| Congress Terms |
Congress Definitions |
| Appropriation | the actual amount available in a fiscal year. |
| Authorization | bill that states the maximum amount of money available. |
| Bicameral legislation | two - House government that keeps the other branch’s power in check. |
| Appropriation | the actual amount available in a fiscal year. |
| Authorization | bill that states the maximum amount of money available. |
| Bicameral legislation | two - House government that keeps the other branch’s power in check. |
| Caucuses | a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement. |
| “Christmas- tree bill” | a bill with many riders. |
| closed rules | sets strict time limits on debates and forbids amendments from the floor, except those from the presentiong committee. |
| open rules | permits amendments and often has less strict time limits, allowing for input from other members. |
| cloture | three - fifths of the entire Senate membership must vote to stop debate. |
| Committee of the Whole | sits on the floor, but is directed by the chaiman fo the sponsoring committee. |
| Conference committees | consist of memebers from voth the House and Senate, but they are formed exclusively to hammer out differences between House and Senate versions of similar bills. |
| Discharge petition | may be signed by 218 members to bring it to the floor, vut the vast majority of bills are referred to the floor agter committee recommendation. |
| “elastic clause” | allowed the government to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States.” |
| filibuster | the practice of talking a bill to death. |
| germane amendments | must be relevant to the topic of the bill. |
| gerrymandering | gives one political party an advantage over the other in a district. |
| impeachment power | the authority to the President, Vice President, and other “civil officers” with “high crimes and misdemeanors” is given to the house. |
| investigation power | Congress may investigate both issues that warrant study and wrong doings by public officials. |
| incumbency | those who already hold the office. |
| joint committees | set up to conduct business between the houses and to help focus public attention on major issues. |
| logrolling | occurs when a member of Congress suppoprts another member's pet project in return for support for his or her own projectl |
| majority leader of the House | responsible for scheduling bills and for rounding up votes for bills the party favors. |
| majority leader of the Senate | determines the Senate's agenda and usually has much tosay about committee assignments. |
| malapportionment | when states draw districts of unequal size and populations. |
| marking up | changed or rewritten and returned to the full committee where they may be altered further. |
| minority leader of the House | usually spets into the position of Speaker when his or her party ganis a mojority in the House. |
| minority leader of the Senate | consulted by majority leader in setting agenda. |
| oversight | Congress can review and restrict things like budget. |
| party whips | serve as go-betweens for the members and the leadership. |
| pigoenholing | forgotten and never make it out of committee. |
| pocket veto | if the President receives a bill within ten days of the adjournment of the Congress, he may simply not respond and the bill will die. |
| pork barrel legislation | bills that five those benefits to constituents in hope of gaining their votes. |
| president pro tempore | elected by the Senate from among the majority party, usually the most senior member. |
| racial gerrymandering | rearranging of districts to allow a minority representative to be elected |
| simple resolutions | passed by either the House or the Senate, and usually establishes rules, regulation, or practices that do not have the force of law. |
| concurrent resolutions | comes from both houses, and often settles housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses. |
| joint resolutions | requires the approval of both houses and the signature of the President and is essentially the same as a law. |
| revenue bills | bills issued by Congress that control amounts of money. |
| select committees | formed for specific purposes and are usually temporary. |
| seniority system | the member with the longest continuous service on the committee was placed automatically in the chairmanship. |
| Shaw v. Reno | plaintiffs charging the Justice Departemnt with reverse discrimination based on the wqual protection clasue of the 14th Amendment. |
| Speaker of the House | the most importan leadership position, provided for in the Constitution. |
| standing committees | the most important type because they handle bills in different policy areas, thus shapin legislation at a very critical point. |
| term limits | gives the number of terms a president can serve but does not impose on Congress. |
| teller vote | members file past the clerk, first the "yeas" and then the "nays" |
| voice vote | they simply shout "yea" or "nay" |
| division vote | members stand to be counted. |
| roll call vote | consists of people answering "yea" or "nay" to their names. a roll call vote can be called for by one-fifth of the House membership. |
| electronic vote | permits each member to insert a plastic card in a slot to record his or her vote. This form is the most common one today. |
