Unit 3 Study Guide- Legislative Branch
1) Bicameral Legislature- definition and name 2 parts
Bicameral means - A two-house legislative body. We have the U.S.
House of Representatives and the Senate.
2) 3 qualifications to be a member of the Senate - Must be 30 years
of age, and have been a citizen of the Y.S. for nine years.
Must be a resident of the state for which they represent.(pg.
R44 and page 127)
3) 3 qualifications to be a member of the House (pg. R43) - Must be
25 years of age; A U.S. citizen for seven years; and must reside
in the state for which he is elected.
4) Explain the responsibilities of:
Majority/Minority Leaders - (Pg. 132) Responsibilities include:
House - Help plan the party's legislative program, steer important
bills through the House, and make sure the chairpersons of the many
committees finish work on bills that are important to the party.
Elected by the majority party and is floor leader of the his/her
political party and is a majority leader not a House official but
rather a party official.
Majority/Minority Whips - Serve a assistant floor leaders in the
House. Majority whip's job is to watch how majority-party members
intend to vote on bills, and to persuade them to vote as the party
wishes, and to see that party members are present to vote.
The minority party in the House elects its own leaders, the
minority leader and the minority whip - their responsibilities
parallel the duties of the majority party, except that they have no
power over scheduling work in the House.
Speaker of the House - Presiding officer and its most
powerful leader. The constitution states that he House "shall choose
thei Speaker and other officers." A caucus, or closed meeting, of the
majority party chooses the House Speaker at the start of each session
of congress, and the entire House membership approves the choice of
Speaker
Has great power and presides over the sessions of the House, and can
influence proceedings by deciding which members to recognize first.
Also appoints the members of some committees, schedules bills for
actions and refers bills to the proper House committee. The Speaker
of the House follows the vice president in the line of succession to
the presidency. (Pg. 134)
5) Define the following terms:
Redistricting-Pg. 125 - The process of setting up new district lines
after reapportionment has been completed. Based on census.
Reapportionment- Each state's population determines the number of
representatives it will have for the next 10 years - this is called
reapportionment. States with slow growth or a population decrease can
lose representatives, while states with strong population growth can
gain seats.(p. 124)
Gerrymandering-Drawing district's boundaries to give one party an
electoral advantage. When one party is dominant in the state
legislature, it often tries to draw boundaries to ensure victory in
future elections, resulting in odd shaped districts. (pg. 126)
Constituents-(pg. 133) - The people in the districts the legislators
represent.
Select Committees-(pg. 143)They study one specific issue and report
their findings to the Senate or the House. These issues can include
matters of great public concern at a given time, such as the cost of
gasoline, problems that have been neglected for a shile, or the
problems of interest groups that are saying that Congress is not
meeting their needs.
Standing Committees-Permanent groups to oversee bills that deal wiht
certain kinds of issues. They stand, or continue, from one Congress
to the next. The House and Senate each create their own standing
committees and control their areas of jurisdiction, occasionally
adding or eliminating a standing committee when necessary.
Joint Committees- Made up of members from both the House and Senate,
they can be temporary or permanent. Both parties are represented on
them, just like other committees. They usually act as a kind of study
group that reports back to the House and Senate on a topic or bill.
Conference Committees- A temporary committee that is set up when the
House and Senate have passed different versions of a bill. Its
members, called conferees, usually come from the House and Senate
standing committees that handle the bill. Both parties are
represented in the same way as on other committees.
Presidential veto-When the President rejects a bill by not signing
the bill. If a president vetoes a bill, it returns to the house
where it originated, along with an explanation of why the president
vetoed it.(pg. 187)
Filibuster- (Pg. 139) To extend debate to prevent a bill from coming
to a vote. A senator or group of senators could use a filibuster to
extend debate for weeks or even months, perhaps by reciting
Shakespeare as Huey Long did in the 1930's or by just reading the
phone book. In 1971 the rules were changed so that such drama was
avoided. Only 41 senators had to say they intended to filibuster for
it to accomplish its purpose. Once a filibuster is on, it can be
stopped only by a vote for cloture (limits the debate by allowing
each senator only one hour for speaking on a bill, but 60 senators
must vote for cloture.
Lobbying/Lobbyist-Lobbyists are representatives of interest groups
who influence Congress. They try to convince members of Congress to
support policies favored by the groups they represent. Their efforts
to persuade officials to support their point of view is called
lobbying.
Interest Groups-A group of people with common goals who orgnazie to
influence government
Know the steps in How a Bill Becomes a Law
Who is the President of the Senate? Vice President
How long are the Terms of Congress? (House and Senate)House 2;
Senate 6
How many Reps from GA are sent to the House of Reps?
of January 2013).
13 (15 as
Congressional vote needed to override Presidential veto. A 2/3
vote in both houses.
Who influences how members of Congress make decisions?
Political action committees, staff, and constituents,
(pgs. 149 – 150) Support Agencies – The Library of Congress – created
to purchase such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress
and to serve as the research arm of Congress. Much of the Library was
destroyed when the British burned the capital during the War of 1812.
Congress then authorized the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s more than
6000 books to rebuild the collection. Today, the Library of Congress
is the largest library in the world, containing more than 100 million
books, journals, music pieces, films, photographs, and maps
The Library is the administrator of the copyright law; as a result,
it receives two free copies of most published works copyrighted in
the U.S.
The Library of Congress a Congressional Research Service with
hundreds of employees. Every year, CRS answers thousands of requests
for information from lawmakers, congressional staff, and committees.
CRS workers will check out anything form the number of kangaroos in
Australia to the crime rates in urban areas. Congress members use the
CRS to research matters related to bills that are before Congress and
to answer requests from voters.
Other support agencies – Congressional Budget Office (CBO),
Government accountability Office and Government Printing Office