US Government - Congress

329745820	Constituents	The residents of a congressional district or state.
329745821	Reapportionment	The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts.
329745822	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.
329745823	Gerrymandering	The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent.
329745824	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.
329745825	Incumbent	The current holder of the elected office.
329745826	Bicameralism	The principle of a two-house legislature.
329745827	Enumerated powers	The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution.
329745828	Speaker	The presiding officer in the House of Representatives, formally elected by the House but actually selected by the majority party.
329745829	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.
329745830	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.
329745831	Minority leader	the legislative leader selected by the minority party as spokesperson for the opposition.
329745832	Whip	Party leader who is the liaison between the leadership and the rank-and-file in the legislature.
329745833	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.
329745834	Open rule	A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill.
329745835	President pro tempore	Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.
329745836	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.
329745837	Cloture	A procedure for terminating debate, especially filibusters, in the Senate
329745838	Senatorial courtesy	Presidential custom of submitting the names of perspective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work.
329745839	Standing committee	A permanent committee established in a legislature, usually focusing on a policy area.
329745840	Special or select committee	A congressional committee created for a specific purpose, sometimes to conduct an investigation.
329745841	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.
329745842	Earmarks	Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.
329745843	Seniority rule	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.
329745844	Conference committee	Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form.
329745845	Logrolling	Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators.
329745846	Discharge petition	Petition that, if signed by majority of the House of Representatives' members, will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration.
329745847	Rider	A provision attached to a bill - to which it may or may not be related - in order to secure its passage or defeat.
329745848	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.
329745849	Override	An action taken by Congress to reverse the presidential veto, requiring a two-thirds majority in each chamber.