Chapter 12
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Created by:
shaina306 on November 9, 2009
Subjects:
american government and economics
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26 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Speaker of the House | Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives |
| president of the senate | Joe Biden, 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 |
| 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 |
| floor leader | the legislator who organizes his party's strategy |
| whip | a legislator appointed by the party to enforce discipline |
| committee chairman | Member who heads a standing committee in a legislative body |
| seniority rule | A legislative practice that assigns the chair of a committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee. |
| standing committee | a permanent committee |
| select committee | a parliamentary committee appointed for some special purpose |
| joint committee | A committee of the House and the Senate that usually acts as a study group and reports its findings back to the House and the Senate |
| conference committee | committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form. |
| bill | a proposed law |
| joint resolution | 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) |
| concurrent resolution | passed by both houses of Congress and is not signed by the president and is not a law |
| resolution | finding a solution to a problem |
| rider | a clause that is appended to a legislative bill |
| 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. |
| subcommittee | a subset of committee members organized for a specific purpose |
| committee of the whole | a device in which a legislative body is considered one large committee. All members of the legislative body are members of such a committee |
| quorum | a gathering of the minimal number of members of an organization to conduct business |
| engrossed | wholly absorbed as in thought |
| filibuster | a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches |
| cloture | a rule for limiting or ending debate in a deliberative body |
| 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) |
| pocket veto | indirect veto of legislation by refusing to sign it |
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