Unit 2 Congress Vocab

17^th Amendment

The direct election of senators

Appropriations

Congress approves spending for the budgets

Bicameral legislature

Two chambers for passing bills

Congressional Caucuses

A group or team of congress that act and vote together

Cloture

3/5s vote to end debate in the senate

Conference committees

The final committee that tries to sort out difference of a house and senate version of a bill

Congressional override vote

2/3s vote to override a veto

Discharge petition

Majority floor vote to pull a bill out of committee and move it to the floor

Elastic clause

Necessary and proper clause; gives congress extra powers, (implicit powers) and allows them to do things not mentioned in the constitution

Filibuster

When a bill is stuck in the senate

Franking privilege

Members of congress get free mail/privilege

Gerrymandering

When a state redraws their house district lines to benefit one party

Impeachment

The house votes to start and impeachment trial and the senate votes guilty or not guilty

Incumbency

A person running for reelection

Joint committees

A select committee made up of both house and senate members

Logrolling

When congressman trade votes with each other to get their bills passed

Majority leader of Senate

Most powerful member of the senate

Malapportionment

If a state had voting districts with unequal populations

Marking up

Changing/editing a bill in Congress

Party polarization

The two parties get more extreme

Pork barrel legislation (Pork)

When extra lines are added onto a bill for spending on unrelated projects or things

President pro tempore

Oldest member of the majority party and leads the chamber sessions

Quorum

(A majority of members have to be there for the vote to count) Minimum amount of members for a vote to count in congress

Reapportionment

When states or lose house reps based on the census

Redistricting

When the states draw new lines for the house districts

Revenue bills (Tax, Ways and Means Committee)

Any bills that deal with tax or collecting money

Rules committee

Sets speaking rules for the house floor (speaking and amendment limits)

Select committees

Special temporary committees and are set up to handle some current issue congress is dealing with

Seniority system

The older or longer serving members get the leadership positions

Speaker of the House

The leader of the house

Standing committees

Committees that are set up every year

Term lengths

House has 2 year term lengths, The Senate has 6

Term Limits

There are none, congressman can keep getting re-elected. 

Trustee

The member of congress will make decisions that are best for their people

Delegate

The member of congress will ask the other congressman what they think

Politico

A balance between a trustee and a delegate

Senate advice and consent (Treaties, appointments)

the senate must approve a lot of actions by the president (judge appointments, treaties, etc)

Vice President

The leader of the senate ceremonies, tie breaker of the senate

Baker v. Carr (1961)

It’s unconstitutional to have unequal population in different voting districts

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

It’s unconstitutional for the states to gerrymander solely based on race