Terms : Hide Images
| 6145176995 | Incumbents | Those already holding office. In congressional elections, they usually win. | 0 | |
| 6145176996 | 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 | |
| 6145176997 | Pork Barrel | The mighty list of federal projects, grants, and contracts available to cities, businesses, colleges, and institutions available in a congressional district. | 2 | |
| 6145176998 | Bicameral Legislature | A legislature divided into two houses. The U.S. Congress and every American state legislature except Nebraska's are this. | 3 | |
| 6145176999 | House Rules Committee | An institution unique to the House of Representative that reviews all bills (except revenue, budget, and appropriations bills) coming from a House committee before they go to the full House. | 4 | |
| 6145177000 | 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 can halt this. | 5 | |
| 6145177001 | Speaker of the House | An office mandated by the Constitution. This person is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed the presidency should that office become vacant. | 6 | |
| 6145177002 | Majority Leader | The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House or the party's manager in the Senate. This person is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes in behalf of the party's legislative positions. | 7 | |
| 6145177003 | Minority Leader | The principal leader of the party that is not in control in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. | 8 | |
| 6145177004 | Standing Committees | Separate subject-matter committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas. | 9 | |
| 6145177005 | Joint Committees | Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses. | 10 | |
| 6145177006 | 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. | 11 | |
| 6145177007 | Select Committees | Congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation. | 12 | |
| 6145177008 | Legislative oversight | Congress' monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through hearings. | 13 | |
| 6145177009 | 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. | 14 | |
| 6145177010 | Seniority system | A simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. The member who had served the committee the longest and whose party controlled Congress became chair, regardless of the party loyalty, mental state, or competence. | 15 | |
| 6145177011 | 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. | 16 | |
| 6145177012 | Bill | A proposed law, drafted in precise, legal language. Anyone can draft one of this, but only a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit it for consideration. | 17 | |
| 6145177013 | Impeach | The first step of the process to remove a president from office in which someone is accused of misconduct. It takes place in the House and is started by the Judiciary committee. | 18 | |
| 6145177015 | Subpoena | Legal order to appear in congress to testify | 19 | |
| 6145177016 | Revenue bill | Proposed law to raise money - Tax | 20 | |
| 6145177017 | Appropriation | Money that Congress has allocated to be spent | 21 | |
| 6145177018 | Authorization | Legislative permission to begin or continue a government program or agency; this type of bill may grant permission to spend a certain amount of money, but that money is not available until it is appropriated | 22 | |
| 6145177019 | Veto | A president's attempt to kill a bill. It is a presidential check on the legislative branch | 23 | |
| 6145177020 | Examples of Denied powers | Tax exports, suspend writs of habeas corpus, pass bills of attainder, pass ex post facto laws | 24 | |
| 6145177021 | Checks and balances | Limits and controls each branch has on the other to keep one branch from gaining more power. | 25 | |
| 6145177022 | Where money bills originate | The House of Representatives | 26 | |
| 6145177023 | Library of Congress (LOC) | Support agency for Congress that is the largest library in the world | 27 | |
| 6145177024 | Government Printing Office (GPO) | Support agency for Congress that prints all government documents including bills. | 28 | |
| 6145177025 | Congressional Budget Office (CBO) | Support agency for Congress that coordinates the budget work of congress | 29 | |
| 6145177028 | President Pro Tempore | The second in command in the Senate. they serve as a substitute when the Vice President is busy. The position is appointed by the majority party and is 4th in line for presidential succession. | 30 | |
| 6145177029 | President of the Senate | The Presiding officer of the senate. The position is automatically held by the Vice President. | 31 | |
| 6145177030 | Whips | Leadership positions in both the House and Senate that primarily assists floor leaders | 32 | |
| 6145177031 | 218 Members | Number of House members needed for a quorum | 33 | |
| 6145177032 | Quorum | Minimum number of Representatives that must be present in order for a vote to take place in the House | 34 | |
| 6145177039 | 25 years | Minimum age for a U.S. Representative | 35 | |
| 6145177040 | 30 years | Minimum age for a U.S. Senator | 36 | |
| 6145177041 | 2 years | Term of office for a U.S. Representative | 37 | |
| 6145177042 | 6 years | Term of office for a U.S. Senator | 38 | |
| 6145177043 | 9 years | Minimum number of years of citizenship required to be in the U.S. Senate | 39 | |
| 6145177044 | 7 years | Minimum number of years of citizenship required to be in the U.S. House of Representatives | 40 | |
| 6145177045 | Gerrymander | Cheating; an illegal form of redistricting in order to gain an advantage for one group. | 41 | |
| 6145177046 | Reapportionment | The term for the distribution of House of Representative seats among the states based on census results | 42 | |
| 6145177047 | Census | A formal count of the population every ten years. The results are used to determine the distribution of representatives for the House. | 43 | |
| 6145177048 | Redistricting | The process of dividing a state into sections based on population in order to determine the constituency for a Representative | 44 | |
| 6145177051 | Constituents | People represented by elected officials | 45 | |
| 6145177055 | Pocket Veto | The President's option to set a bill aside for ten days. If Congress is out of session on the 10th day, then the bill dies. | 46 | |
| 6145177056 | Lobbyists | Hired by interest groups to persuade Congress to vote in favor of their ideas. | 47 | |
| 6145177058 | Mark-up | Revisions and additions to legislation made by committees and subcommittees. These changes are not part of a bill unless approved by the house of which the committee is a part. | 48 | |
| 6145177059 | Christmas Tree Bill | A bill with a lot of riders (additions to legislation that generally have no connection to the legislation) | 49 | |
| 6145177060 | Logrolling | Vote trading; voting to support a colleague's bill in return for a promise of future support | 50 | |
| 6145177061 | Earmark | Practice of congressmen of securing ("appropriating") federal money ("pork") for projects that will benefit their constituents. Major incumbent advantage & source of budget increases | 51 | |
| 6145177062 | Discharge Petition | A device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had the bill for 30 days, may petition to have it brought to the floor | 52 | |
| 6145177063 | Pigeonholing | It is important for a bill's supporters to make sure the bill isn't ________, that is, put on the bottom of the committee's agenda, never to be seen again. | 53 | |
| 6145177068 | Cloture | A procedure used in the Senate to limit debate on a bill (end a filibuster); requires 60 votes. | 54 | |
| 6145177069 | Franking Privilege | The ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage. | 55 | |
| 6145177070 | Signing Statements | A formal document that explains why a president is signing a particular bill into law. These statements may contain objections to the bill and promises not to implement key sections. | 56 | |
| 6145177071 | Oversight | Effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies | 57 |
