Gov 12

  1. Incumbents
    • Candidates already in office
    • Usually win congressional elections
  2. casework
    • Activities by members of Congress that help specific voters
    • Helps keep them in office
  3. pork barrel
    • Earmarks that must be spent in specific districts
    • Help keep constituents in office
  4. bicameral legislature
    A two-house legislature
  5. House Rules Committee
    Reviews all bills from a House committee before they can go on the flloor of the whole house
  6. filibuster
    • Opponents of a bill try to halt the progress by talking excessively
    • Only occurs in the Senate because they have unlimited debate
  7. Speaker of the House
    • Chosen by majority party
    • Second in line to succeed the president
  8. majority leader
    • Schedules bills, influences committee assignments and helps get votes for pieces of legislation
    • Speaker of the House's ally
  9. whips
    Party leaders who keep track of the vote count before and influence any swing votes
  10. minority leader
    Leads the minority party
  11. standing committees
    Separate committees that handle bills in different policy areas
  12. joint committees
    Congressional committees that cover several topics and have members of both parties
  13. conference committees
    • Congressional committees for when the Senate and HOR pass different forms of a bill
    • Have to compromise the 2 sides and bring back one bill
  14. select committees
    Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose-Watergate
  15. legislative oversight
    How Congress monitors the bureaucracy and how they administer policy-hearings
  16. committee chairs
    Schedule hearings, hire staff, appoint subcommittees, manage bills before the whole house
  17. seniority system
    • The member on the committee longest and is part of the majority party becomes the committee chair
    • Still used unofficially
  18. congressional caucus
    • Members of Congress that share an interest or characteristic
    • Bipartisan and bicameral membership
  19. bill
    • Proposed law
    • Anyone can write one but only a member of the HOR or the Senate can present it for consideration
Author
cstewart6
ID
126523
Card Set
Gov 12
Description
gov chapter 12
Updated