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| A lawmaking body made up of two chambers or parts. The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature composed of the senate and the house of representatives. |
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| An attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by talking indefinitely, thus preventing the Senate from taking action on the bill. |
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| Political Districts in which candidates elected to the House of Representatives win in close elections, typically with less that 55 percent of the vote. |
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| Districts in which incumbents win with over 55 percent of the vote |
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| An alliance between Republicans and Conservative Democrats |
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| The legislative leader elected by party members holding a majority of seats in the House or the Senate |
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| The legislative leader elected by party members holding a minority of seats in the HOuse or Senate |
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| A senator or representative who helps the party leader stay informed about what party members are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken, and attempts to keep a nose count on how the voting on controversial issues is likely to go. |
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| An association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest. |
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| An association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest. |
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| A vote in which a majority of Democratic legislators oppose a majority of Republican legislators |
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| Permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within a certain subject area. Ex. HOUSE ways and Means committee and the senate judiciary committee |
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| Congressional committees apointed for a limited time and purpose |
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| Committees on which both represenatives and senators serve. An espeacially important kind of joint committee is the conference committee |
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| made up of representatives and senators appointed to resolve differences in the Senate and House versions of the same piece of legislation before final passage. |
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| A legislative bill that deals with matters of general concern |
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| A legislative bill that deals with specific, private, personal, or local matters rather than with general legislative affairs. |
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| an expression of opinion either in the House of Representatives or the senate to settle housekeeping or procedural matters in either body. Such expressions are not signed by the president and do not have the force of law. |
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| An expression of congressional opinion without the force of law that requires the approval of both the House and Senate but not the President. Used to settle housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses. |
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| a formal expression of congressional opinion that must be approved by both houses of congress and by the president. |
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| a congressional process whereby a bill may be referred to several committees that consider it simultaneously in whole or in part. FOr instance, the 1988 trade bill was considered by fourteen committees int he House and nine in the senate simultaneously. |
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| a congressional process by which a speaker may send a bill to a second committee after the first is finished acting, or may refer parts of a bill to seperate committees |
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| a device by which any member of the house, after a committee has had a bill for thirty days, may petition to have it brought to the floor. If a majority of the members agree, the bill is discharged from the committee. The discharge petition was designed to prevent a committee from killing a bill by holding it for too long. |
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| an order from the house rules committee that sets a time limit on debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor. |
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| an order from the house rules committee that permits a bill to be amended on the legislative floor |
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| an order from the House Rules Committee that permits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made into a bill on the legislative floor. |
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| an amendment on a matter unrelated to a bill that is added to the bill so that it will “ride” to passage through the Congress. |
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| when a bill has lots of riders it is referred to this |
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| the minimum number of members who must be present for business to be conducted in Congress |
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| a calling of the roll in either house of Congress to see whether the number of representatives in attendance meets the minimum number required to conduct official business. |
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| - a rule used by the Senate to end or limit debate. Designed to prevent “talking a bill to death” by filibuster. For a bill to pass in the Senate, three-fifths of the entire Senate membership (or sixty senators) must vote for it. |
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| 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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| a congressional voting procedure in which members shout “yea” in approval or “nay” in disapproval |
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| a congressional voting procedure in which members stand and are counted. |
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| a congressional voting procedure in which members pass between two tellers, the “yeas” first and then the “nays.” Since 1971 the identities of members in a teller vote can be “recorded.” |
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| a congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering “yea” or “nay” to their names. When roll calls were handled orally, it was a time-consuming process in the House. Since 1973 an electronic voting system permits each House member to record his or her vote and learn the total automatically. |
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| - legislation that gives tangible benefits (highways, dams, post offices) to constituents in several districts or states in hope of winning their votes in return. |
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| - the ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage. |
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