Terms : Hide Images
| 5132245190 | incumbents | those already holding office; usually win reelections | 0 | |
| 5132245191 | case work | activities to help constituents as individuals, particularly cutting through red tape to get people what they think they have a right to | 1 | |
| 5132245192 | pork barrel | fed projects, grants, and contracts available to local and state govts, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district | 2 | |
| 5132245193 | bicameral legislature | legislature divided into two houses | 3 | |
| 5132245194 | House Rules Committee | committee in the House that reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full house | 4 | |
| 5132245195 | filibuster | opponents of a piece of legislation can use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill; can be stopped by 60 members present and a vote | 5 | |
| 5132245196 | Speaker of the House | mandated by Constitution; chosen by majority party; formal and informal powers; second in presidential line of succession | 6 | |
| 5132245197 | majority leader | principal partisan ally of the Speaker; party's manager in the Senate | 7 | |
| 5132245198 | whips | party leaders who work with majority leaders to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers who votes are crucial to the passing of the bill | 8 | |
| 5132245199 | minority leader | principal leader of the minority party in the House or Senate | 9 | |
| 5132245200 | standing committees | separate subject-matter committees that handle bills in different policy areas | 10 | |
| 5132245201 | joint committees | subject-matter committees with membership from both houses | 11 | |
| 5132245202 | conference committees | formed when Senate and House pass a particular bill in different forms; party leadership chooses members from each house to iron out the differences | 12 | |
| 5132245203 | select committees | appointed for a specific purpose | 13 | |
| 5132245204 | legislative oversight | monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy; performed mainly through hearings | 14 | |
| 5132245205 | committee chairs | most important influencers of agenda | 15 | |
| 5132245206 | seniority system | in effect until the late 1970s; whoever served on committee longest and whose party was in power became committee chair | 16 | |
| 5132245207 | caucus | informal group of members of Congress who share some interest or characteristic | 17 | |
| 5132245208 | bill | proposed law; can be drafted by anyone, but only a member of Congress can formally submit one for consideration | 18 |
