The Legislative Process Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the legislative process, House and Senate procedures, and presidential interactions as described in the lecture notes.

Bicameralism

A basic characteristic of the American lawmaking process requiring both bodies of Congress to pass the same version of a bill.

Presentment

The requirement that a bill passed by Congress must be presented to the executive (the President).

Going Public

A form of indirect presidential pressure used to lobby members of Congress by appealing to the general population.

The Hopper

A box in the House chamber into which members place a bill to formally introduce it.

Graveyards of bills

A term used for congressional committees because most bills introduced die there due to negative agenda powers.

Omnibus bills

Also known as "mega" bills, these are long pieces of legislation used to weave together majority coalitions and force presidential acceptance of policy proposals.

Bill (HR/S)

A legislative measure that must go through both bodies and be signed by the president to have the force of law.

Resolution (H.Res/S.Res)

A measure that only goes through a single chamber, lacks the force of law, and is generally used for internal rule changes or treaties in the Senate.

Joint Resolution (HJRes/SJRes)

A measure used for constitutional amendments, war declarations, or authorizations of force; it goes through both chambers but does not go to the president for constitutional amendments.

Concurrent Resolution (HConRes/SConRes)

A measure used as a blueprint to guide committees, such as the budget resolution, which passes both chambers but never has the force of law.

Continuing Resolution (CR)

A stop-gap measure used to fund the federal government when annual appropriations bills are late to prevent or end a government shutdown.

The "de novo" rule

The principle that bills not passed by the end of a Congress are dead and must be reconsidered from the start in the next Congress.

Summitry

A practice where major bills are hashed out between the White House and congressional leadership before being presented to the House and Senate.

Parliamentarian

The official who automatically matches a bill to a committee by comparing its content with the panel’s jurisdiction.

Mark-up

The stage where committee members debate and amend legislation, sometimes replacing a bill with the chair’s "mark" or version.

Discharge Petition

A House procedure requiring a simple majority of $218$ members to sign a petition to force a bill out of a recalcitrant committee.

Suspension of the Rules

An expedited House process for uncontroversial bills that requires a $\frac{2}{3}$ vote for passage, limits debate to $40$ minutes, and forbids amendments.

Germaneness

A House rule stating that any floor amendment must be relevant to the underlying bill; the Senate generally lacks this rule.

Rule XIV

A Senate procedure used to allow House-passed bills to avoid committee treatment and go immediately onto the calendar.

Special Rule

A resolution from the Rules Committee that determines the specific conditions, such as debate time and amendment limits, for a bill on the House floor.

Closed Rule

A special rule in the House that prevents any amendments from being offered on the floor.

Structured Rule

A House rule that explicitly states which amendments are in order and names the specific members who may offer them.

King-of-the-Hill Rule

A House rule where a series of substitute amendments are voted on, but only the vote on the last substitute counts.

Queen-of-the-Hill Rule

A House rule where the substitute amendment receiving the most votes wins, as long as it reaches a majority.

Self-executing rule

Also known as a "deem-and-pass" rule, where the passage of the rule itself leads to the automatic passage of the bill.

Committee of the Whole (COW)

A parliamentary device used by the House to consider amendments with a lower quorum of $100$ members and a $5$ minute rule for debate.

Unanimous Consent Agreement (UCA)

An agreement in the Senate, which must be agreed to by all Senators, that sets the terms for debating a bill similarly to a House special rule.

Hold

An informal Senate convention where a Senator signals a problem with a bill; since $2007$, the holder’s name is revealed after $2$ days.

Initial Recognition

The privilege given to the Senate Majority Leader to be the first speaker recognized during floor debate.

Filibuster

An action where a Senator holds the floor indefinitely to prevent a final vote on a measure.

Rule XXII

The Senate rule, established in $1917$, that provides a mechanism for cloture to end a filibuster.

Cloture

A motion to end a filibuster that currently requires $60$ votes in the Senate to succeed.

Track System

A system introduced by Mike Mansfield allowing the Senate to set aside a filibustered bill to work on other business.

Fill the amendment tree

A Senate strategy where the Majority Leader offers several amendments to prevent other colleagues from offering their own.

Amendments Between the Houses

A process, often called "ping pong," where chambers send versions of a bill back and forth until identical language is approved.

Conference Committee

A temporary joint committee formed to reconcile different versions of a bill; its final product is a conference report that cannot be amended.

Pocket Veto

An absolute veto that occurs if the President does nothing with a bill for $10$ days while Congress is adjourned sine die.

Clinton v. New York (1998)

The Supreme Court case that declared the line-item veto unconstitutional.