PLSC 2003 EXAM 2 Study Guide The Congress After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter Incumbent person currently holding the job Constituent person being served by the incumbent aka the voter Trustee Makes decisions that are in the best interests of the constituents what they feel is best Delegate Makes decisions that best represent constituents wishes Votes the way the people want Filibuster continuous debating Cloture the 60 votes need to stop filibusting Party Vote 50 percent of one party votes and is opposed by 50 percent of other party party voting has increased as partisan polarization in congress has increased Stagnation house not getting anything done 2 Know terms of office for a Senator and a Representative House 2 year terms Senate 6 year terms 3 Know the major differences between the House and the Senate House 435 members apportioned by population 2 year terms localized interests more centralized 25 years old to run 7 year citizen leader of house speaker of house Senate 100 members apportioned equally 6 year terms national interests less centralized 30 years old to run 9 year citizen leader of senate speaker of house What does the size and organization of each chamber mean for debate 4 What was the result of Miller v Johnson 1995 Race cannot be used as the sole factor in re districting 5 Know the role of the major leaders in Congress Organizing the calendar assigning members to committees establishing the agenda 6 Know the different types of committees and what drives committee assignments Standing Permanent Committees roughly same proportion of democrats to republicans to ensure fairness Rules Committee decides order for which bills come to floor for a house vote determines rules for debate Conference Committee in charge of reaching compromise once it has passed the house and senate members appointed by the speaker of the house Committee Assignments are driven by issues that stand strong with their voters back home Ex Agriculture importance to voters in Arkansas 7 The process of how a bill becomes a law Standing Committee Conference Committee Rules Committee Floor 8 What is required to override a presidential veto 2 3rds vote of both the house and senate 9 What has the trend in presidential vetoes been since the 1960s Steadily decreasing 10 What is congressional oversight and how is it conducted looking at what the agencies in the federal branches are doing when they are passing their laws they are doing this to make sure the laws are fair effective and not letting the agencies be captured The President After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter War Powers Act has up to 60 days to use the troops after 60 days he must notify congress within 48 hours for their approval and why he s using them Executive Orders Order made by president that has status and effect of formal legislation Executive Agreement Electoral Mandate are you coming in with a mandate and what s your elective Bully Pulpit special privilege the president has special privilege being that everyone pays attention to him aka congress media everyone 2 Be familiar with the administrative hierarchy of the executive branch President White House Staff Executive Office of President created by Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt Has become more important than the cabinet because the president relies on the EOP more and they aren t approved by congress aka the president is relying on his informal powers examples being his political appointees Origins in Franklin Roosevelt thanks to turning point in presidential responsibility that was added to help societal problems Cabinet Made up of 15 different department heads cabinet members approved by congress members of the cabinet do not vote only advise the president Independent Establishments NASA CIA Post Office 3 Know what the Electoral College is and why it was created Delegates from each state that elect the President Created to make the President more responsible to the national and state legislatures because they are the ones who elect the delegate originally 4 What are the powers granted to president by Constitution or delegated by Congress Article II Power to Make treaties and recognize other countries declare national emergency veto or sign laws recommended legislation and budget pardon felons enforce laws 5 What are the formal and informal limits to the President s power Limits of Informal Powers business markets economic cycles unreasonable expectations of voters limited information voters fragmented congress campaign promises individual traits and persuasion to the job rational demand for limited government Limits of Formal Powers make treaties and recognize other countries declare national emergency veto or sign laws recommend legislation and budget pardon felons enforce laws 6 Understand the evolution toward a president centered government Starts to emerge with Franklin Roosevelt President s power is expanding and our government becomes centered on the president 7 Understand presidential approval ratings and their general tendency to decline They start out high and start to decline after the first year excluding Bill Clinton 2 8 Know the premise of Barber s presidential personality typology Know presidents in the positive active box The Bureaucracy After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter Iron Triangle cooperative relationship that forms between agencies committees and support groups Patronage System elected officials giving out jobs appointments or special favors to supporters 2 Trend in number of federal employees Dropped from 10 3 in the last 60 years 3 Max Weber and bureaucracies Standard Operating Procedures hierarchy and job specialization 4 The evolution from patronage system to merit system Patronage System occurred during the golden era or political parties jobs were given to supporters Assassination of President Garfield in 1883 Congress passes the Pendleton Act of 1883 states that we will start hiring off of merit or skills instead of patronage 5 What are the bureaucratic powers focus on rule making issuing rules and implementation what congress needs for law to pass public gets notice and comment period 6 Know the different types of policy and examples of each Distributive distribute goods services to members and the costs