Congress
The name for the national legislature
Congress
The current Speaker of the House
Kevin McCarthy
Each state has this number of senators
2 senators
9 representatives
Congress is a bicameral legislature. The two chambers are:
The House of Representatives and the Senate
A representative's term lasts for ______ years
2 years
A senator's term lasts for ________ years
6 years
This person has the power to sign a bill into law or veto it
The President
Congress has how many total members?
535 members (435 representatives in the House + 100 senators)
The total number of representatives in the House of Representatives
435 representatives
The Senate Majority Leader is currently ________________.
Chuck Shumer
The practice of redrawing district lines to benefit a political party
Gerrymandering
The group of voters someone represents
Constituency
The official qualifications for a person to run for representative of their district
At least 25 years old, been a citizen for at least 7 years, and reside in their district
The official qualifications for a person to run for senate in their state
At least 30 years old, been a citizen for at least 9 years, and a resident of their state
A congressional elections that occurs between presidential elections
Off-year election AND/OR midterm election (non-presidential election is not acceptable)
A special committee made up of members of the House and Senate which is created to reconcile differences between two versions of a bill; they have to make the bills "match"
Conference committee
For a bill to be passed by the House, it has to be passed first by a ________________________, then be debated on the floor and everyone has to ________ on the bill.
A bill has to be passed first by a committee (most bills die in committee), then be debated on the floor and passed by a vote
The Senate is sometimes referred to as the "upper house" or the "upper chamber." Explain why this is true.
Possible reasons: the Framers designed the Senate to be the more "responsible" and "enlightened" body; since a senator serves for 6 years, they have more time to focus on "big picture" issues; there are higher standards/qualifications to be elected senator than there are for representative (you have to be 30 years old, not 25 years old)
Name the three main organizations that hire lobbyists.
corporations/businesses, interest groups, labor unions