Unit 2 Vocab

Standing Committee

permanent committee addresses legislation in specific subject area (budget)

joint committee

includes members from house & Senate

conference committee

joint committee that makes a compromise version of a bill b/t house & senate.

special/select committee

temporary committee for investigation & ended when complete

speaker of the house

most powerful person in the house

president of the senate

VP casts tie-breaking vote

Whip

ensures party loyalty b/t members & counts party votes ahead of time to make sure their party will win important votes

house rules committee

bills are sent here to set rules for floor debate, time limit & whether amendments are allowed

open-rule bill

can be amended

closed-rule bill

can’t be amended

germane

all speech must be relevant

discharge petition

forces a bill out of committee by a majority vote of full house

committee of the whole

the house acts as a committee to expedite passage of legislation

filibuster

long speech intended to delay action & prevent a vote

silent filibuster/ double tracking

filibustered bill is shelved & no long speech required

hold

prevents a bill from being discussed or voted upon until senator releases hold

cloture motion

vote to end debate on a bill, requires 3/5 supermajority

riders

unrelated amendments to a bill

unanimous consent agreements

allows legislation to be brought to floor & passed w/o debate if Senators all agree

power of the purse

congress in charge of establishing fed. budget & gov. spending

mandatory spending

spending required by law

entitlement programs

provide benefits to ppl (social security & medicare)

social security

old age pension

medicare

insurance old ppl

medicaid

insurance for lower income

means tested program

provide benefits on income

non-means tested programs

provide benefits regardless of income

discretionary spending

must be approved annually as part of budget bills

party polarization

greater division b/t reps & dems

party-line voting

most or all party members vote w/ their party on a bill

policy gridlock

slow, difficult to pass legislation or confirm nominations

divided government

different parties control house, senate or presidency - partisanship

unified government

same party controls house, senate & presidency

reapportionment

changing # of seats each state has in house to reflect pop shifts (every 10 years)

redistricting

redrawing congressional district maps (by state legislatures)

gerrymandering

drawing congressional districts in bizarre shapes

cracking

dividing a constituency across multiple districts to reduce voting strengths

packing

concentrating the opposing party’s votes into as few districts as possible to reduce their voting strength

baker v. carr

led to 1 person, 1 vote principle of voting equality in house elections

malapportionment

banning of drawing districts of very unequal pops.

(unconstitutional)

shaw v. reno

congressional districts cannot be drawn based on race

majority minority districts

majority of ppl in the district are racial majority

marginal district /seat

competitive each candidate of each party has equal winning power

safe district/seat

uncompetitive, devalues votes

open district/seat

no incumbent

constituents

the ppl being repped

trustee model

reps vote for what’s best regardless of constituents

delegate model

reps vote for what constituents want even if they disagree

politico model

sometimes a trustee sometimes a delagate

racial gerrymandering

used to decrease minority rep.