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ALL ABOUT CONGRESSTHE BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
Unit 5 Review for AP Government
By: Maddy Collins and Deanna Pierce
POWERS OF CONGRESS
• Set and collect taxes
• Place duties and excises
• Pay debts
• Create law
• Regulate commerce
• Coin money
• Establish post offices
• Declare war
• Legislative oversight: monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administering of policy, performed through hearings
• Implied powers with the elastic clause or “necessary and proper” clause
What does Congress have the power to do?
HOUSE V. SENATE
• House• Create budget bills• Size is dependent of
population on state• Currently 435
representatives
• Senate• Confirm budget bills• Two Senators for each
state (making 100 Senators total)
• Vice Presidents presides• Doesn’t vote unless
there is a tie• Speaker of the House Presides• 2nd in line for presidency
• Elections every 2 years• Chooses the president if the
electoral college isn’t able to
• 1/3 is elected every 2 years
• Approve appointments made by the President (takes a majority vote)
• Approve treaties made by the President (takes 2/3)
• Try impeachments
LEADERS• Speaker of the House• Position is
mandated by the Constitution
• Leader of the House of Representatives
• Chosen by majority party
• 2nd in line to presidency
• Majority Leader• Ally of the Speaker of
the House• Party’s “wheel horse”
in the Senate• Responsible for
scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes on behalf of the party’s legislative positions
• Minority Leader• Principle
leader of the minority party in the House of Reps
TACTICS
• Casework• Members of Congress
working to get what their constituents desire
• “cutting the bureaucratic red tape”
• Pork Barrel• Items that are
passed to provide funds and project’s for the representatives home district or state• Logrolling
• Mutual aid & vote trading between legislators
• “I’ll vote for your bill if you support mine”
• Franking Privilege• Free use of the mail system
to communicate with their constituents
• Machines duplicate their signatures in real ink
ROLES OF REPRESENTATION
• Trustee:• Legislators use
best judgment to make decisions on policy for the people
• Delegate:• Representative
s mirror the preferences of their constituents (person who is represented)
• Politico:• The combination
of trustee and delegate roles of representation
• Mirrors preferences and uses best judgment
FILIBUSTER V. CLOTURE
Filibuster • Strategy unique to the Senate• Opponents to a piece of
legislation talk it to death• Prevents the Senate from
voting on a bill
Cloture• 60 members need to be
present• They vote to stop a
filibuster
CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING V.
GERRYMANDERING• Congressional Redistricting
• Process of redrawing boundaries
• Occurs when a state has more reps than districts
• Gerrymandering• Redrawing districts to
benefit the majority party• Want the max
number of seats for their candidate
• State legislatures redraw them
COMMITTEES
• Conference• Formed when the
House and Senate pass a single bill in different forms
• Party leadership chooses members to work out the differences to create a single bill
• Essentially compromises
• Standing• Has specific
tasks• Each House has
them• Handle bills in
different policy areas
• Permanent• Ex: House Ways
and Means, Agri.
• Select• Temporary• Investigative• Created for a
specific purpose
• Ex: Watergate Investigation
• Joint• Few subject-
matter areas• Membership is
from both houses
• Ex: joint committee on printing, taxation
HOUSE RULES V. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS
• House Rules:• Located in the
House of Rep.• Reviews bills
before they go to the full House
• House Ways and Means• Handles tax bills• Works with the
budget• Members on this
committee cannot serve on any other one
INFLUENCES OF CONGRESS
• PACs
• Interest Groups
• Constituents
• media
• President
• Foreign Countries