policy |
| Chief Diplomat | the presidents role as the main negotiator in foreign affairs |
| Diplomatic recognition | the power of the president to reconginze a foreign government as legitimate |
| Chief of State | the idea that the President represents the "dignity and majesty" of the American people |
| Commander in Chief | gives the president power over the US military forces |
| War powers Resolution | act enacted to prevent the President from waging war without an eventual authorization from Congress |
| Coalition Builder | the preisent's role in building teams to support his policy agenda |
| Crisis Manager | informal role where the people look to the President in times of trouble |
| Executive agreement | agreement between the President and a foreign government that is not binding to other Presidents |
| Impeachment | to bring charges against the PResident it is done by th House of Representatives |
| Convicition on Articles of Impeachment | requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate and is the trial for the impeachment proceedings |
| US v Nixon | limited use of executive privilege in criminal cases |
| Inherent powers | powers that the president possesses that just seem to go along with the job (ex. Louisiana Purchase) |
| Honeymoon period | early in a President's first term when he is most likely to accomplish his policy goals |
| Midterm curse | idea that presidents usually suffer a loss in popularity during the middle of their terms |
| Lame duck period | time when it is known that the President won't be returning for another term and he lacks effectiveness but does not fear consequences of certain actions |
| Chief Executive | Role where the PResident serves as head of executive branch, appointing key members of the cabinet and leading the executive agencies |
| Freedom of Information act | Federal law allows people to access unclassified documents of the US government |
| Judicial Review | the power of the courts to rule on the Constitutionality of a law or executive action |
| Marbury v Madison | case that established Judicial Review |
| Opinion of the Court | written to explain the point of a view of the majority of the court in a supreme court case |
| concurring opinion | opinion written to explain the opinion of a judge who agreed with the court's decision although for separate reasons |
| dissenting opinion | court opinion that disagrees with the decision made by the court |
| Precedent | idea that a decision made by the court should be followed by future courts in similar circumstances |
| Stare Decisis | latin "let it stand" ecourages courts to follow precedent |
| "Litmus" Test | figurative process of determining the ideology of a judge before appointing/confirming them |
| Original jurisdiction | hearing a case for the first time |
| appellate jurisdiction | hearing a case on appeal |
| US district courts | federal courts that hold trials for federal laws |
| US Circuit Courts of Appeals | Federal court that hears appeals of decisions of the district courts |
| US Supreme Court | 9 judge court that serves as court of last resort in US. It hears appeals of laws and court decisions and is ultimate authoirty on the Constitutionality of a law or action |
| Plea Bargain | agreeing to plead guilty so that the defendant will receive a lesser punishment. It is how most criminal cases end. |
| Solicitor General | argues for the US government if the US government is a party in a court case |
| Class action suit | a lawsuit brought on behalf of a large group |
| Amicus Curiae | documents submitted by interest groups to help them make a decision and argue for a position |
| Writ of Certiorari | means that the supreme court has agreed to hear a case, it is granted using the "rule of four" meaning four judes must agree to hear the case |
| Judicial Activism | when judges use vague language in the Constitution to their political advantage and make decision in an attempt to bring about a political change |
| Judicial Restraint | when judges refrain from injecting their own political opinion into a case and typically try not to strike down laws |
| original intent | view that judges should base their opinion on a case on what the framers would have decided or intended when writing the Constitution |
| entitlement | a government program where $ is sent to individual citizens |
| non means based programs | entitlements where any one recieves the enttitlement regardless of income |
| means based programs | entitlement programs where the person must have income below a certain level |
| social security | a program designed to provide federal retirement benefits to those who worked |
| Medicare | government program designed to pay the health care costs of the elderly |
| Medicaid | government program deisgned to provide healthcare costs to the poor |
| TANF | federal reform to the Welfare program that allowed the states to have more control of how welfare benefits were distributed |
| Income tax | tax on income earned. IT is a progressive tax |
| 16th amendment | allowed for the collection of income tax (constitution had banned direct taxes) |
| Progressive Tax | as someone's income increases so does their tax rate |
| Regressive tax | taxes that have a large impact on those earning small incomes |
| Flat tax | tacxing all incomes at the same rate |
| Captial gains tax | tax on investment income |
| Payroll tax | taxes takend out on workers to pay for medicare, social security etc |
| excise tax | a tax on a specific product (ex Gas, Tobacco) |
| Fiscal policy | the policy of changing tax revenue and expenditures (policy of the budget) |
| Office of Management and Budget | prepares the President's budget and gives advice on budget policy |
| Mandatory spending | $ the government must spend in the budget (ex. interest on debt, entitlements) |
| Discretionary Spending | $ the government has the ability to more easily change the level of spending for in each years' budget |
| Monetary policy | changes in the amount of $ in circulation, controlled by Federal Reserve Board |
| Federal Reserve System | controls monetary policy by adjusting interest rates, reserve requirements |
| No prior restraint | the idea that the press can not be prevented from operating or publishing, but can be punished for what it does publish |
| Amicus curiae | documents submitted by Interest groups to the court during litigation to help the court make its decision |
| "linkage institution" | something that connects the people to the government (ex. political parties, interest groups elections) |
| National convention | the big meeting for a political party where they officialyy name their candidate for President |
| PACs | political action committees, they are used by interest groups to donate $ to candidates |
| Super PACs | a type of PAC that is unlimited in the amount of $ it spends towards independent expenditures |
| Primary election | an election that detemrines who will be be the candidate representing the party in an upcoming general election they typically feature a smaller % of the voting population and more ideologically extreme voters |
| General election | an election that determines who actually gets to hold political office |
| Caucus | a meeting where party members choose delgates to attend the national convention |
| Open primary | a primary where anyone can participate and they do not have to declare their party affiliation |
| Closed Primary | a primary where someone MUST declare their party affiliation prior to participatin |
| "super" delegate | soemone who will attend a convention regardless of the outcome of the primaries |
| Federal Election Campaign Act | the campaign finance law from the 1970s that set limits on how much someone could donate to an individual's campaign |
| Federal Eleection Commisison | Federal Agency that oversees federal campaign finance law |
| Independent expenditures | $ spent or contirbuted by Interest groups/PACs separate from a candidate's official campaign. |
| Electoral College | the group that directly elects the president. IT was established as a buffer against the common people and to include the states in the presidential election process |
| "Candidate centered" campaign | the idea that campaigns are now more focused on the individual candiate rather than the party they represent |
| "horse race" jounralism | focusing on the "who's winning" aspect of a cammpaign rather than the issues. It is frequent in the election coverage. |
| "micro-targeting" | using the internet to target the most likely potential voters and donors in an attempt to gain their support |
| Bi-Partisan campagin finance reform act | A campagin refomr law from 2002 that tried to limit the amount of independent expenditures and "soft" $ in campaigns |
| Buckley v Valeo | the case that upheld the Federal Election campaign Act |
| Citizens United v FEC | the case from 2010 that determined that unions and corporations could not be limited in their spennding on independent expenditures |
| Swing states/"battleground" states | states that BOTH parties feels they have a decent chance of winning during a presidential campaign. They are the focus of presidential campaigns. (ex: Ohio, Florida) |
| Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | health care reform law from 2010 that required insurance companies to offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions AND required peiple to purchase health insurance or be taxed. |
