4/6/11

A two-house legislature

The official chair of the senate
Usually the most senior member of the majority party

Party leader who keeps close contact with all members of his or her party, takes vote counts on key legislation, prepares summaries of bills, and acts as a communications link within a party.

The head of the party with the second highest number of elected representatives or the senate.

The head of the party controlling the most seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

The only officer of the House of Representatives specifically mentioned in the constitution.
Chambers most powerful position.

A formal gathering of all party members.

The political party in each house of the congress with the second most members.

Political party in each house of congress with the most members.

The drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district.

The process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect increases or decreases in seats allotted to the states, as well as population shifts within a state.

Already holding an office.

The power delegated to the House of Representatives in the Constitution to charge the president, vp, or other "civil officers," including federal judges, with "Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

A proposed law.

The process of allotting congressional seats to each state following the decennial census according to their proportion of the population.

Committee to which proposed bills are referred.
Continues from one Congress to the next.

Standing committee that includes members from both houses of Congress setup to conduct investigations or special studies.

Special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate.

Temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose.

Petition that gives a majority of the House of Representatives the authority to bring an issue to the floor in the face of committee inaction.

Time of continuous service on a committee.

A session in which committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor.

A tactitc by which a senator asks to be informed before a particular bill or nomination is brought to the floor.

A formal way of halting Senate action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate.

Mechanism requiring sixty senators to vote to cut off debate.

The formal, constitutional authority of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress, thus preventing them from becoming law without further congressional action.

If congress adjourns during the ten days the president has to consider a bill passed by both houses of Congress, the bill is considered vetoed without the president's signature.

Act that established the congressional budget process by laying out a plan for congressional action on the annual budget resolution, appropriations, reconciliation, and any other revenue bills.

A procedure theat allows consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to twenty hours, thereby ending threat of a filibuster.

Legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs.

Funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or congressional district.

The president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime unless congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period.
Passed by Congress in 1973

A process whereby congress can nullify agency regulations by a joint resolution of legislative disapproval.

A process by which presidents, when selecting district court judges, defer to the senators in whose state the vacancy occurs.

Role played by an elected representative who listens to constituents' opinions and then uses his or her best judgement to make a final decision.

Role played by an elected representative who votes the way his or her constituents would want him or her to, regardless of his or her own opinions.

Role played by an elected representative who acts as a trustee or as a delegate, depending on the issue.