Government- Chapter 5, 6, 7

A quorum

Minimum number of members who must be present to permit a legislative body to take official action

Gerrymandering

Drawing district's boundaries to gain N advantage in elections

Qualification for House Representatives

Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent

Immunity

Freedom from prosecution for witnesses whose testimony ties them to illegal acts

Perjury

Lying under oath

Administrative assistants

Member of a lawmaker's personal staff who runs the lawmakers office, supervises the schedule and gives advice

Denied powers

No state can make treaties or alliances with foreign governments. Nor can states coin money, make any laws impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant titles of nobility.

Standing Committees

Permanent committees in Congress that oversee bills that deal with certain kinds of issues

Expressed powers

Powers directly stated in the Constitution

Reapportionment

Process of reassigning representation based on population, after every census

Closed rule

Rule that forbids members of Congress to offer amendments to a bill from the floor

Redistricting

Setting up new district lines after reapportionment is complete

Select Committee members

Temporary committee formed to study one specific issue and report its findings a to the Senate and House

Regulation of Commerce

The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."

Enumerated powers

The expressed powers of Congress that are itemized and numbered 1-18 in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution

General Accounting Office (GAO)

is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

Library of Congress

maintained largely by federal appropriations. Its original purpose was to provide research facilities for members of Congress

Subpoena

A legal order that a person appear or produce requested documents

Unanimous consent

A court descision in which all justices vote the same way

Contempt

Willful obstruction of justice

Writ of habeas corpus

A court order to release a person accused of a crime to court to determine whether he or she had been legally detained

Public bills

A bill dealing with general matters and applying to the entire nation

Private bills

A bill dealing with individual people or places

Authorization bills

A bill that sets up a federal program and specifies how much money may be appropriated for the program

Joint Committee

A committee of the House and the Senate that usually acts as a study group and reports its findings back to the House and Senate

Legislative oversight

A continuing review by Congress of how effectively the executive branch carries out the laws Congress passes

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

A federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress

Subcommittee

A group within a standing committee that specializes in a subcategory of its standing committee's responsibility

Revenue bills

A law proposed to raise money

Bills of attainder

A law that establishes guilt and punishes people without a trial

Caseworkers

A member of a lawmaker's personal staff who handles requests for help from constituents

Filibuster

A method of defeating a bill in the Senate by stalling the legislative process and preventing a vote

Lobbyists

Interest group representative

Standing Committees

A permanent committee in Congress that oversees bills that deal with certain kinds of issues

Qualification for Senate

(1) they must be at least 30 years old, (2) they must have been citizens of the United States for at least the past nine years, and (3) they must be inhabitants of the states they seek to represent at the time of their election.

House Ways and Means Committee

A permanent committee of the House of Representatives, which makes recommendations to the House on all bills for raising revenue. The committee is the principal source of legislation concerning issues such as taxation, customs duties, and international trade agreements.

Constituents

A person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent

Minority party

A political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections

A census

A population count

Majority whip

A position in the United States politics that's delegated to an elected official belonging to the majority party in the House of Representatives and the Senate

Cloture

A procedure that allows each senator to speak only 1 hour on a bill under debate

Appropriations bills

A proposed law to authorize spending money

Entitlement

A required government expenditure that continues from one year to the next

Joint resolutions

A resolution passed by both houses of Congress dealing with unusual or temporary matters, such as correcting an error in an earlier law

Concurrent resolutions

A resolution that cover matters requiring the action of the House and Senate but on which a law is not needed

Select Committee

A temporary committee formed to study one specific issue and report its findings to the Senate or the House

Conference committee

A temporary joint committee set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill

Bicameral legislature

A two-chamber legislature

PACs

An organization formed to collect money and provide financial support for political candidates

Necessary and proper clause

Article 1 Section 8, of the Constitution which gives Congress the power to make out all laws that are necessary and proper for carrying out its duties

Whips

Assistants to the party floor leader in the legislature

Majority party

The political group in a legislative body with the most voting members.

Speaker of the House

The presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution

War Powers Act

a US law passed in 1973 which allows Congress to limit the President's use of military forces. It states that the President must tell Congress within 48 hours if he sends armed forces anywhere, and Congress must give approval for them to stay there for more than 90 days.

Appropriations committees

a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate

Congressional staffers

employees of the United States Congress or individual members of Congress.

Government Printing Office (GPO)

the federal agency that prints and disseminates publications for other federal agencies.