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franking privilege

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benefit allowing members of Congress to mail letters and other materials postage-free

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unicameral

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composed of one legislative body

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bicameral

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composed of two legislative bodies

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Speaker of the House

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the leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives

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Newt Gingrich

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became the 1st Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives in 40 years following the 1994 elections

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Nancy Pelosi

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Speaker of the House

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Harry Reid

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Senate Majority Leader

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Party caucus

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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

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Rules Committee

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A standing committee of the House of Representatives that provides special rules under which specific bills can be debated, amended, and considered by the house.

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filibuster

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a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

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17th Amendment

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established the direct election of senators

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Rule 22

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Provides that debate in the Senate could be cut off if two-thirds of the Senators present and voting agreed to a cloture motion

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cloture

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terminate debate by calling for a vote

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term limits

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laws that limit the number of terms elected officials can serve

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US Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton

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Ruled that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of Congress stricter than those in the Constitution

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Marginal districts

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political districts in which candidates elected to the house of representatives win in close elections, typically by less than 55 percent of the vote

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safe districts

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Districts in which incumbents win by margins of 55 percent or more.

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House banking scandal

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1992 -it was revealed that the United State House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts, but were not being penalized by the House Bank (actually a clearinghouse).

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House post office scandal

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refers to the discovery of corruption among various Congressional Post Office employees and members of the United States House of Representatives, investigated 1991-1995, climaxing in the conviction of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL).

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Reapportionment

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the process of reassigning representation based on population, after every census

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redistricting

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The drawing of a new electoral district boundary lines in response to population changes.

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malapportionment

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drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population

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gerrymandering

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the drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent

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majority-minority districts

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Drawing district boundaries to give a minority group a majority

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Wesberry v. Sanders

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The 1964 case in which the Supreme Court invalidated unequal congressional districts, saying that all legislative districts must contain about equal numbers of people. The ruling is popularly known as the principle of one person, one vote.

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Baker v. Carr

answer

"one man, one vote," prohibited racial gerrymandering; ordered state legislative districs to be near equal in population as possible

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"one man, one vote"

answer

principle meaning that election districts would have to be redrawn to provide equal representation for all of states citizens

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Shaw v. Reno

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NO racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts.

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descriptive representation

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the idea that an elected body should mirror demographically the population it represents

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substantive representation

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The correspondence between legislators' opinions and those of their constituents

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sophomore surge

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an increase in the votes congressional candidates usually get when they first run for reelection

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privileged speech

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Congress Members cannot be arrested for what they say in Congress.

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Edmund Burke

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In Reflections of the Revolution in France, he forecast problems as those without political experience attempted to govern

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Representational theory

answer

Theory in which a member of Congress vote based on the popular opinions of their constituents

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organizational theory

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Theory where members of Congress vote primarily to cues provided by their colleagues. Vote with party.

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attitudinal theory

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Theory where the Congress member's ideology affects how they vote. They vote with their ideology.

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President Pro Tempore

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Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president

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Majority and minority leaders

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There is one of these from each party in each house of Congress. They guide bills

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Party Whip

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the assistant to the floor leader in each house of congress who tries to persuade party members to vote for bills the party supports

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Steering Committee

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Guides and oversees systems development and acquisition.

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Committee on Committees

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party committees that determine the assignments of party members to standing committees in the House of Representatives

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Policy Committee

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Composed of party leaders; theoretically responsible for the party's overall legislative program.

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Party polarization

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a vote in which a majority of Democratic legislators oppose a majority of Republican legislators

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caucus

answer

a private meeting of party leaders to choose candidates for office

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congressional black caucus

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an organization representing the African American members of the United States Congress

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blue dog democrats

answer

Conservative Democrats in Congress.

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standing committees

answer

permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within a certain subject area

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select committees

answer

Congressional committees appointed for a limited time and purpose.

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joint committees

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Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses.

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conference committees

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a joint committee appointed to resolve differences in the senate and house versions of the same bill

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seniority system

answer

a system that gives the member of the majority party with the longest uninterrupted service on a particular committee the leadership of that committee

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Congressional Research Service

answer

staff agency that employs many people with advance academic training to respond to more than a quarter of a million questions a year.

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General Accounting Office

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reviews spending activities of federal agencies, studies programs, and recommends ways to spend taxpayers' dollars wisely

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Congressional Budget Office

answer

Congressional agency of budget experts who assess the feasibility of the president's plan and who help create Congress's version of the federal budget.

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simple resolution

answer

an expression of opinion either in the House or Senate to settle procedural matters in either body

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concurrent resolution

answer

passed by both houses of Congress and is not signed by the president and is not a law

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joint resolution

answer

a resolution passed by both houses of Congress which becomes legally binding when signed by the chief executive (or passed over the executive's veto)

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multiple referral

answer

a congressional process whereby a bill may be referred to several committees

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sequential referral

answer

a congressional process by which a speaker may send a bill to a second committee after the first is finished acting

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discharge petition

answer

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.

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closed rule

answer

An order from the House Rules Committee that sets a time limit on debate; forbids a bill from being amended on the floor

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open rule

answer

an order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the floor

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restrictive rule

answer

an order from the House Rules Committee that permits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made into a bill on the floor

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quorum

answer

a gathering of the minimal number of members of an organization to conduct business

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quorum call

answer

a roll call in either house of Congress to see whether the minimum number of representatives required to conduct business is present

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double-tracking

answer

A procedure to keep the Senate going during a filibuster in which the disputed bill is shelved temporarily so that the Senate can get on with other business.

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roll call vote

answer

A congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering "yea" or "nay" to their names.

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rider

answer

a clause that is appended to a legislative bill

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Christmas tree bill

answer

a bill with many riders

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Committee of the Whole

answer

a device in which a legislative body is considered one large committee. All members of the legislative body are members of such a committee

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Pork-barrel

answer

the list of federal projects, grants, and contracts available to cities, businesses, colleges, and institutions available in a congressional district

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earmarks

answer

Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.

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congressional courtesy

answer

the set of rules, written and unwritten, that govern interactions between the 535 members of Congress

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logrolling

answer

An agreement by two or more lawmakers to support each other's bills

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Nongermane amendment

answer

An amendment that would add new and different subject matter to, or may be irrelevant to, the bill or other measure it seeks to amend. Senate rules permit these amendments in all but a few specific circumstances.

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Unanimous consent

answer

Also called general consent. When no members object to a motion, there is unanimous or general consent, and there does not need to be a vote on a matter.

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Holds

answer

Senators have power to place HOLD - Indication of disapproval for a bill, strong hesitation will likely lead to a filibuster, a hold allows Senators to be informed of any change in status or action on a bill or confirmation, holds can usually be very powerful/influencial, if there are 60 votes: Holds won't stick.

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Packing and kidnapping

answer

redistricting inwhich partisan voters are concentrated in a single district, "wasting" their majority vote and allowing the opposition to win by modest majorities in other districts

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