AP Congress Flashcards

5958660748	incumbents	those already holding office. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win.	0
5958664394	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
5958668319	pork barrel	List of federal projects, grants, and contracts available to cities, businesses, colleges, and institutions available in a congressional district.	2
5958679174	bicameral legislature	two houses of Congress	3
5958684236	House Rules Committee	Sets debate limits, schedules the bill, sets parameters on additions to bills	4
5958705485	fillbuster	unlimited debates in the Senate only	5
5958707772	cloture (Senate rule 22)	60 votes in the Senate to stop a fillbuster	6
5958711626	Speaker of the House	2nd most important position in gov't, decides which bills go on in the house is is elected by the members of the house of reps	7
5958726488	majority leader	ally of speaker, leader in senate who schedules bills, influences committee assignments and securing votes	8
5958739353	whip	party leaders that work with the leadership to count votes in either house and lean of members to vote for bills favored by the party	9
5958750406	minority leader	leader of minority party in house and ssenate	10
5958779085	standing committees	separate, permanent groups that handle bills and writing of bills on specific policy areas	11
5958786694	joint committees	members of both houses who meet on a few policy areas such as taxes and the economy	12
5958797793	conference committee	A special joint group of both houses appointed to reconcile differences when bills pass the two chambers of Congress in different forms who then rewrite a compromised bill	13
5958833412	select committees	Joint group appointed for a specific purpose, such as the Watergate investigation.	14
5958866745	legislative oversight	monitoring and investigating bureaucracy to make sure policy is enacted properly	15
5958882216	committee chairs	majority party member that is most senior on a committee	16
5958882217	ranking members	senior person of the minority party on a committee	17
5958901048	seniority system	rule used to pick committee chairs	18
5968581813	bill	proposed law submitted by either a rep or senator	19
5968596873	closed rule	prohibits amendments to bills (except by members of that committee)	20
5968607646	conservative coalition	joint group of GOPs and conservative DFLers	21
5968614088	constituents	residents of a Congressional district or state	22
5968616529	delegate	person who represents the views of their constituents	23
5968624582	discharge petition	House members vote to request bringing a pigeon holed bill to the floor for consideration	24
5968639076	divided government	more than one party controls the White House and/or both houses	25
5968654489	division petition	house members stand to declare their vote	26
5968658949	earmark	spending projects are added to a bill by an individual member to be funded in their state or district	27
5968670118	enumerated powers	powers expressly given to Congress as written in the Constitution	28
5968680856	gerrymandering	drawing district lines to benefit a candidate or political party (Crack or pack)	29
5968690530	joint resolution	formal opinion of Congress approved by both houses and POTUS (can be used to propose amendments)	30
5968699325	logrolling	you support my bill and I will support yours	31
5968705049	marginal districts	House districts where candidates win in close elections (usually by <55%)	32
5968725521	multiple referral	bill is processed in several important committees	33
5968729780	override	2/3 vote in each house to overturn a POTUS veto	34
5968735644	open rule	admenments to a bill are allowed	35
5968744928	party caucus	party members meet to develop policy for their party	36
5968754886	pocket veto	POTUS doesn't sign nor veto a bill and if Congress adjourns within 10 days, the bill dies	37
5968769849	pork barrel legislation	legislation that benefits constituents in several districts or states in hopes that member is relected	38
5968781570	president pro tempore	Senator who is of the majority party and been in the Senate the most years (3rd in line of succession)	39
5968798399	public bill	bill of general concern	40
5968800331	private bill	bill of personal or local matters	41
5968805427	quorum call	minimum # of members who must be present to conduct business in Congress	42
5968898547	reapportionment	assigning congressional district every 10 years after the cnesus	43
5968907146	senatorial courtsey	POTUS checks with Senate members of a state for approval of presidential appointments from that state	44
5968924726	trustee	member of Congress votes in the way they think is best	45
5968934785	delegate vote	member of Congress votes the way their constituents what them to vote	46
5969005008	roll call vote	members answer yea or nay to a voice vote	47
5969010408	seniority rule	way in which committee chairs are chosen, they are in the majority and have been on the committee the most years	48
5969026699	unified government	majority of both houses and POTUS belong to the same party	49
5969037326	special or select committee	usually a temp committee that is used for a specific purpose such	50
5969062198	Committee of the Whole	at least 100 House members conduct business as one group	51