1. US Govt Chapter 10 A brief review of the major points

2. HouseSenate 435 members, 2 year terms100 members, 6 year terms low turnovermoderate turnover speaker referral hard to challengereferral decisions easily challenged scheduling/rules controlled by majority party; powerful Rules Committee scheduling/rules agreed to by majority and minority leaders debated limited to 1 hour unlimited debate unless cloture invoked members are policy specialists members are policy generalists emphasizes tax and revenue policy emphasizes foreign policy more formal and impersonalmore informal and personal

3. Organization of the Legislative Branch : House of Representatives Opening Day: All are up for election every two years. Clerk from preceding term acts as chair, calls roll Leadership sworn in by the Dean of the House (member elect with longest tenure). Democrats sit on right, Republicans on the left. Elect 1) clerk,2) sergeant at arms, 3)chief administrative officer, 4)chaplain. Determine rules. Appoint committees.

4. Organization of the Legislative Branch : House of Representatives A.Speaker of the House 1.Determine the flow of the debate. 2. Interprets and applies the rules. 3. Refers bills to committees. 4. Determines committee members. 5. Follows the vice-president in succession. B. Majority Leader Not an official position. Steer the actions of the party members. Provide guidance and leadership. Help steer debate. C. Majority Whip A.K.A. the assistant floor leader. Actually does the work to keep the party in line. Serves as the liaison between the leadership and the members of the party. Count the votes prior to the formal motions. D. Committee Chairs Selected by the majority party leader (Speaker and/or Floor Leaders). Determine order of debate within the committees. Determine order of business. Seniority Rule: the oldest, longest serving members get the most important responsibilities. E. Minority Leader a.Minority Whip

5. Organization of the Legislative Branch : Senate 2.Senate Opening Day: Continuous body. First day is very short. Swear in new senators. Fill vacancies on committees. A.President of the Senate Vice-president of the US-not elected to the legislature (not as powerful as Speaker). Can only vote to break a tie. Has no voice on the floor. B. Majority Leader a.Majority Whip (1)Committee Chairs C. Minority Leader a.Minority Whip D. President Pro tempore Serves in President's absence. Leading member of the majority party, selected from within the Senate. Follows the Speaker in presidential succession.

6. Gerrymandering District drawn to the advantage of the political party in control of a State legislature At large district Situation where a representative is chosen from the State as a whole Reapportioned Giving or taking away the number of seats in a legislative body belonging to a state as population changes

7. Politico Constituency Role of a member of Congress as a follower of party leadership The people and interests that an elected official represents

8. Prorogue The President’s power to adjourn a session of Congress when the two houses of Congress cannot agree on a date of adjournment Trustee Congress member who decides on issues on merit alone

9. A.term "a two year period of time during which Congress meets" *a period of time that elected officials hold office B.session period of time each year that Congress assembles and conducts business--start on noon on Jan. 3 (unless a different day is set) C.special session an session of Congress, called by the president, to deal with emergency situations D.adjourn to suspend until the next session E.apportionment distribute, as in seats, in the legislature F.off-year election election held between presidential elections; generally have lower voter turn-out Vocabulary

10. G.continuous body (refers to the Senate) only 1/3 of total seats are up for election every two years H.constituency people of interest that the congressmen represent I.partisans lawmaker who owes his/her first allegiance to the political party and vote according to the party lines J.oversight function Congress, working through the committees, checks on the executive branch to see that they are working correctly. K.franking privilege The benefit of free postage afforded to members of Congress Vocabulary