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Malett/Guthrie - PAD
Unit 4 - The Branches
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Congress | The Bicameral (two house) Legislature: The Senate and the House of Representatives |
| Leader of the House of Representatives | The Speaker of the House |
| Incumbent | A person running for office who already holds the office; someone running for reelection. For example, in the last election Barack Obama was the incumbent and Mitt Romney was the challenger. |
| Members of the House of Representatives are called: | Congressmen or Congresswomen (more recently, the term "Representative" is also being used). |
| Members of the Senate are called: | Senators |
| Requirements to be a member of the Senate | 30 years old, Citizen for 9 years |
| Requirements to be a member of the House of Representatives | 25 years old, Citizen for 7 years |
| Number of members in the House of Representatives | 435 |
| Length of terms for the House of Representatives | 2 years |
| Number of members in the Senate | 100 |
| Length of terms for the Senate | 6 years |
| Constituency for members of the House of Representatives | District |
| Constituency for members of the Senate | State |
| Number of people in a Congressional District (CD) | approximately 700,000 |
| Redistricting | Changing the shape or make-up of a district. May be done every 10 years after a census. Might be done due to addition or subtraction of districts in a state due to changes in population. |
| Gerrymandering | A form of extreme redistricting done to give one party an advantage over the other. Two ways of doing this are: 1) Cracking 2) Packing |
| Census | Done every 10 years to find the population of the country, each state, and city. |
| Apportionment | Deciding how many districts each state will have based on the population. |
| Who sets up Congressional Districts? | The State Legislatures |
| 2 types of redistricting abuses | 1) Districts do not have equal populations, and 2) Districts are drawn in very irregular shapes to include/exclude certain groups. |
| Cracking | Splitting up large groups of one party into smaller groups so that they are minorities in multiple districts. |
| Packing | Putting all of one party into one district so that their representation is limited to that district. This gives the other party a majority of districts. |
| Wesberry v. Sanders, 1964 | It is illegal to have districts with very different populations. District populations must be equal. |
| Gomillion v. Lightfoot | Race can not be the only factor used to gerrymander districts |
| Compact and contiguous | Descriptors of Congressional Districts. CD’s must be compact (not too spread out) and contiguous (continuous – one district can not be split into parts). |
| Filibuster | Speaking endlessly to prevent a debate or vote (While speaking time in the House is set at 5 min, speaking time in the Senate is unlimited. |
| Cloture | Ending a filibuster with a 3/5 majority vote. |
| House leadership hierarchy | Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Minority Whip |
| Senate leadership hierarchy | Vice President, President Pro Tempore, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Minority Whip |
| Bill v. Law (know generally how a bill becomes a law) | 1) Proposed in either house; 2) Debated and discussed in committees; 3) Go to full House or Senate for vote; 4) They must be passed in both houses; 5) After both houses pass the final, identical bill, it goes to the President to be signed or vetoed. |
| Standing Committee | Committees that are permanent (25 in the House, 21 in the Senate). The chairperson of the committee is appointed by the Majority Leader of each house. Committees will have a majority of members from the party that controls that house. |
| Select Committee | Specialized Committees that are not permanent. They are created to deal with specific, specialized issues. |
| Joint Committee | Committees that include members from both houses. Can be temporary or permanent. |
| ConferenceCommittee | Committees (temporary) that include members from both houses that are set up to finalize work on a bill. |
| The day-to-day detailed work on legislation takes place where? | In committees. |
| What are the three requirements to become president of the United States? | 35 years old, natural born citizen, 14 years of residency |
| Order of Presidential Succession | a. VP b. Speaker of the House c. Senate Pro Tempore of the Senate d. Secretary of State |
| What happens when there is a vice presidential vacancy? | The presidents nominates a VP who much get confirmed by a bicameral majority |
| What are the duties of the Vice President? | a. President of the senate b. Help rule on presidential disability and act as president if need be |
| What are the nine presidential roles? Be able to match them with their description. | a. Chief of State b. Chief Executive c. Chief Administrator d. Chief Diplomat e. Chief Legislator f. Commander-in-chief g. Chief Citizen h. Party leader i. Economic Planner |
| Which three amendments deal with the presidential election and succession? | a. 12 (electors cast separate ballots for President and VP). b. 22 (President limited to serving two terms) c. 25 (Presidential succession) |
| What type of election is our presidential election? | Indirect |
| Why was the Electoral College created? | a. Compromise between direct popular election and congress; “Safety net” in case of bad selection by people b. So that states have a say in the election |
| How many electoral votes are there? | 538 |
| How many do you need to win? | 270 |
| How are a state’s electoral votes determined? | # of congressional districts + # of senators (the "constant 2") Ex: Wisconsin has 8 CD's, so 8+2 = 10 Electoral Votes. |
| Faithless elector | An elector who does not cast their vote for the candidate they were directed to vote for. |
| Winner-take-all | A state that awards all of it's electoral votes to the candidate with the plurality of the vote. The opposite would be a proportional plan. |
| Biggest potential problem with the Electoral College | Possibility of the winner not winning (The candidate with the most popular votes does not get the most electoral votes). |
| How can you win the election but lose the popular vote? | a. Win large states by small margins & lose small states by large margin b. Winning enough large states |
| What are the three alternative plans to the Electoral College? | a. District b. Proportional c. Direct national vote |
Created by:
cmguthrie35
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