Terms : Hide Images
| 6291992960 | Constituents | The residents of a congressional district or state. | 0 | |
| 6291992961 | Reapportionment | The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures are in charge of this process. | 1 | |
| 6291992962 | Redistricting | The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population. | 2 | |
| 6291992963 | Gerrymandering | The drawing of legislative district boundaries to gain an advantage for a party, group, or incumbent. | 3 | |
| 6291992964 | Safe seat | An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other, so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted. | 4 | |
| 6291992965 | Incumbent | The current holder of the elected office. | 5 | |
| 6291992966 | Earmarks | Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents. | 6 | |
| 6291992967 | Bicameralism | The principle of a two-house legislature. | 7 | |
| 6291992968 | Enumerated powers | The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution. | 8 | |
| 6291992969 | Speaker | The presiding officer in the House of Representatives, formally elected by the House but actually selected by the majority party. | 9 | |
| 6291992970 | Party caucus | A meeting of the members of a party in a legislative chamber to select party leaders and to develop party policy. Called a conference by the Republicans. | 10 | |
| 6291992971 | Majority leader | The legislative leader selected by the majority party who helps plan party strategy, confers with other party leaders, and tries to keep members of the party in line. | 11 | |
| 6291992972 | Minority leader | the legislative leader selected by the minority party as spokesperson for the opposition. | 12 | |
| 6291992973 | Whip | Party leader who is the liaison between the leadership and the rank-and-file in the legislature. | 13 | |
| 6291992974 | Closed rule | A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments. | 14 | |
| 6291992975 | Open rule | A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill. | 15 | |
| 6291992976 | President pro tempore | Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president. | 16 | |
| 6291992977 | Filibuster | A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator refuses to relinquish the floor and thereby delays proceedings and prevents a vote on a controversial issue. | 17 | |
| 6291992978 | Cloture | A procedure for terminating debate, especially filibusters, in the Senate. | 18 | |
| 6291992979 | Standing committee | A permanent committee established in a legislature, usually focusing on a policy area. | 19 | |
| 6291992980 | Special or select committee | A congressional committee created for a specific purpose, sometimes to conduct an investigation. | 20 | |
| 6291992981 | Joint committee | A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations. | 21 | |
| 6291992982 | Seniority rule (system) | A legislative practice that assigns the chair of the committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee. | 22 | |
| 6291992983 | Conference committee | Committee appointed by the presiding officers of both chambers of Congress to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form. | 23 | |
| 6291992984 | Discharge petition | If signed by majority of the House of Representatives' members, will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration. | 24 | |
| 6291992985 | Rider | A provision attached to a bill- to which it may or may not be related- in order to secure its passage or defeat. | 25 | |
| 6291992986 | Pocket veto | A veto exercised by the president after Congress has adjourned; if the president takes no action for 10 days, the bill does not become law and does not return to Congress for possible override. | 26 | |
| 6291992987 | Override | An action taken by Congress to reverse the presidential veto, requiring a two-thirds majority in each chamber. | 27 | |
| 6291992988 | Delegate | An official who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of legislator. | 28 | |
| 6291992989 | Trustee | An official who is expected to vote independently based on his or her judgment of the circumstances; one interpretation of the role of the legislator. | 29 | |
| 6291992990 | Logrolling | Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators. | 30 | |
| 6291992991 | Attentive public | Those citizens who follow public affairs closely. | 31 | |
| 6291992992 | Polarization | The extent to which liberals and conservatives occupy the more extreme positions on the liberal- conservative ideological spectrum. | 32 |
