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19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Bicameral
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A legislature consisting of two parts, or houses
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Census
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A population count taken by the Census Bureau
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Constituent
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A person from a legislator's district
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Gerrymander
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An oddly shaped district designed to increase the voting strength of a particular group
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Apportionment
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The distribution of representatives based on census
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Majority Party
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In both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the political party to which more than half the members belong
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Minority Party
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In both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the political party to which fewer than half the memebers belong
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Majority and Minority Leaders
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heads of the majority and minority parties
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Party Whip
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(assistant floor leader) usually the enforcer for bills and policies of the party; will apply a great deal of political pressure to party members
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Standing Committee
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Permanent committees that continue their work from session to session in Congress
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Joint Committee
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Committees including membership from both houses of Congress. Are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation. Chairmanship usually alternates between the House and Senate members from Congress to Congress.
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Select Committee
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A committee established by the Senate for a limited time period to perform a particular study or investigation. These committees might be given or denied authority to report legislation to the Senate.
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Conference Committee
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A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.
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Seniority
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Years of service, which is used as a consideration for assigning committee members
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Speaker of the House
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Head of HOR; most powerful leader in Congress, steering legislation in through the House and is in charge of floor debates; 3rd in line for presidency
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President Pro Tempore
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A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. Is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
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President of the Senate
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Under the Constitution, the Vice President serves as President of the Senate. He may vote in the Senate in the case of a tie, but is not required to.
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House of Representatives
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# of reps per state depends on population
reps elected every 2 yrs |
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Senate
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# of reps are equal in every state. 100 total. 2 for every state. Reps elected every 6 yrs.
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