 | Term | Definition |
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Constituency |
the district comprising the area from which an official is elected. |
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Bicameral |
having a legislative assembly composed of two chambers or houses; opposite of unicameral. |
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Sociological representation |
a type of representation in which representatives have the same racial, ethnic, religious or educational backgrounds as their constituents. It is based on the principle that if two individuals are similar in background, character, interests and perspectives, then one could correctly represent the other's views. |
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Agency representation |
the type of representation by which representatives are held accountable to their constituency if they fail to represent that constituency properly. This is the incentive for good representation when the personal backgrounds, views and interests of the representative differ from those of his or her constituency. |
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Political Action Committee (PAC) |
a private group that raises and distributes funds for use in election campaigns. |
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Incumbency |
holding a political office for which one is running. |
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Term limits |
legally prescribed limits on the number of terms an elected official can serve. |
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Redistricting |
the process of redrawing election districts and redistributing legislative representatives. This happens every ten years to reflect shifts in population or in response to legal challenges to existing districts. |
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Patronage |
the resources available to higher officials, usually opportunities to make partisan appointments to offices and to confer grants, licenses or special favors to supporters. |
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Pork barrel |
appropriations made by legislative bodies for local projects that are often not needed but that are created so that local representatives can win re-election in their home districts. |
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Private bill |
a proposal in Congress to provide a specific person with some kind of relief, such as special exemption from immigration quotas. |
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Conference |
a gathering of House Republicans every two years to elect their House leaders. Democrats call their gathering the caucus. |
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Caucus (political) |
a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, plan strategy or make decision regarding legislative matters. |
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Speaker of the House |
the chief presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of every Congress on a straight party vote. The Speaker is the most important party and House leader, and can influence the legislative agenda, the fate of individual pieces of legislation and members' positions within the House. |
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Majority leader |
the elected leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. In the House, the majority leader is subordinate in the party hierarchy to the Speaker of the House. |
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Minority leader |
the elected leader of the minority party in the House or the Senate. |
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Standing committee |
a permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject, such as finance or appropriations. |
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Select committee |
a (usually) temporary legislative committee set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees. |
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Joint committee |
a legislative committee formed of members of both the House and the Senate. |
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Conference committee |
a joint committee created to work out a compromise on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation. |
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Seniority |
priority or status ranking given to an individual on the basis of length of continuous service on a committee in Congress. |
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Staff agency |
a legislative support agency responsible for policy analysis. |
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Caucus (congressional) |
an association of members of Congress based on party, interest or social group, such as gender or race. |
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Bill |
a proposed law that has been sponsored by a member of Congress and submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate. |
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Committee markup |
session in which a congressional committee rewrites legislation to incorporate changes discussed during hearings on the bill. |
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Closed rule |
a provision by the House Rules Committee limiting or prohibiting the introduction of amendments during debate. |
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Open rule |
a provision by the House Rules Committee that permits floor debate and the addition of new amendments to a bill. |
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Filibuster |
a tactic used by members of the Senate to prevent action on legislation they oppose by continuously holding the floor and speaking until the majority backs. Once given the floor, senators have unlimited time to speak, and it requires a vote of three-fifths of the Senate to end a filibuster. |
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Cloture |
a rule allowing a majority of two-thirds or three-fifths of the members in a legislative body to set a time limit on debate over a given bill. |
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Veto |
the president's constitutional power to turn down acts of Congress. A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress. |
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Pocket veto |
a presidential veto that is automatically triggered if the president does not act on a given piece of legislation passed during the final ten days of a legislative session. |
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Party vote |
a roll-call vote in the House or Senate in which at least 50 percent of the members of one party take a particular position an are opposed by at least 50 percent of the members of the other party. Party votes are rare today, although they were fairly common in the nineteenth century. |
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Roll-call vote |
a vote in which each legislator's yes or no vote is recorded as the clerk calls the names of the members alphabetically. |
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Whip system |
a communication network in each house of Congress; whips take polls of the membership in order to learn their intentions on specific legislative issues and assist the majority and minority leaders in various tasks. |
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Logrolling |
a legislative practice wherein agreements are made between legislators in voting for or against a bill. Unlike in bargaining, logrolling parties have nothing in common but their desire to exchange support. |
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Oversight |
the effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies. |
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Appropriations |
the amounts of money approved by Congress in statues (bills) that each unit or agency of government can spend. |
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Executive agreement |
an agreement, made between the president and another country, that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate's advice and consent. |
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Impeachment |
the formal charge by the House of Representatives that a government official has committed Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. |
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Delegate |
the role of a representative who votes according to the preferences of his or her constituency. |
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Trustee |
the role of a representative who votes based on what he or she thinks is best for his or her constituency. |
