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Congress Chapter 12
Government in America
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Bicameral Legislature | Legislature with two chambers |
| Bill | Proposed Law |
| Casework | Helping an individual constituent |
| Caucus | Grouping of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic |
| Committee Chairs | The most important influences of the congressional agenda by scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, & managing committee bills |
| Filibuster | Unlimited debate; unique to the Senate |
| Cloture | Can halt a filibuster with 60 votes |
| House Rules Committee | A committee unique to the House; nicknames include "the gatekeeper" and "trafic cop" reviews all House bills and assigns their "rules" |
| Rules | The rules the House Rules Committee assigns to bills, including scheduling the bill on the calendar, alloting timke for debate & specifies what kind of amendments may be offered. |
| Incumbents | People who already hold office |
| Joint committees | Committees composed of members from each chamber.(exist in a few subject areas-ex. Joint Committee on the Library) |
| Legislative oversight | The process of monitoring the bureaucracy and its adminstration of policy. |
| Minority Leader | Minority Party's counterpart to the majority party's leadership. |
| Pork Barrel | Projects, grants, contracts for a congressman's state or district. |
| Coattails | The theory that candidates can ride into office by clinging to presidential coattails. Does not seem to happen in reality. |
| Vice-President | President of the Senate, has very little power or influence in the Senate. Votes only in cases of ties (rarely occurs) |
| Senate Majority Leader | The position of real power and authority in the Senate. |
| Standing Committees | Permanent subject-matter committees. Example--Agriculture Committee |
| Conference Committee | Formed to work out the differences when different versions of a bill are passed by the two houses. Membership is drawn from both houses. |
| Select Committees | Temporary committees appointed for a specific "select" purpose, such as the Senate Watergate Committee. |
| Subcommittees | Typically where hearings would take place. |
| "Marked-up" | A revised and rewritten bill. |
| Senority System | How committee chairs were picked until the 1970s. Now chair is decided by vote, but still is usually the senior person. |
| "Safe" districts | When members are seldom challenged for reelection |
| General Accounting Office (GAO) | Helps Congress perform its oversight functions by reviewing the activities of the executive branch to see if it is following the congressional intent of laws. |
| Trustees | When legislators using their best judgment make policy in the interests of the people. |
| Delegates | When representatives mirror the preferences of their constituents. |
| Politicos | Legislators combining the trustee and delegate roles as they attempt to be both representatives and policymakers. This is what congressman actually are. |
| Lobbyists | Represent the interest of their organizations. Some are former members of Congress. They can provide legislators with information and campaign contributions. |
| Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act | Lobbyist must register and provide disclosure statements. |
| Speaker of the House | Mandated by the Constitution, is next in line after the VP to succeed a president. Most powerful position in Congress. |
| Whips | The majority and minority leader's principle tool for securing support for legislation and why lobby partisans for support. |
| Hold | A Senator informs his floor leader that he does not wish a bill to reach the floor for consideration. The Majority Leader need not follow the Senator's wishes. |
| Advise and Consent | Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote. |
| Christmas Tree Bill | A bill on the Senate floor that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests. Lots of pork. |
| Germane | On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance. House thing. |
| Quorum | The number of Senators that must be present for the Senate to do business. The Constitution requires a majority of Senators (51). |
| Line-item veto | Authority to veto part rather than all of an appropriations act. The President does not now have item-veto authority. He must sign or veto the entire appropriations act. |
| "Lame Duck" session | When Congress (or either chamber) reconvenes in an even-numbered year following the November general elections to consider various items of business. Some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress. |
| Rider | Informal term for a nongermane amendment to a bill or an amendment to an appropriation bill that changes the permanent law governing a program funded by the bill. |
| Proxy voting | The practice of allowing a Senator to cast a vote in committee for an absent Senator. |
| Fiscal Year | accounting period for the federal government which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. |
| Entitlement | A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. |
| President Pro Tempore | A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. |
| Constituency | the people that a member of Congress represents; to a senator, this is an entire state; for a representative, it is the people in his or her district |
| Descriptive representation | idea that an elected official should mirror demographically the population it represents |
| Symbolic representation | efforts of the members of Congress to stand for American ideals or identify with common constituency values |
| Reapportionment | process of redistributing the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states based on population; occurs every ten years |
| Redistricting | process of redrawing congressional boundaries within states to meet population shifts |
| Gerrymandering | the redrawing of a district to maximize the political advantage of a party or racial group; often leaves the district in an obscure shape |
| Franking Privilege | allows congresspersons to send free mail to those in their constituency |
| Earmark | funds that an appropriations bill designates for a specific purpose on a state or local level |
| Institutional Loyalty | calls for members to avoid criticizing each other as well as to show mutual respect; has not been followed as of lately |
| logrolling | an informal norm in which members agree to support one another’s bills |
| Going Public | method of Congress to bring forth an issue debate to the media; examples include televising debate or staging a protest |
| House Majority Leader | leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives; he or she is second in command to the Speaker of the House |
| Legislative veto | a congressional oversight tool allowing one or both house to prevent agency actions; declared unconstitutional in 1983 but still incorporated into legislation due to agencies honoring the tradition |
| Authorizations | budget legislation that provides agencies and departments with legal authority to operate; sometimes specifies how much they can spend but does not provide the funds |
| Appropriations | budget legislation which specifies an amount of authorized funds which will be given to agencies and departments to spend |
| Legislative agenda | slate of proposals and issues that congresspersons think are worthwhile to consider and act on |
| Impeachment | the power delegated to the House of Representatives to charge the president, vice-president, or other government officers with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes;" this is the first step in removing government officials from office |
| Discharge petition | allows a majority in the House of Representatives to bring forth an issue to the floor that it feels received committee inaction; helps avoid committee action |
| Pocket Veto | ability of the president to veto a bill by not signing it if Congress is to adjourn within ten days |
| Senatorial courtesy | when selecting district court judges, the president will defer to the senator from whose state the vacancy arises from |
| Ad Hoc Committee | House committees formed by the Speaker to handle bills that are particularly sensitive |
| Closed rule | A House resolution allowing no amendments to a bill |
| Open rule | a House resolution allowing amendments to a bill |
| Congressional Research Office | part of Library of Congress that responds to congressional requests for information; also tracks status of every major bill |
| Double-tracking | allows a bill to be temporarily shelved while being filibustered, thus allowing the Senate to move on with business |
| Unanimous consent agreement | Senate agreements, which can govern a multitude of procedures, that can be killed by a single objector |
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