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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Impeachment |
the formal charge by the House of Representatives that a government official has committed “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” |
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Executive Agreement |
an agreement, made between the president and another country, that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate’s “advice and consent” |
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Appropriations
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the amounts of money approved by Congress in statutes (bills) that each unit or agency of government can spend |
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Oversight |
the effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies |
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Logrolling |
a legislative practice whereby agreements are made between legislators in voting for or against a bill; vote trading |
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Roll-Call Vote |
a vote in which each legislator’s yes or no vote is recorded as the clerk calls the names of the members alphabetically |
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Party Unity Vote |
a roll-call vote in the House or Senate in which at least 50% of the members of one party take a particular position and are opposed by at least 50% of the members of the other party |
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Pocket Veto |
a presidential veto that is automatically triggered if the president does not act on a given piece of legislation passed during the final 10 days of a legislative session |
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Veto |
the president’s constitutional power to turn down acts of Congress; a presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote by each house of Congress |
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Cloture |
a rule or process in a legislative body aimed at ending debate on a given bill; in the U.S. Senate, 60 senators (3/5) must agree in order to impose time limit and end debate |
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Filibuster |
a tactic used by members of the Senate to prevent action on legislation they oppose by continuously holding the floor and speaking until the majority backs down; once given the floor, senators have unlimited time to speak, and it requires a vote of three-fifths of the Senate to end a filibuster |
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Open Rule |
a provision by the House Rules Committee that permits floor debate and the addition of new amendments to a bill |
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Closed Rule |
a provision by the House Rules Committee limiting or prohibiting the introduction of amendments during debate |
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Committee Markup |
the session in which a congressional committee rewrites legislation to incorporate changes discussed during hearings on a bill |
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Bill |
a proposed law that has been sponsored by a member of Congress and submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate |
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Caucuses (congressional) |
associations of members of Congress based on party, interest, or social group, such as gender or race |
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Staff Agencies |
legislative support agencies responsible for policy analysis |
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Seniority |
the ranking given to an individual on the basis of length of continuous service on a committee in Congress |
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Conference Committees |
joint committees created to work out a compromise of House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation |
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Joint Committees |
legislative committees formed of members of both the House and Senate |
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Select Committees |
(USUALLY) temporary legislative committees set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees |
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Standing Committee |
a permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject, such as finance or agriculture |
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Whip |
the party member in the House or Senate responsible for coordinating the party’s legislative strategy, building support for key issues, and counting votes |
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Minority Leader |
the elected leader of the minority party in the House or Senate |
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Majority Leader |
the elected leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate; in the House, the majority leader is subordinate in the party hierarchy to the Speaker of the House |
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Speaker of the House |
the chief presiding officer of the House of Representatives; the Speaker is the most important party and House leader, and can influence the legislative agenda, the fate of individual pieces of legislation, and members’ positions within the House |
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Caucus (political) |
a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters |
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Conference |
a gathering of House Republicans every two years to elect their House leaders; Democrats call their gathering the caucus |
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Private Bill |
a proposal in Congress to provide a specific person with some kind of relief, such as a special exemption from immigration quotas |
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Pork Barrel (or pork) |
appropriations made by legislative bodies for local projects that are often not needed but that are created so that local representatives can win reelection in their home districts |
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Patronage |
the resources available to higher officials, usually opportunities to make partisan appointments to offices and to confer grants, licenses, to special favors to supporters |
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Gerrymandering |
the apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one racial or ethnic group or political party |
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Redistricting |
the process of redrawing election districts and redistributing legislative representatives; this happens every 10 years to reflect shifts in population or in response to legal challenges to existing districts |
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Apportionment |
the process, occurring after every decennial census that allocates congressional seats among the 50 states |
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Term Limits |
legally prescribed limits on the number of terms an elected official can serve |
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Incumbency |
holding the political office for which one is running |
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Agency Representation |
a type of representation in which a representative is held accountable to a constituency if he or she fails to represent that constituency properly; this is incentive for good representation when the personal backgrounds, views, and interests of the representative differ from those of his or her constituency |
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Sociological Representation |
a type of representation in which representatives have the same racial, gender, ethnic, religious, or educational backgrounds as their constituents; it is based on the principle that if two individuals are similar in the background, character, interests, and perspectives, then one can correctly represent the other’s views |
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Delegate |
a representative who votes according to the preferences of his or her constituency |
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Trustee |
a representative who votes based on what he or she thinks is best for his or her constituency |
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Bicameral |
having a legislation assembly compound of two chambers or houses, distinguished from unicameral |
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Constituency |
the residents in the area from which an official is elected |