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111th United States Congress
The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U.S. census. In the November 2008 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers (including – when factoring in the two Democratic caucusing independents – a brief filibuster-proof 60-40 supermajority in the Senate), and with Barack Obama being sworn in as president on January 20, 2009, this gave Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 103rd Congress in 1993. However, the Senate supermajority only lasted for a period of 72 working days while the Senate was actually in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency of Dick Cheney, the most powerful vice president in American history. Cheney previously served as White House Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford, the U.S. representative for from 1979 to 1989, and as the 17th United States secretary of defense in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney grew up there and in Casper, Wyoming. He attended Yale University before earning a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in political science from the University of Wyoming. He began his political career as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, Nixon and Presidency of Gerald Ford, Ford administrations. He served as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obama Signs Zadroga Act
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the ''Harvard Law Review''. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the 2008 preside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermajority
A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fundamental rights of a minority, but can also hamper efforts to respond to problems and encourage corrupt compromises at times when action is taken. Changes to constitutions, especially those with entrenched clauses, commonly require supermajority support in a legislature. In consensus democracy the supermajority rule is applied in most cases. __TOC__ History The first known use of a supermajority rule was in juries during the 100s BC in ancient Rome. In some cases, two thirds of jurors had to confirm they were ready to take a decision before the matter went to a simple majority vote. Pope Alexander III introduced the use of supermajority rule for papal elections at the Third Lateran Council in 1179. In the Democratic Party of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filibuster-proof
Cloture (, ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. is French for "the act of terminating something". It was introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom by William Ewart Gladstone to overcome the obstructionism of the Irish Parliamentary Party and was made permanent in 1887. It was subsequently adopted by the United States Senate and other legislatures. The name ''cloture'' remains in the United States. In Commonwealth countries it is usually ''closure'' or, informally, ''guillotine''. In the United Kingdom and Canada ''closure'' and ''guillotine'' are distinct motions. Australia In Australia, the procedure by which finite debating times for particular bills are set, or protracted debates are brought to a close, is referred to as a "guillotine" or “gag”. Generally, a minister wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majority
A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a group consists of 31 individuals, a majority would be 16 or more individuals, while having 15 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority. A majority is different from, but often confused with, a Plurality (voting), plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset but not necessarily more than half the set. See the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below for details. Majority vote In parliamentary procedure, a majority always means precisely "more than half". Other common definitions (e.g. the frequent 50%+1) may be misleading #Common errors, (see "Common errors" below). Depending on the parliamentary authority used, there may be a difference in the total that is used to calculat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 United States Elections
Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008, during the war on terror and the onset of the Great Recession. It was considered a Wave elections in the United States, Democratic wave election, with Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeating Senator John McCain of Arizona by a wide margin, and the Democrats bolstering their majorities in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress, thereby marking the first time since 1992 United States elections, 1992 in which the Democrats won Congress and the presidency in one election, and would not do so again until 2020 United States elections, 2020. Obama won his party's presidential nomination after defeating Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2008 Democratic primaries. With Republican Party (United States), Republican President George W. Bush term-limited, Senator John McCain of Arizona won the Republ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apportionment (politics)
Apportionment is the process by which seats in a Legislature, legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to Representation (politics), representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionment. The apportionment by country page describes the specific practices used around the world. The Mathematics of apportionment page describes mathematical formulations and properties of apportionment rules. The simplest and most universal principle is that elections should One man, one vote, give each vote an equal weight. This is both intuitive and stated in laws such as the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (the Equal Protection Clause). One example of deliberate malapportionment is seen in bicameral legislatures: while one house, often called a house of commons or representatives, is based on proportional representation, the other is based on regional representation. This is mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States House Of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of the United States Constitution, Article One of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation, known as Bill (United States Congress), bills. Those that are also passed by the Senate are sent to President of the United States, the president for signature or veto. The House's exclusive powers include initiating all revenue bills, Impeachment in the United States, impeaching federal officers, and Contingent election, electing the president if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the United States Electoral College, Electoral College. Members of the House serve a Fixed-term election, fixed term of two years, with each seat up for election before the start of the next Congress. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the United States Constitution, Article One of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation. The Senate also has exclusive power to confirm President of the United States, U.S. presidential appointments, to approve or reject treaties, and to convict or exonerate Impeachment in the United States, impeachment cases brought by the House. The Senate and the House provide a Separation of powers under the United States Constitution, check and balance on the powers of the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive and Federal judiciary of the United States, judicial branches of government. The composition and powers of the Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presidency Of Barack Obama
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney, to win re-election. Alongside Obama's presidency, the Democratic Party also held their majorities in the House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during the 111th U.S. Congress. Obama is the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election against Obama's preferred successor, Hillary Clinton. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
