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| Proportional Representation |
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Definition
| An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded to candidates or parties in proportion to the percentage of votes received. |
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| Drawing Legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionately large share of seats for the share of votes its candidate wins. |
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| Political Actions Committee (PAC) |
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| A federally registered fund-raising group that pools money from individuals to give to political candidates and parties. |
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| The act of voting for candidates from different political parties for different offices - for example, voting for a republican for president and a democrat for senator. |
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| The activity undertaken by members of Congress and their staffs to solve constituents' problems with government agencies. |
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| Common metaphor for the capacity of a successful presidential candidate to generate votes for other candidates further down the ticket and pull fellow partisans into office. |
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| Legislation that provides members of Congress with federal projects and programs for their individual districts. |
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| The congressional practice of appointing as committee or subcommittee chairs the members of the majority with the most years of committee service. |
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| The presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The speaker is elected at the beginning of each congressional session on a party-line vote. As head of the majority party the Speaker has substantial control over the legislative agenda of the House. |
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| Conditional Party Government |
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Definition
| The degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional leaders; varies with and is conditioned by the extent of election-driven ideological consensus among members. |
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| The formal leader of the party controlling a majority of the seats in the House or Senate. In the Senate the majority leader is head of the Majority party. In the House the majority leader ranks second in the party hierarchy behind the Speaker. |
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| The formal leader of the party controlling a minority of the seats in the House or Senate. |
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| A member of a legislative party who acts as the communicator between the party leadership and the rank and file. The whip polls members on their voting intentions, prepares bill summaries, and assists the leadership in various other tasks. |
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| In the absence of the Vice President, the formal presiding officer of the Senate. The honor is usually conferred on the senior member of the majority party, but the post is sometimes rotated among senators of the majority party. |
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| Unanimous Consent Agreement |
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Definition
| A unanimous resolution in the Senate restricting debate and limiting amendments to bills on the floor. |
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| A permanent legislative committee specializing in a particular legislative area. Standing committees have stable memberships and stable jurisdictions. |
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| A temporary legislative committee, usually lacking legislative authority. |
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| A temporary legislative committee created for a specific purpose and dissolved after its tasks are completed. |
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| A congressional committee appointed for a limited time to design and report a specific piece of legislation. |
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| A temporary joint committee of the House and Senate appointed to reconcile the differences between the two chambers on a specific piece of legislation. |
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| The act of sending a proposed piece of legislation to more than one committee in the same chamber. |
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| A benefit that every eligible person has a legal right to receive that cannot be taken away without a change in legislation or due process in court. |
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| A provision that governs consideration of a bill bu the House bu specifying how the bill is to be debated and amended. |
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| A provision governing debate of a pending bill and permitting any germane amendment to be offered on the floor of the House. |
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| A provision that governs consideration of a bill and that specifies and limits the kinds of amendments that may be made on the floor of the House. |
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| An order from the House Rules Committee limiting floor debate on a particular bill and disallowing or limiting amendment. |
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| A petition that removes a measure from a committee to which it has been referred in order to make it available for floor consideration. In the House a discharge petition must be signed by a majority of House members. |
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| A tactic used in the Senate to halt action on a bill. It involves making long speeches until the majority retreats. Senators, once holding the floor, have unlimited time to speak unless a cloture vote is passed by 3/5's or 60 members. |
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Definition
| A parliamentary procedure used to close debate. Cloture is used in the Senate to cut off filibusters. |
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| An amendment to a bill that is not germane to the legislation |
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| The minimum number of congressional members who must be present for the transaction of business. Under the Constitution, a quorum in each house is a majority of its members: 218 in the House and 51 in the Senate. |
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| Vote taken by a call of the roll to determine whether a quorum is present, to establish a quorum, or to vote on a question. |
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| A method by which the president vetoes a bill passed by both houses of Congress by failing to act on it within ten days of Congress's adjournment. |
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