AP Government Chapter 11: Congress
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34 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Constituents | The residents of a congressional district or state. |
| Reapportionment | The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts. |
| Redistricting | The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population. |
| Gerrymandering | The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent. |
| Safe seat | An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other, so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted. |
| Incumbent | The current holder of the elected office. |
| Bicameralism | The principle of a two-house legislature. |
| Enumerated powers | The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution. |
| Speaker | The presiding officer in the House of Representatives, formally elected by the House but actually selected by the majority party. |
| 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. |
| Majority leader | The legislative leader selected by the majority party who helps plan party strategy, confers with other party leaders, and tries to keep members of the party in line. |
| Minority leader | the legislative leader selected by the minority party as spokesperson for the opposition. |
| Whip | Party leader who is the liaison between the leadership and the rank-and-file in the legislature. |
| Closed rule | A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments. |
| Open rule | A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that permits floor amendments within the overall time allocated to the bill. |
| President pro tempore | Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president. |
| Hold | A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator temporarily blocks the consideration of the bill or nomination. |
| Filibuster | A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator refuses to relinquish the floor and thereby delays proceedings and prevents a vote on a controversial issue. |
| Cloture | A procedure for terminating debate, especially filibusters, in the Senate |
| Senatorial courtesy | Presidential custom of submitting the names of perspective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work. |
| Standing committee | A permanent committee established in a legislature, usually focusing on a policy area. |
| Special or select committee | A congressional committee created for a specific purpose, sometimes to conduct an investigation. |
| Joint committee | A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations. |
| Earmarks | Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents. |
| Seniority rule | A legislative practice that assigns the chair of the committee or subcommittee to the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on the committee. |
| Conference committee | Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form. |
| Delegate | An official who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of legislator. |
| 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. |
| Logrolling | Mutual aid and vote trading among legislators. |
| Attentive public | Those citizens who follow public affairs closely. |
| 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. |
| Rider | A provision attached to a bill - to which it may or may not be related - in order to secure its passage or defeat. |
| Pocket veto | A veto exercised by the president after Congress has adjourned; if the president takes no action for 10 days, the bill does not become law and does not return to Congress for possible override. |
| Override | An action taken by Congress to reverse the presidential veto, requiring a two-thirds majority in each chamber. |
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