chsprter 12 vocab

bill

A proposed law (legislative act) within Congress or another legislature.

party caucus

– A group that consists of a party’s members in the House or Senate and that serves to elect the party’s leadership, set policy goals, and plan party strategy.

cloture

A parliamentary maneuver that, if a three-fifths majority votes for it, limits Senate debate to thirty hours and has the effect of defeating a filibuster.

pork (pork-barrel spending)

– Spending whose tangible benefits are targeted at a particular legislator’s constituency.

conference committees

Temporary committees formed to bargain over the differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill. A conference committee’s members are usually appointed from the House and Senate standing committees that originally worked on the bill.

reapportionment

– The reallocation of House seats among states after each census as a result of population changes.

constituency

The people residing within the geographical area represented by an elected official.

redistricting –

The process of altering election districts in order to make them as nearly equal in population as possible. Redistricting takes place every ten years, after each population census.

discharge petition

– A special tactic used to extract a bill from a committee to have it considered by the entire house.

representation function

– The responsibility of a legislature to represent various interests in society

earmark

– A designation within a spending bill that provides for a specific expenditure.

rider

An amendment to a bill that deals with an issue unrelated to the content of the bill. Riders are permitted in the Senate but not in the House.

filibuster

– A procedural tactic in the U.S. Senate whereby a minority of legislators prevent a bill from coming to a vote by holding the floor and talking until the majority gives in and the bill is withdrawn from consideration.

seniority –

A member of Congress’s consecutive years of service on a particular committee.

gerrymandering –

The process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that is to the advantage of its candidates.

standing committees

– Permanent congressional committees with responsibility for a particular area of public policy. An example is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

lawmaking function

– The authority (of a legislature) to make the laws necessary to carry out the government’s powers.

logrolling –

The trading of votes between legislators so that each gets what he or she most wants.

oversight function

– A supervisory activity of Congress that centers on its constitutional responsibility to see that the executive branch carries out the laws faithfully and spends appropriations properly.