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Gov unit 2 vocab
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Pork barrel spending | Legislation that directs specific funds to projects within districts or states |
| Logrolling | Trading of votes on legislation by members of Congress to get their earmarks passed into legislation |
| Oversight | Efforts by Congress to ensure executive branch agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments and their officials, are acting legally and in accordance with congressional goals |
| Constituency | Body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator |
| Apportionment | Process of determining the number of Representatives for each state using census data |
| Redistricting | States' redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts after each census |
| Gerrymandering | Intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific group |
| Partisan gerrymandering | Drawing of district boundaries into strange shapes to benefit a political party |
| Majority-minority district | District where minority voters have an electoral majority |
| Malapportionment | Uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts |
| Incumbency | Being in office already instead of running for the first time |
| Incumbency advantage | Institutional advantages held by those already in office in an election |
| Speaker of the house | Leader of the House of Representatives chosen by an election of its members |
| Political action committees (PAC) | Organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns |
| House majority leader | Person who is second in command of the House of Representatives |
| Whip | Member of Congress chosen by their party members, whose job is to ensure party discipline |
| Minority leader | Head of the party with the second-highest number of seats in Congress chosen by the party members |
| Senate majority leader | Person who has the most power in the Senate and is the head of the party with the most seats |
| Committee chair | Leader of a congressional committee who has authority over the committee's agenda |
| Discharge petition | Motion filed by a member of Congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the House floor for a vote |
| House Rules Committee | Powerful committee that determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the House floor, how long the debate will last, and whether amendments will be allowed on the floor |
| Committee of the Whole | Consists of all members of the House and meets in the House chamber but is governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex and controversial legislation |
| Hold | Delay placed on legislation by a senator who objects to a bill |
| Unanimous consent agreement | Agreement in the Senate that sets terms for consideration of a bill |
| Filibuster | Tactic where an individual senator may use the right of unlimited debate to delay a motion or postpone action on a piece of legislation |
| Cloture | Procedure where senators can end debate on a bill and proceed to action if 60 senators agree |
| Veto | Presidential power to reject a bill passed by Congress and send it back to the originating branch |
| Office of Management and Budget (OMB) | Executive branch office that helps the president set national spending priorities |
| Entitlement program | Program that provides benefits to those who qualify |
| Mandatory spending | Spending required by existing laws that is "locked in" the budget |
| Discretionary spending | Spending for programs and policies at the discr |
| Pork barrel spending | Legislation that directs specific funds to projects within districts or states |
| Logrolling | Trading of votes on legislation by members of Congress to get their earmarks passed into legislation |
| Oversight | Efforts by Congress to ensure executive branch agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments and their officials, are acting legally and in accordance with congressional goals |
| Constituency | Body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator |
| Apportionment | Process of determining the number of Representatives for each state using census data |
| Redistricting | States' redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts after each census |
| Gerrymandering | Intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific group |
| Partisan gerrymandering | Drawing of district boundaries into strange shapes to benefit a political party |
| Majority-minority district | District where minority voters have an electoral majority |
| Malapportionment | Uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts |
| Incumbency | Being in office already instead of running for the first time |
| Incumbency advantage | Institutional advantages held by those already in office in an election |
| Speaker of the house | Leader of the House of Representatives chosen by an election of its members |
| Political action committees (PAC) | Organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns |
| House majority leader | Person who is second in command of the House of Representatives |
| Whip | Member of Congress chosen by their party members, whose job is to ensure party discipline |
| Minority leader | Head of the party with the second-highest number of seats in Congress chosen by the party members |
| Senate majority leader | Person who has the most power in the Senate and is the head of the party with the most seats |
| Committee chair | Leader of a congressional committee who has authority over the committee's agenda |
| Discharge petition | Motion filed by a member of Congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the House floor for a vote |
| House Rules Committee | Powerful committee that determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the House floor, how long the debate will last, and whether amendments will be allowed on the floor |
| Committee of the Whole | Consists of all members of the House and meets in the House chamber but is governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex and controversial legislation |
| Hold | Delay placed on legislation by a senator who objects to a bill |
| Unanimous consent agreement | Agreement in the Senate that sets terms for consideration of a bill |
| Filibuster | Tactic where an individual senator may use the right of unlimited debate to delay a motion or postpone action on a piece of legislation |
| Cloture | Procedure where senators can end debate on a bill and proceed to action if 60 senators agree |
| Veto | Presidential power to reject a bill passed by Congress and send it back to the originating branch |
| Office of Management and Budget (OMB) | Executive branch office that helps the president set national spending priorities |
| Entitlement program | Program that provides benefits to those who qualify |
| Mandatory spending | Spending required by existing laws that is "locked in" the budget |
| Discretionary spending | Spending for programs and policies at the discretion of Congress and the president |
| Budget surplus | Amount of money left when the government takes in more than it spends |
| Budget deficit | Shortfall when a government spends more money than it takes in |
| National debt | Total amount of money owed by the federal government |
| Delegate role | Idea that the main duty of a member of Congress is to carry out constituents' wishes |
| Trustee role | Idea that members of Congress should make decisions based on their own judgment |
| Politico role | Representation where members of Congress balance their choices with the interest of their constituents and parties |
| Bipartisanship | Agreement between the parties to work together in Congress to pass legislation |
| Gridlock | Slowdown or halt in Congress's ability to legislate and overcome divisions |
| Divided government | Control of the presidency and one or both chambers of Congress split between the two major parties |
| Lame duck period | Period at the end of a presidential term when Congress can block presidential initiatives and nominees |
| Executive branch | Branch of government which puts laws into effect |
| Formal (enumerated) powers | Powers expressly granted in the Constitution |
| Informal powers | Powers not expressed in the Constitution but used to carry out presidential duties |
| Treaty | Agreement with a foreign government negotiated by the president that needs a two-thirds vote in the Senate to ratify |
| State of the Union Address | Annual speech from the president to Congress updating that branch on the state of national affairs |
| Veto | Formal rejection of a bill that has passed both houses of Congress |
| Pocket veto | Informal veto caused when the president chooses not to sign a bill within ten days when Congress has adjourned |
| Presidential pardon | Presidential authority to release people convicted of a crime of legal consequences and set aside punishment |
| Executive privilege | Right claimed by presidents to keep certain conversations, records, and transcripts confidential |
| Executive agreement | Agreement between a president and another nation, does not have the same durability as a treaty but does not need Senate ratification |
| Signing statement | Written comments issued by presidents while signing a bill into law |
| Executive order | Policy directives given by presidents that do not need congressional approval |
| War Powers Resolution | Law passed over President Nixon's veto that restricts the power of the president to keep troops in combat for over 60 days without congressional authorization |
| Impeachment | Process of removing a president from office, majority vote in House, two thirds in Senate |
| Executive Office of the President | Collection of offices within the White House organization to give information to the president |
| Bargaining and persuasion | Informal tool used by the president to persuade members of Congress to support their agenda |
| Bully pulpit | Presidential appeals to the public to pressure other branches to support their agenda |
| Going public | President reaches out directly to the public in hopes that they will pressure their representatives and senators to support their agenda |
| Federal judiciary | Branch of government that interprets and applies laws |
| Supreme Court | (Article III) Highest level of the federal judiciary, highest court in the nation |
| Original jurisdiction | Authority of a court to act as the first court to hear a case |
| Appellate jurisdiction | Authority of a court to hear and review decisions made by lower courts |
| Federalist No. 78 | Argument by Hamilton that the federal judiciary would be unlikely to infringe upon rights and liberties but would serve as a check on the other branches |
| Marbury v. Madison | Supreme Court decision that established judicial review over federal laws |
| Judicial review | Authority of the Supreme Court to strike down a law or executive action if it conflicts with the Constitution |
| Criminal law | Category of law including actions that harm the community |
| Civil law | Category of law including cases involving private rights and relationships between individuals and groups |
| Federal district courts | Lowest level of the federal judiciary |
| Federal courts of appeals | Middle level of the federal judiciary, review and hear appeals from federal district courts |
| Precedent | Judicial decision that guides future courts in handling similar cases |
| Stare decisis | Letting a previous decision stand |
| Majority opinion | Binding Supreme Court opinions, serve as precedent |
| Concurring opinion | Opinion that agrees with the majority decision, offering other reasoning that does not serve as precedent |
| Dissenting opinion | Opinion that disagrees with the majority opinion, does not serve as precedent |
| Judicial restraint | Philosophy of constitutional interpretation that justices should be cautious in overturning laws |
| Judicial activism | Philosophy of constitutional interpretation that justices should have the power of judicial review |
| Federal bureaucracy | Departments and agencies within the executive branch that carry out laws |
| Bureaucrat | Official employed by the bureaucracy |
| Political patronage | Filling of administrative positions as a reward for support instead of merit |
| Pendleton Act | Act of Congress that made the first United States Civil Service Commission to establish merit-based hiring in the civil service |
| Federal civil service | Merit-based bureaucracy excluding the armed forces and political appointments |
| Merit system | System of hiring and promotion based on testing results, education etc. rather than personal connections or politics |
| Iron triangle | Coordinated activities of the Bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals |
| Issue network | Webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates |
| Implementation | Bureaucracy's role in putting laws passed by Congress into action |
| Bureaucratic discretion | Power to decide how a law is implemented and what Congress meant in passing the law |
| Regulation | Process where the bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law to carry out laws made by Congress |
| Bureaucratic adjudication | The bureaucracy settling disputes between parties over the implementation of laws, or determines who is covered under a regulation or program |
Created by:
hanw