Institutions of Government: Chapter 7 – Congress
Key Terms
Bicameral v. unicameral
Great Compromise
Terms of office
Qualifications for office
Prohibited powers
Implied powers
Lawmaking
Veto vs. pocket veto
Line-item veto
Congressional staffs
Pigeonhole vs. discharge petition
Logrolling
Franking privilege
Filibuster
Cloture rule
Committee system
Rules Committee
Open rules vs. closed rules
Plurality vs. majority systems
State representation in Congress
Speaker of the House
President of the Senate
President pro tem of the Senate
Majority & minority leaders
Ways and Means Committee
Confirmation hearing
Legislative veto (INS v. Chada)
Legislative oversight
Riders - Pork barrel legislation
Necessary & Proper Clause
War Powers Resolution (1974)
Budget and Impoundment Control Act (1974)
Reapportionment Act of 1929
Budget - surplus, deficit, balanced
Public debt (National debt)
Inherent / Exclusive powers
Delegated / Expressed powers
Majority minority voting districts
Gerrymandering
Safe seats vs. contested seats
Revenue bills
Appropriations bills
Bill of attainder
Ex post facto law
Delegate vs. Trustee roles
Divided government
Constituencies
Clinton v. New York City
Incumbency
Wesberry v. Sanders
Baker v. Carr
Congressional district
Concepts
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Why do congressional incumbents have an advantage over challengers?
What did the 17th amendment do?
Why did the Supreme Court strike down majority minority voting districts?
Why does Congress continue to maintain the seniority system?
What is it about the way Congress operates that promotes factionalism?
Why has it been argued that Congress contributes to the fragmentation of policymaking?
Why do we hate Congress but love our Congressperson?
Why would members of Congress vote against campaign finance reform?
Why would members of the Senate engage in a filibuster?
Why is the House Rules Committee so important?
How does politics enter into the nomination process for independent agencies and the judiciary?
What impact has the high cost of campaigning had on the legislative branch?
In what ways are congressional elections different in the House and Senate?
14. Describe the process by which a bill becomes a law. At the various stages of this process, assess who – both within government
and outside government – makes and influences decisions. Are there stages at which the process is more democratic than it is at
others? Are there stages at which the people have less influence? In your judgment, is the overall process democratic?
The Presidency Study Guide Chapter 8
1. Describe the constitutional process of impeachment and explain why it is so difficult to remove a discredited president before the
end of his term.
2. Outline the procedures established in the 25 th Amendment to deal with presidential succession and presidential disability.
3. Trace the evolution of the presidency from the limited office envisioned by the framers to the more powerful contemporary office.
4. Identify the major offices and positions that serve as key aides and advisors to the president.
5. Examine the ways in which the American system of separation of powers is actually one of shared powers
6. Review methods by which presidents may improve their chances of obtaining party support in Congress
7. Summarize the constitutional powers that are allocated to the president in the realm of national security Identify and review major
roles and functions of the president, such as chief executive, chief legislator, commander in chief, and crisis manager.
9. Determine the role that public opinion plays in setting and implementing the president’s agenda
10. Describe the methods used by presidents and their advisors to encourage the media to project a positive image of the president’s
activities and policies.
11. Examine the impact that changing world events (such as the transition from the 1950s and 1960s to the era of Vietnam and
Watergate) have had on public debate over whether a “strong” president is a threat or a support to democratic government.
Terms/Events/Court Cases/Laws:
•Term of office
• Role of Vice President
•22nd Amendment
•legislative veto
•legislative agenda
•formal powers of the president
•executive agreements / treaties
•executive orders
•executive privilege
•reprieves and pardons
•partisan
•the cabinet
•Executive Office of the President:
-Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
-Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)
-National Security Council (NSC)
•Office of Homeland Security
•Cold War
•Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War) (1991)
•NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.(1937)
• Qualifications of office
•INS. V. Chadha (1983)
•Clinton v. New York City (1998)
•veto / pocket veto / line-item veto
Delegated powers (President)
•impeachment
•electors / Electoral College System
•primaries / caucuses / national convention
•divided government / gridlock
•midterm elections / presidential coattails
•electoral mandate
•impoundment
•Budget and Accounting Act (1921)
•FDR - New Deal reforms - economic regulation
•LBJ - Great Society programs / Civil Rights
•LBJ - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
•Nixon - Watergate scandal
•War Powers Resolution (1973)
•Budget and Impoundment Act (1974)
•Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act (1985)
•New Federalism – Nixon & Reagan
•Expressed powers (Congress)
•Inherent powers (National Government)
The Federal Bureaucracy Chapter 9
Key Terms and Concepts:
Administrative discretion
Command-and-control policy
Governmental corporations
Independent executive agencies
Merit principle
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Bureaucracy
Deregulation
Hatch Act
Independent regulatory agencies
Office of Personnel Management
Regulation
Civil service
Executive orders
Incentive system
Iron triangle
Patronage
Standard operating procedures
Answer the following questions.
1. Trace the development of the American bureaucracy from the “spoils system” to the “merit system.”
Include the Pendleton Act.
2. Describe the functions of the four basic types of federal agencies: cabinet departments, regulatory
agencies, government corporations, and independent executive agencies. Make sure you can identify
examples of each.
3. Describe the trend seen after World War II (analyzing visuals, p. 301.)
4. Describe how the bureaucracy is broadly representative of the American people (304.)
5. Compare/contrast government and private business.
6. Identify the Hatch Act and the Federal Employees Political Activities Act of 1993.
7. The classic conception of bureaucracy was advanced by the German sociologist Max Weber, who
stressed that the bureaucracy was a “rational” way for a modern society to conduct its business. To
Weber, a bureaucracy depends upon certain elements. Describe these elements.
8. Investigate the importance of iron triangles and issue networks
9. Explain how individual employees actually make policy.
10. Determine the importance of administrative routine and administrative discretion.
11. Explain: Bureaucracies are essentially implementers of policy. Why can implementation of policy
break down?
12. Evaluate the effects that the movement toward deregulation has had on the American economy.
13. How do presidents try to control the bureaucracy? Congress? The Courts?
14. Explain the relationship between democratic theory and the operations of bureaucracies.