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American Gov. 9th ed
Chapter 11 vocab; Wilson & DiIlulio, Jr. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston NY
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| bicameral legislature | lawmaking body made up of two chambers or parts |
| caucus | an association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest |
| Christmas tree bill | bill with lots of riders |
| concurrent resolution | an expression or congressional opinion w/o the force of law that requires the approval of both the House and the Senate but not of the pres |
| conference committee | joint committees |
| conservative coalition | an alliance between Republicans and conservative Democrats |
| cloture rule | a rule used by Senate to end or limit a debate |
| filibuster | an attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by talking indefinitely, preventing the Senate from taking action on the bill |
| marginal districts | political districts in which candidates elected to the House win in close elections, typically less than 55% of the vote |
| safe district | districts in which incumbents win by margin of 55% or more |
| majority leader | the legislative leader elected by party members holding the majority of seats in the House |
| minority leader | the legislative leader elected by party members holding the minority of seats in the House |
| whip | a senator or rep who helps the party leader stay informed about what party members are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken, & attempts to keep a nose count on how the voting on controversial issues is likely to go |
| party polarization | a vote in which a majority of Democratic legislators oppose a majority of Republican legislators |
| standing committee | permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation w/i a certain subject area |
| select committees | congressional committees appointed for a limited time and purpose |
| joint committee | committees on which both reps and senators serve. |
| public bill | a legislative bill that deals with matters of general concern. a bill involving defense expenditures is a public bill; a bill pertaining to an individual's becoming a naturalized citizen is not |
| private bill | a legislative bill that deals only with specific, private, personal, or local matters rather than with general legislative affairs. |
| simple resolution | an expression of opinion either in the House of Reps or the Senate to settle housekeeping or procedural matters in either body. such expression are not signed by the pres and do not have the force of law |
| joint resolution | a formal expression of congressional opinion that must be approved by both houses of Congress and by the pres. joint resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment need not be signed by the pres |
| multiple referral | a congressional process whereby a bill may be referred to several committees that consider it simultaneously in whole or in part |
| sequential referral | a congressional process by which the Speaker may send a bill to a second committee after the first is finished acting, or may refer parts of a bill to separate committees |
| discharge petition | a device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had a bill for thirty days, may petition to have it brought to the floor. if majority of members agree, bull is discharged from the committee. designed to prevent committee from killing bill |
| closed rule | an order from the House Rules Committee that sets a time limit on debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor |
| open rule | an order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the legislative floor |
| restrictive rule | an order from the House Rules Committee that permits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made into bills on the legislative floor |
| rider | an amendment on a matter unrelated to a bill that is added to the bill so that it will "ride" to passage through the Congress. when a bill has lots of riders, its called a Christmas tree bill |
| quorum | the minimum # of members who must be present for business to be conducted in Congress |
| quorum call | a calling of the roll in either house of Congress to see whether the # of reps in attendance meets the quorum |
| double-tracking | a procedure to keep the Senate going during a filibuster in which the disputed bill is shelved temporarily so that the Senate can get on with other business |
| voice vote | a congressional voting procedure in which members shout "yea" in approval or "nay" in disapproval; allows members to vote quickly or anonymously on bills |
| division vote | a congressional voting procedure in which members stand and are counted |
| teller vote | a congressional voting procedure in which members pass between two tellers; the "yeas" first and the the "nays" |
| roll-call vote | a congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering "yea" or "nay" to their names. when handed orally, it is a time-consuming process of the House |
| pork-barrel legislation | legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in hope of winning their votes in return |
| franking privilege | the ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage. |
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