U2A: Congress

Flashcard deck · A.P. U.S. Government · Congress · Social Studies

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Covers 78 AP Gov terms on how Congress works, including gerrymandering, filibuster, logrolling, Baker v. Carr, the elastic clause, and delegate vs. trustee models.

Terms in this deck

Advice and Consent: The Senate's constitutional power to approve or reject presidential nominations and ratify treaties.
Appropriations: Congressional approval of funds to be spent by the executive branch to carry out government programs and functions.
Attitudinal View of Representation: The theory of congressional voting behavior which assumes that members vote on the basis of their own beliefs because the array of conflicting pressures on members cancel out one another.
Baker v. Carr: 1962 Supreme Court case establishing that federal courts can rule on legislative apportionment cases ("one person, one vote").
Bicameral Legislature: A lawmaking body made up of two chambers or parts.
Casework: Services performed by members of Congress for constituents, such as helping navigate federal agencies or resolving problems.
Christmas Tree Bill: A bill that has many riders to increase its chances of being passed.
Closed Rule: An order from the House Rules Committee that sets a time limit on debate; forbids a bill from being amended on the floor.
Commerce Clause: The constitutional provision giving Congress power to regulate trade among states and with foreign nations; basis for broad federal legislation.
Committee of the Whole: A committee that consists of an entire legislative body; used for a procedure in which a legislative body expedites its business by resolving itself into a committee of itself.
Concurrent Resolution: A statement of position on an issue used by the House and Senate acting jointly; does not have the force of law and does not require the president's signature.
Conference Committee: Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form.
Congress: The legislature of the United States government.
Congressional Budget Office: Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president's Office of Management and Budget.
Congressional Caucus: An association of members of Congress based on party, interest, or social group such as gender or race.
Conservative Coalition: An alliance between Republicans and conservative Democrats.
Delegate Model: A legislator who votes strictly according to the expressed preferences of their constituents.
Delegate-Trustee Tension: The ongoing conflict between legislators' duty to represent constituent wishes versus exercising independent judgment.
Descriptive Representation: The idea that an elected body should mirror demographically the population it represents.
Discharge Petition: Petition that, if signed by a majority of the House of Representatives' members, will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration.
Double-Tracking: A procedure to keep the Senate going during a filibuster in which the disputed bill is shelved temporarily so that the Senate can get on with other business.
Elastic Clause: Another name for the Necessary and Proper Clause; grants Congress flexibility to pass laws needed to execute its powers.
Enumerated Powers: Powers explicitly granted to Congress by the Constitution, such as the power to tax, declare war, and regulate commerce.
Fast Tracking: Expedited procedures used to speed up the ordinary legislative process, usually through bypassing a time-consuming stage such as committee consideration.
Filibuster: A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator refuses to relinquish the floor and thereby delays proceedings and prevents a vote on a controversial issue.
Franking Privilege: The ability to send mail by one's signature rather than by postage — dating back to the seventeenth-century English House of Commons.
Gerrymandering: Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.
Holds: A Senate procedure allowing a single senator to delay or block floor consideration of a bill or nomination.
House Rules Committee: A powerful committee that controls the flow of legislation to the House floor and sets terms for debate and amendments.
Impeachment: The formal process by which the House charges a president or other official with misconduct; the Senate then holds a trial.
Incumbency Advantage: The electoral edge held by current officeholders due to name recognition, franking, casework, and fundraising ability.
Joint Committee: A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations.
Joint Resolution: A formal expression of congressional opinion that must be approved by both houses of Congress and by the president; constitutional amendments need not be signed by the president.
Logrolling: The practice of trading votes among legislators — supporting a colleague's bill in exchange for their support of yours.
Majority Leader: The legislative leader elected by party members holding the majority of seats in the House or Senate.
Majority-Minority Districts: Districts in which a majority of the population is from a minority group.
Malapportionment: Drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population.
Marginal Districts: Districts in which the winner got less than 55 percent of the vote.
Mark-Up: Committee action to amend a proposed bill.
Minority Leader: The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate.
Multiple Referral: A congressional process whereby a bill may be referred to several committees.
Necessary and Proper Clause: The constitutional clause granting Congress power to make all laws needed to carry out its enumerated powers; also called the Elastic Clause.
Open Rule: An order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the floor.
Organizational View of Representation: The theory of congressional voting behavior which assumes that members make voting decisions to please fellow members and obtain their goodwill; such behavior is possible since constituents seldom know how their representatives vote, so members vote by following cues provided by colleagues.
Oversight: Congress's power to monitor, review, and supervise the activities and spending of the executive branch and federal agencies.
Party Vote: A vote in which the majority of one party opposes the position of the majority of the other party.
Pocket Veto: When a president kills a bill by not signing it within 10 days when Congress is adjourned; cannot be overridden.
Politico Model: A legislator who acts as a delegate or trustee depending on the issue, switching roles based on political context.
Pork-Barrel Legislation: Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning their votes in return.
Power of the Purse: Congress's constitutional authority to raise revenue, appropriate funds, and control federal spending.
President Pro-Tempore: Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.
Private Bill: A legislative bill that deals only with specific, private, personal, or local matters.
Public Bill: A legislative bill that deals with matters of general concern.
Quorum Call: A roll call in either house of Congress to see whether the minimum number of representatives required to conduct business is present.
Reapportionment: The redistribution of House seats among states following each decennial census based on population changes.
Redistricting: The redrawing of congressional district boundaries, typically after a census, usually by state legislatures.
Representational View of Congress: The view that members of Congress wish to do what constituents want them to in order to get reelected.
Restrictive Rule: An order from the House Rules Committee that permits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made to a bill on the floor.
Rider: A provision attached to a bill — to which it may or may not be related — in order to secure its passage or defeat.
Roll-Call Vote: A congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering yea or nay to their names.
Rule of Cloture: Requires debate to end under a filibuster and forces a vote on the bill, requiring a three-fifths majority, or 60 of 100 senators, to approve the rule of cloture.
Safe Districts: Districts where the incumbent or a particular party wins by a large margin, making reelection very likely.
Select Committee: A temporary congressional committee created to investigate a specific issue or problem and then disbanded.
Senatorial Courtesy: Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.
Seniority System: The congressional tradition of giving the most senior member of the majority party the chairmanship of a committee.
Seventeenth Amendment: Established the direct popular election of U.S. senators by the people of each state, replacing the previous system where senators were chosen by state legislatures.
Shaw v. Reno: 1993 Supreme Court case ruling that racial gerrymandering violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Simple Resolution: An expression of opinion either in the House or Senate to settle procedural matters in either body.
Sophomore Surge: An increase in the votes congressional candidates usually get when they first run for reelection.
Speaker of the House: The leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives.
Standing Committees: Separate subject-matter committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas.
Substantive Representation: When a member of Congress represents constituents' interests and policy concerns.
Treaty Ratification: The Senate's power to approve or reject treaties negotiated by the president, requiring a two-thirds majority vote.
Trustee Model: A legislator who votes based on their own judgment and conscience rather than strictly following constituent wishes.
Unanimous Consent Agreement: A Senate procedure where all members agree to limit debate and set terms for considering a bill, bypassing formal rules.
Veto Override: Congress's power to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers.
Voice Vote: A congressional voting procedure in which members shout yea in approval or nay in disapproval, permitting members to vote quickly or anonymously on bills.
Whip: A party leader in Congress who assists the majority or minority leader by tracking votes and ensuring party members support the party position.

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