An iron triangle involves the policy-making relationship among a Congressional committee, the bureaucracy, and an interest group. The committee provides funding and political support to the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy provides low regulation and special favors to the interest group, and the interest group provides electoral support to the committee. In return, the bureaucracy provides policy choices and execution to the committee, the committee provides friendly legislation and oversight to the interest group, and the interest group provides congressional support (via lobbying) to the bureaucracy.

The name given to a Legislative grant of money to finance a specific government program is "appropriations."

A President can be impeached only under very specific circumstances. First the House must vote for impeachment by a simple majority, but, this simply states that the President must stand trial, so the case moves to the Senate, where the trial takes place. A two-thirds vote is needed in the Senate to remove the President from office.

Andrew Johnson was the President who had to deal with the reunification of the North and South during the inaugural years of Reconstruction. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which prohibited the President from removing his own appointed officials from office. Johnson ignored this act when he removed his secretary of war and replaced him with Ulysses S. Grant. He was impeached by the House as a result, and was almost removed from office, surviving the trial in the Senate by one vote.

The only man to serve as both President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was William H. Taft. Taft became President following the end of Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency, but had always favored a position on the Supreme Court and was something of a reluctant President. He lasted only one term as President and was granted his wish to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921, when he was nominated by President Harding. He would serve as Chief Justice for nine years until his ill health forced him to step down shortly before his death. As a Chief Justice Taft, encouraged the Judiciary Act of 1925, which expanded the Supreme Court’s power to give priority to cases that they considered of national importance.

Annual authorizations are budgets established by Congress for various government agencies on a yearly basis.

A coalition government occurs more often in Parliamentary systems than it does in the American system, but it has occurred previously on rare occasions throughout American history. A coalition government occurs when a group of smaller parties or interest groups work together and combine their representation in order to form a majority in Congress.

In a Unified Government, in contrast to a Divided Government, the Legislative and Executive Branches are both controlled by the same party. This allows much more legislation to get passed. In a Divided Government, one of the parties controls Congress and the other controls the Presidency. This often leads to gridlock.

The War Powers Act of 1973 was designed to eliminate the president’s ability to unilaterally declare war or commit the armed forces without the prescribed support of Congress. It was issued in response to the United States’ prolonged involvement in Korea and Vietnam, both conflicts that occurred without a formal declaration of war being issued by Congress.

Executive privilege allows the president and other important members of the Executive branch to withhold information from, and refuse to testify to, Congress. It is most relevant in U.S. History to the refusal of Richard Nixon to provide certain evidence to Congress during his trial over the Watergate incident.