Test I Review /Government 2302

Know how many U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators are in the Congress.

Know how often U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators are elected and if they are from a single member district or statewide.

Know what the Senate does only and what the House does only. Know what they do together. For example: Senate ratifies treaties, confirms judges etc., removes a president upon impeachment. House impeaches and both are needed to pass legislation, override a veto, pass a constitutional amendment etc.

Know the differences between the Senate outlook and House outlook.

Know the majority party in each chamber will mean the chairmanship and extra members on the committees. Also will determine who is Senate Majority Leader (Senate) and who will be the Speaker of the House (House). Know what the definition of a ranking member.

Know what the powers of the Speaker of the House.

Where does all the detail work of the Congress take place?

Know the definition of standing, select, and joint committee.

Congressional Budget Office, Congressional Research Service, and General Accounting Office assist the Congress. (In class notes and not in book)

Knows what the Rules Committee is in charge of re: legislation.

Know what a filibuster is and how many Senators are needed to end a filibuster (cloture). Remember only the Senate can filibuster legislation. The House has the Rules committee, which dictate that a vote will eventually be taken after discussion and debate.

What happens when the U.S. House and Senate pass similar but different bills.

What happens if a bill passes in the House and is defeated in the Senate (or vice versa). Does it pass?

How many U.S Senators and how many U.S. Representatives are needed to override a veto. Remember the 2/3 of each chamber. (2/3 of 435=290 and 2/3 of 100=67. Remember both chambers have to have the numbers to override the veto.

Know the actions the President can take to deal with legislation that comes from the Congress. What happens when the president takes no action when Congress is in session and when Congress is not in session.

Know what pork barrel spending is and be able to pick out an example.

Know what actions the Texas Senate can take alone.

Know how many TX. Senators and TX. Representatives there are in the Texas legislature and how often they are elected.

What is the session length and frequency of the TX. Legislature

Know the powers of the Speaker and the Lt. Gov.9. Know that the Lt. Governor is elected statewide and the Speaker of the House is elected from a single member district and elected to the Speaker position once the vote is taken among the 150 members. So Lt. Gov. can only vote in a tie whereas the Speaker can vote on all legislation if he so chooses.

Know what options the governor can take to pass and kill legislation when the legislature is in session. One cannot kill legislation by not signing it when the TX. Legislature is still in session. The governor must veto it if he wants to kill the bill if the legislature is still in session.

How many House members and the Senate members are needed to override the governor’s veto. (Remember 2/3 of 150 and 2/3 of 31).

Why is it easier for the governor of Texas to override a veto after the TX. Legislature has gone home? Also find out why the legislature so seldom reverses the governor’s veto?

Compare the filibuster in the TX. Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

Know what the line-item veto is and when the governor can exercise it.

What are three ways the governor can influence legislation?

Look at seniority, political party and filibuster for the Texas Legislature and U.S. Congress. Be able to make a flow chart and answer the questions.

Know which chamber impeaches and how many votes are needed and which chamber removes and how many votes are needed. (Majority of the House and 2/3 of the Senate for both the TX. Legislature and the U.S. Congress)

What is the order of succession if the president resigns or dies?

Know what constitutional powers /duties the president has.

Who has the power to declare war?

Does the president have the line-item veto?

Know what executive agreements are, whether they are mentioned in the Constitution and if the Senate needs to sign off on these agreements. What option does the Senate have if they don’t agree with the executive agreement?

Know the purpose of the Executive Office of the Presidency and major agencies under the Executive Office that assists the president.

The Power to Persuade and author who has written about this concept.

What does Going Public mean? Be able to pick an answer from some examples

Who decides what the legislature addresses during a special session?

Know the duties of the positions in the plural executive. Ex. attorney general and the comptroller.

Who does the governor appoint and who is elected. (We will have chart in class to help you understand the difference between appointive and elected positions.

Know the governor’s appointive powers and factors that might limit these appointments. P.765

Know the governor’s ability to remove appointments

Re: the policymaking process, where is the governor the weakest?

Compare the president and the governor in the following areas:

Appointment process - Governor needs to have 2/3 approval while the president only needs a majority.

Budget- President has an advantage in this area. The governor has to play catch up with the Texas legislature.

Veto (In the Congress and the TX. Legislature they both need 2/3 of each chamber to overrule a veto by the president and governor. They both are equal in this respect.

The line item veto- the governor has the line item veto while the president does not have this line item veto.

Regulatory Board and the Governor. Governor cannot fire the current commissioners on the regulatory board. He has to wait until their term is up to appoint his own preferences for commissioners He can ask them to resign though they are not under any obligation to do so.

Bonus Articles

Where Presidents Have no Power (Pay attention to the beginnings of the paragraphs)

Rockman article (President and the agenda setting ability)

Lee Hamilton (Pay attention to the 10 headings)