Terms : Hide Images
| 5105145136 | incumbents | Those already holding office. In congressional elections, they usually win. | 0 | |
| 5105148030 | casework | Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals, cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get. | 1 | |
| 5105155353 | pork barrel | The mighty list of federal projects, grants, and contracts available to cities businesses, colleges, and institutions available in a congressional district. | 2 | |
| 5105179980 | bicameral legislature | A legislature divided into two houses. Format of US Congress and every American state legislature except Nebraska's. | 3 | |
| 5105201975 | House Rules Committee | An institution unique to the House of Representatives that reviews all bills (except revenue, budget, and appropriations bills) coming from a House committee before they go to the full House. | 4 | |
| 5105211813 | filibuster | A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation try to talk it to death, based on the tradition of unlimited debate. Today, 60 members present and voting an halt one. | 5 | |
| 5105220752 | Speaker of the House | An office mandated by the Constitution. Chosen in practice by the majority power, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed the presidency should that office become vacant. | 6 | |
| 5105231190 | majority leader | The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House or the party's wheel horse in the Senate. Responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes in behalf of the party's legislative positions. | 7 | |
| 5105257527 | whips | Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party. | 8 | |
| 5105264782 | minority leader | Principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. | 9 | |
| 5105280602 | standing committees | Separate subject-matter committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas. | 10 | |
| 5105283333 | joint committees | Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses. | 11 | |
| 5105285947 | conference committees | Congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pass a particular bill in different forms. Party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill. | 12 | |
| 5105292778 | select committees | Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation. | 13 | |
| 5105299006 | legislative oversight | Congress's monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through hearings. | 14 | |
| 5105301252 | committee chairs | The most important influencers of the congressional agenda. They play dominant roles in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house. | 15 | |
| 5105308787 | seniority system | A simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. The member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled Congress became chair, regardless of party loyalty, mental state, or competence. | 16 | |
| 5105315100 | caucus (congressional) | A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic. Most are composed of members from both parties and from both houses. | 17 | |
| 5105319248 | bill | A proposed law, drafted in precise, legal language. Anyone can draft a bill, but only a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration. | 18 | |
| 5232843222 | 7 perks of being a member of Congress | high salary, generous retirement benefits, office space in Washington, substantial congressional staff, travel allowances, franking privileges, free flowers from National Botanical Gardens, research services from Library of Congress, access to exercise rooms and pools | 19 | |
| 5232879491 | 4 advantages of incumbents | advertising - franking privilege, credit claiming - casework & pork barrel, position taking, weak opponents | 20 | |
| 5232967568 | constitutional powers of HoR and Senate | HoR - initiate all revenue bills, pass all articles of impeachment; Senate - "advice and consent," approve treaties, try impeached officials | 21 | |
| 5232981195 | 4 powers of Speaker of the House | preside over House when in session; major role in committee assignments; key role in appointing party's legislative leaders and party leadership staff; exercise substantial control over which bills get assigned to which committees | 22 | |
| 5233027930 | 3 congressional staffs | personal staff - provide services to constituents; committee staff - organize hearings, research legislative options, draft committee reports on bills, write legislation, keep tabs on executive branch; staff agencies - *Congressional Research Service:* provides members with nonpartisan studies, *General Accounting Office:* reviews actions of executive branch, sets standards for accounting, *Congressional Budget Office:* analyze president's budget | 23 |
