Chapter 5 (Sections 5.1-5.5)
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glittergirlballet101 on May 2, 2012
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61 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Congress | the legislature of the United States government |
| Legislative powers | Congress- can override veto, controls spending of money, establishes lower federal court, can impeach and remove federal judges |
| Senate | assembly possessing high legislative powers |
| House of Representatives | the lower legislative house of the United States Congress |
| Apportionment | Distribution of representatives among the states based on the population of each state |
| Reapportionment | a new apportionment (especially a re-allotment of congressional seats in the United States on the basis of census results) |
| Census | a periodic and official count of a country's population |
| Gerrymandering | the drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent |
| At-large | elected from the state as a whole, rather than from a particular district |
| General Election Day | Tuesday following the first Monday in November in even-numbered years. |
| Speaker of the House | the leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives |
| President of the Senate | the presiding officer of a senate; in Congress, the vice president of the United States; in a state's legislature, either the lieutenant governor or a senator |
| President pro tempore | Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president |
| Majority party | the party that holds the majority of legislative seats in either the House or the Senate |
| Rotunda | a circular domed building or hall in the Capitol |
| Joint session | senate and house meet together; State of the Union |
| Joint meeting | Addresses by some notable and is held in the House Chamber. |
| Floor leaders | Direct party strategy & decisions in the House of Representatives & Senate |
| Party whip | An individual who assists the party leader in staying abreast of the concerns and voting intentions of the party members |
| Seniority system | a system that gives the member of the majority party with the longest uninterrupted service on a particular committee the leadership of that committee |
| Political caucus | a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters |
| Term of office | the term during which some position is held |
| Sessions of Congress | 2 year term, remains in session as long as felt it has important work to do, most recent sessions ran into autumn |
| Simple majority | 50% plus one of the number of delegates in a committee. The amount needed to pass most votes. |
| quorum | a gathering of the minimal number of members of an organization to conduct business |
| Congressional record | a published account of the speeches and debates and votes of the United States Congress |
| Congressional discipline | censure, expulsion |
| Censure | harsh criticism or disapproval |
| Expulsion | the act of expelling or projecting or ejecting |
| Congressional pay | $174,000 Speaker of House: $223,500 Minority leader of House: $193,400 Senate majority leader: $193,400 Senate minority leader: $193,400 |
| 27th Amendment | limits the power of congress to increase its own salaries |
| Franking privilege | The ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their signature for postage. |
| Congressional immunity | members of Congress cannot be arrested for anything they say on the floor of Congress |
| Bill | a statute in draft before it becomes law |
| Public bills | deal with general matters and apply to the entire nation |
| Private bills | deal with individual people or places |
| Committee | a special group delegated to consider some matter |
| Pigeonholed | expression describing how most bills introduced in each session of Congress are buried, put away, or never acted upon |
| Subcommittee | a group within a standing committee that specializes in a subcategory of its standing committee's responsibility |
| Discharge petition | 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. |
| Filibuster | a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches |
| Cloture Rule | Prevents filibustering (16 signatures) and ends debate in the Senate, by a 3/5ths vote of the Senate |
| Committee of the Whole | a committee that consists of an entire legislative body; used for a procedure in which a legislative body expedites its business by resolving itself into a committee of itself |
| Voice vote | a congressional voting procedure in which members shout "yea" in approval or "nay" in disapproval, permitting members to vote quickly or anonymously on bills |
| Standing vote | a voting method used by the House and Senate in which members vote by standing and being counted |
| Roll-call vote | A congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering "yea" or "nay" to their names. |
| Voting record | voters can evaluate their performance based on their record |
| Conference committee | committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form. |
| Veto | the power or right to prohibit or reject a proposed or intended act (especially the power of a chief executive to reject a bill passed by the legislature) |
| Two-thirds majority | the majority needed to pass something through in each House |
| Character | the inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions |
| 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. |
| Delegate | a person appointed or elected to represent others |
| Oversight | the effort by congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies |
| Legislative veto | The authority of Congress to block a presidential action after it has taken place. The Supreme Court has held that Congress does not have this power |
| Separation of powers | Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law |
| Expressed powers | powers that congress has that are specifically listed in the Constitution |
| Implied powers | powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution |
| "Necessary and proper" clause | Clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress, in addition to its express powers, has the right to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers the Constitution vests in the national government |
| Senatorial courtesy | Presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work. |
| Impeachment | The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by a majority vote for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." (Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon) |
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