Elections & Other things
The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by majority vote for "Tyranny, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors"
Impeachment
The constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it. A two-thirds vote in each house can override this
Veto
Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses
Joint Committees
The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate
Minority Leader
Federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district
Pork Barrel Spending
Like business corporations, they provide a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically chargers for its services. The U.S. Postal Service is an example
Government Corporation
Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other medical expenses
Medicare
Separate subject-matter committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas
An office mandated by the Constitution. This person is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant.
Speaker of the House
A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Sixty members present and voting can halt this
Filibuster
Better known as SOPs, these procedures for everyday decision making enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable.
Standard Operating Procedure
This amendment gives us the Number of Presidential Terms
22nd Amendment
A legislature divided into two houses. The U.S. Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are this.
Bicameral Legislature
The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House, or the party's manager in the Senate. This person is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes on behalf of the party's legislative positions
Majority Leader
A sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event requiring the president to play the role of crisis manager
Crisis
A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preferences
Caucus
A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it
Pocket Veto
The committee in the House of Representatives that reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full House
House Rules Committee
Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party.
Whips
A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures)
Budget
Those already holding office. They usually win in congressional elections.
Incumbents
A vote in Congress to override a presidential decision. Although the War Powers Resolution asserts this authority, there is reason to believe that, if challenged, the Supreme Court would find the legislative veto in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers
Legislative Veto
Congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pass a particular bill in different forms. Party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill.
Conference Committees
The most important influencers of the congressional agenda. They play dominant rules in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house
An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues
Deficit
The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process
Office of Personnel Management
A 1935 law intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty
Social Security Act
Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation
Select Committees
A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today it is composed of 14 secretaries, the attorney general, and others designated by the president
Cabinet
Government spending. Major areas of federal spending are social services and national defense
Expenditures
A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service
Civil Service
Modified the role of Congress in the federal budgetary process. It created standing budget committees in both the House and the Senate, established the Congressional Budget Office, and moved the beginning of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1
Control Act of 1974
A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings. It usually also includes tax or other revenue adjustments
Reconciliation
The committee that links the president's foreign and military policy advisers. Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president's national security assistant
National Security Council
The events and scandal surrounding a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 and the subsequent cover-up of White House involvement, leading to the eventual resignation of President Nixon under the threat of impeachment
Watergate
What amendment deals with Presidential Disability and Vice Presidential Vacancies
25th Amendment
A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs
Budget Resolution
When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year
Continuing Resolutions
An office that prepares the president's budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations
Office of Management and Budget
The financial resources of the government. The individual income tax and Social Security tax are major sources of the federal government's revenue
Revenues
These occur when voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of the president's party because they support the president. Recent studies show that few races are won this way
Presidential Coattails
A law passed in 1973, in reaction to American fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, that requires presidents to consult with Congress whenever possible prior to using military force and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension. However, presidents have viewed the resolution as unconstitutional.
War Time Resolution
According to Max Weber, a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality
Bureaucracy
The House of Representatives committee that, along with the Senate Finance committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole
House Ways and Means Committee
all of the money borrowed by the government over the years that is still outstanding
Federal Debt
A federal law prohibiting government employment from active participation in partisan politics while on duty or for employees in sensitive positions at any time
Hatch Act
An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs
Authorization Bill
Passed in 1883, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage
Pendleton Civil Service Act
A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy
Council of Economic Affairs
Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions allowed by federal tax law
Tax Expenditures