| Term | Definition |
|---|
| 1947 in the year __________ was created | presidential succesion act |
| Vice President becomes Pres if _______ die/dies. | President |
| Speaker of the House becomes Pres if _______ die/dies. | President and VP |
| President pro tempre becomes Pres if _______ die/dies. | President, VP and Speaker of the House |
| Cabinet members become Pres if _______ die/dies. | prz, vp, speaker of the house, and president pro tempre |
| 25th amendment gives anyone who fills presidential vaccancy the ______ | power and title of President |
| 12th amendment | added the seperation of the president and vice president onto two different ballots |
| Electorate | the mass of people who actually cast vote sin an election |
| Who must for the VP to take over if the President is disabled? | Congress |
| Who tied in the election of 1800? | Adams and Jefferson |
| How many electoral votes are there? | 538 |
| constituents | The residents of a congressional district or state |
| reapportionment | The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. |
| 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 success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted. |
| incumbent | the current holder of an elected office |
| bicameralism | the principle of a two-house legislature |
| enumerated powers | the powers explicitly given to Congress in the Constitution |
| elastic clause | nickname for the "necessary and proper clause" |
| 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 |
| rule | a ticket to the floor in the House |
| 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 a 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; the question of curtailing debate must be put to a vote two days after 16 senators sign a petition for this. |
| 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. |
| 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 | made of members of both houses |
| authorizing committees | pass laws that tell government what to do; make the most basic decisions about who gets what, when and how from government; also responsible for oversight of the federal bureaucracy |
| appropriations committees | make decisions about how much money government will spend on its programs and operations; have great power to undo or limit decisions made by authorizing committees |
| earmarks | special standing projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents |
| rules and administration committees | determine the basic operations of their chamber; in the House, it has the responsibility of issuing rules to bills |
| revenue and budget committees | deal with raising the money that appropriating committees spend while setting the broad targets that shape the federal budget. |
| 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. |
| oversight power | the responsibility to question executive branch officials to see whetehr their agencies are complying with the wishes of Congress and are conducting their programs efficiently. |
| conference committee | Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber to adjust differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form. |
| franking privilege | free postage for Congress members for mailings back home. |
| 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 the 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. |
| attentive public | those citizens who follow public affairs closely |
| discharge petition | petition that, if signed by a majority of the House of Representatives' members, will pry a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for consideration |
| In order to change the written words of the Constitution, onw must use a ________ process | formal amendment |
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