Legislative Branch
What are the two houses of Congress called?
The Senate and the House of Representatives
We elect a president for how many years?
What is the highest court in the United States?
The Supreme Court
What is the bureaucracy?
A large, complex organization composed of unelected (appointed or hired) officials. It is in a hierarchical structure.
legislative veto
ability of Congress to override a presidential decision
How often are representatives elected?
Every 2 years
Who is in charge of the executive branch?
The president
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
9 Justices
Iron triangle
the stable, cooperative relationship that often develops among a congressional committee, an administrative agency and one or more supportive interest groups.
congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses
joint committee
The power to make laws
Who becomes president if the president can no longer serve?
Vice president
Reviews laws, explains laws, resolves disputes, and decides if a law goes against the Constitution
What is significant about how the bureaucracy works?
Job specialization
law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The vice president
Term for the heads of executive departments?
Cabinet
What is judicial review?
Allows the Supreme Court to review acts and the other branches of government and state laws and judicial decisions that involve the Constitution
a product of civil service reform, in which appointees to positions in public bureaucracies must objectively be deemed qualified for the position.
Merit system
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, replaced Aid to Dependent Children, ended welfare programs
Welfare Reform Act of 1996
Makes laws, declares war, and makes tax decisions
Amendment that limits president to two terms
22nd Amendment
What is the Senate's control over the Supreme Court?
Confirmation power
Advantages the "Bureaucrats" have over the executive in policy making
They have the power to decide exactly where spending goes, and they make the millions of small decisions that are made in government that the president can't always have his nose in.
a political philosophy or ideology with the agenda asserting that a majority based on a religion, language, social class, or other category of the population, is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society.
Majoritarian