4/6/11

  1. A two-house legislature
    Bicameral Legislature
  2. The official chair of the senate
    Usually the most senior member of the majority party
    President Pro Tempore
  3. 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.
    Whip
  4. The head of the party with the second highest number of elected representatives or the senate.
    Minority Leader
  5. The head of the party controlling the most seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate.
    Majority Leader
  6. The only officer of the House of Representatives specifically mentioned in the constitution.
    Chambers most powerful position.
    Speaker of the House
  7. A formal gathering of all party members.
    Party Caucus or Conference
  8. The political party in each house of the congress with the second most members.
    Minority Party
  9. Political party in each house of congress with the most members.
    Majority Party
  10. The drawing of congressional districts to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to the shape of the district.
    Gerrymandering
  11. 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.
    Redistricting
  12. Already holding an office.
    Incumbency
  13. 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."
    Impeachment
  14. A proposed law.
    Bill
  15. The process of allotting congressional seats to each state following the decennial census according to their proportion of the population.
    Apportionment
  16. Committee to which proposed bills are referred.
    Continues from one Congress to the next.
    Standing Committee
  17. Standing committee that includes members from both houses of Congress setup to conduct investigations or special studies.
    Joint committee
  18. Special joint committee created to reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate.
    Conference committee
  19. Temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose.
    Select committee
  20. 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.
    Discharge petition
  21. Time of continuous service on a committee.
    Seniority
  22. A session in which committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor.
    Markup
  23. A tactitc by which a senator asks to be informed before a particular bill or nomination is brought to the floor.
    Hold
  24. A formal way of halting Senate action on a bill by means of long speeches or unlimited debate.
    Filibuster
  25. Mechanism requiring sixty senators to vote to cut off debate.
    Cloture
  26. 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.
    Veto
  27. 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.
    Pocket veto
  28. 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.
    Congressional Budget Act of 1974
  29. A procedure theat allows consideration of controversial issues affecting the budget by limiting debate to twenty hours, thereby ending threat of a filibuster.
    Reconciliation
  30. Legislation that allows representatives to bring money and jobs to their districts in the form of public works programs, military bases, or other programs.
    Pork
  31. Funds that an appropriations bill designates for specific projects within a state or congressional district.
    Earmark
  32. 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
    War Powers Act
  33. A process whereby congress can nullify agency regulations by a joint resolution of legislative disapproval.
    Congressional review
  34. A process by which presidents, when selecting district court judges, defer to the senators in whose state the vacancy occurs.
    Senatorial Courtesy
  35. Role played by an elected representative who listens to constituents' opinions and then uses his or her best judgement to make a final decision.
    Trustee
  36. 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.
    Delegate
  37. Role played by an elected representative who acts as a trustee or as a delegate, depending on the issue.
    Politico
Author
Anonymous
ID
78013
Card Set
4/6/11
Description
Chapter 7
Updated