Dudley AP Government 7 Flashcards

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