Congress (1)
Which political party holds a majority in the House of Representatives?
Republican
Which political party holds a majority in the Senate?
Republican
What is the current President’s approval rating? What is the general trend for approval ratings of the President?
Currently between 25% & 50% approval (41.7% approval as of this morning - fivethiryeight). Highest after first elected (first term), and lowest before leaving office. Likely, but no guarantee, that there will be spikes during a national crisis (ex: GW Bush & 9/11)
Consider how might Presidential approval ratings might influence legislators votes/policy decisions
Define bureaucracy.
Refers to the agencies of the federal government. (Or, an organizational framework which has negative connotations.
Public agencies that translate the intent of democratic institutions into action. (Broad mission = implement decisions of the government)
Bond & Smith (2016) page 555
According to the Constitution, what are qualifies someone to be a Supreme Court Justice?
Nothing!
How long are terms for each chamber of Congress?
Senate: 6 years
House: 2 years
What is the committee system & why does it matter?
Committee system diffuses power throughout the body of Congress. Allows for policy experts to legislate more effectively - putting their expertise to use (at least, in theory). Legislation has to be reviewed by a committee early, which is why it’s the most likely place for legislation to die, and where a lot of revisions take place.
Bond & Smith (2016) page 474
What options does a president have when presented with a bill passed by Congress?
Sign it
Signing Statement
Veto it by withholding a signature
What is required to overturn this?
Take no action
Also called a pocket veto - a veto resulting from a president taking no action before Congress adjourns on legislation that Congress passed.
What are cabinet departments? Who determines the leadership of each cabinet?
Administrative agencies charged with carrying out government operations in general policy areas. (They are the main institutions of the federal bureaucracy … are responsible for federal programs & policies) (Ex: DHS, DOJ, Defense, Treasury)
The president appoints each cabinet secretary
What might be an advantage of having an independent agency (ex: NASA) be excluded from cabinet departments?
Bond & Smith (2016) page 563
How are federal judges selected? How long do they serve for once appointed?
Expectations like being an attorney, but no formal qualifications.
Typically selected based on experience and merit, in addition to party affiliation and general political philosophy (ideology).
How representative is the court in terms of other demographics? (religion, race/ethnicity, gender)
Serve for life
P. 602
When can the leaders of each chamber of Congress vote on legislation?
The leader of the Senate (vice president) can only vote on legislation to break a tie.
The leader of the of the House (Speaker of the House) can always vote.
What are the major leadership positions within the House? What are the major leadership positions within the Senate?
House
- Speaker (wields considerable power; selected by the majority party; presides over the House; can vote)
- Majority leader
- Minority leader
Senate
- President: Vice President of the country
- President Pro Tempore
- Majority leader
- Minority leader
Presidents can be impeached from office. What are the steps necessary for this? Has any US President been removed from office following impeachment?
Step 1) impeachment by the House
Step 2) Trial by the Senate - leads to conviction.
Presidents have been impeached (by Congress) but haven’t been removed from office (following a trial leading to conviction in the Senate). How many presidents have been impeached?
What is the spoils system? What is the merit system? What distinguishes the two from each other?
Spoils system: system of governing in which political positions & benefits are given to the friends of the winner
Results from/in: party loyalty, large-scale turnover, corruption & incompetence
Merit system: system of governing in which jobs are given based on relevant technical expertise & the ability to perform.
Results in/from: skills, knowledge, etc.
Focus on neutral competence.
Bond & Smith page 558
How do cases reach the supreme court? What are the three conditions that must be met?
Losing parties in lower courts (such as district, county, state) file a petition with the next highest court.
Rule of 4: at least 4 supreme court judges must agree to hear a case before it’s presented.
Conditions:
Must address a legitimate controversy (The case isn’t hypothetical)
Parties must have standing (Claim actual/imminent harm to the people involved with the case)
Has to be relevant (Considered moot if proceedings will no longer address the issue)
What are the three models of representation? Define each.
Trustee: uses own judgement/opinion
Delegate: responsive to public opinion
Politico: a mix of the two
Representation is one of the two primary responsibilities of lawmaking (what is the other?)
How many members serve in Congress, total? How many members per chamber? How is representation for each chamber determined?
Total: 535
House: 435 & Senate: 100,
In the house, representation is based on population while in the Senate it’s equal (2/state)
How was representativeness & responsiveness conceptualized by the founders for the different chambers?
What are the dimensions of “The Presidential Character” according to Barber (1972)?
Active-positive (most desirable)
Active-negative (least desirable)
Passive-positive
Passive-negative
Dimensions illustrate the president as a person/individual & the president as an office
How would you characterize Trump and Obama?
What are the three powers of the bureaucracy? Define each.
Rule making (statement of the bureaucracy that interprets the law or prescribes a specific action. Has a force of law
Adjudication (The process to determine if a law or rule established by the bureaucracy has been broken)
Lobbying: influencing policy formulation by legislatures (Subsystems, Iron triangles)
What are the types of opinions that can come from a Supreme Court decision?
Majority opinion: the decision of the court (How many agreeing decisions & reasons are necessary for this?)
Concurring opinion (Agree with one of the pieces of the decision, but not the other)
Dissenting opinion: logic and thinking of justices who oppose majority opinion
Plurality decision: a majority of the Court agrees on a decision, but no consistency as to the reasoning
What are the primary (2) and secondary (4) responsibilities of Congress? Define each.
Primary:
Lawmaking (passing laws, overseeing government administration)
Representation (responding to constituents; informing/educating the public)
Secondary:
Impeachment (two-step process; first, impeachment house, second, trial in the Senate)
Seating & disciplining members (seating: judge fairness of elections; exclusion) (discipline: expulsion; censures and reprimands)
Selecting members for the executive branch (resolving presidential elections; approving a new vice president; staffing the executive & judicial branches including the supreme court)
Other policy responsibilities (initiating amendments to the constitution; legal jurisdiction over Washington, DC; Senate deals with foreign policy)
What are the four types of responsiveness? From the perspective of the founders, why emphasize models of responsiveness and representation?
Policy responsiveness (Voting in line with constituents’ wishes).
Service responsiveness (Perform tasks for constituents, casework)
Allocation responsiveness (Money & other benefits (e.g. pork barrel))
Symbolic responsiveness (Relationships; home styles)
Different branches & bodies could more more or less responsive to the public depending on their purpose & goals. EX: Congress represents (numerically) the largest number of people, and could be the most responsive to citizens… but the government would be protected from bad decisions thanks to the Senate & other branches.
What are the three primary responsibilities of the President, according to the Constitution? What are other responsibilities or powers that aren’t granted in the Constitution?
In the Constitution:
Chief executive (Vetoes, Pardons, Executive orders)
Commander in chief of the military (How is this specific power checked by other branches of government?)
Chief diplomat (Treaties)
Not in the Constitution:
Chief bureaucrat, Party leader, Economist in chief, First legislator, Managing the public
Bond & Smith (2016) page 517
What are five ways that bureaucracy is monitored? Define each & focus on the differences between the types.
Overhead democracy - the bureaucracy is controlled through the oversight of elected officials who are chosen by the people, thus giving the populate control over the bureaucracy. (If we don't like how the bureaucracy is functioning... vote our officials out)
Police patrol oversight - active oversight of the bureaucracy by elected officials to make sure that the bureaucracy is acting according to the wishes of the people
Fire alarm oversight -Oversight that becomes active only when there is evidence of bureaucratic wrongdoing. (oil spill example)
Agency capture - when an agency seems to operate for the benefit of those whom it’s supposed to regulate. When does this occur?
Sunshine laws - laws intended to keep the bureaucracy accountable to the people by requiring that agency meetings be open to the public. monitoring through transparency
Bond & Smith (2016) page 563
What are the five models of judicial decision making? How are they similar and how are they different?
Rational choice theories:
Legal model: Logic based only on legal criteria
Slot-machine theory: Compare challenge to the Constitution
Bounded rationality theories:
legal-realist: personal values and ideologies affect decisions
attitudinal model: decisions are largely determined by ideologies (extension of legal-realist)
challenge to the attitudinal model:strategic model: act strategically to get help from others