Congress: key terms

Congress: key terms

1. Constituency: a district making up the area from which an official is elected

   • Agency representation: in which representatives are held accountable to their constituents should they fail to represent their interests properly. Essentially, the constituents have the power to hire and fire their reps
     • Casework: an effort by members of congress to gain trust/support of constituents by providing a personal service, i.e. helping constituents obtain favourable treatment from the federal bureaucracy
       • Gerrymandering: the proportion of voters in a district being organised in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to a certain party or candidate
         • Filibuster: tactic used by members of senate to prevent action on opposed legislation by continuously holding the floor and speaking until the majority backs down. Once filibusters have the floor, they have an unlimited time to speak and require a vote of 3/5s of the senate to end the filibustering
           • Veto: the presidents constitutional power to turn down acts of congress within 10 days of their passage whilst congress is in session. Presidential veto may be overridden by a 2/3 vote of each house of congress
             • Pocket veto: a veto that is effected when congress adjourns during the time a president has to approve a bill the president takes no action on it
               • impeachment: charging of governmental official with treason/bribery/high crime or misdemeanors andbringing them before congress to determine guilt
       • Party caucus or conference: a meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, discuss strategy, make decisions regarding legislative matters
         • Standing committee: a permanent legislative committee that considers legislation within its designated subject area, the basic unit of deliberation in both house and senate
           • Conference committee: a joint committee created to work out a compromise on house and senate versions of a piece of legislation
             • Executive agreement: between president and another country that has the force of a treaty but does not require senates 'advice and consent'

2. Delegate: a representative who votes according to the the preferences of their constituency.

   • Trustee: a representative who votes based on what they think is best for their constituency
     • Speaker of the House: chief presiding officer of the House of representatives. Speaker is elected at the beginning of every congress on a straight party vote. Most important party and house leader
       • Majority Leader: elected leader of the party holding a majority of seats in the house of reps or senate. in the house, the majority leader is subordinate to the speaker
         • Minority Leader: elected leader of the party holding less than the majority of seats in the house or senate
       • Party vote: a roll call vote in the house or senate in which at least 50% of the members of one party takes a particular position and are opposed by at least 50% of the members of the other party. less common today than they were in 19th c
         • Roll call vote: votes in which each yes/no per legislator is recorded
         • Whip system: a network in each house of congress. whips poll the membership to learn their voting intentions regarding specific legislative issues and assist the majority and minority leaders in various tasks
         • Distributive tendency: tendency of congress to spread the benefits of a policy over a wide range of members districts

3. Bicameral Legislature: a legislative assembly composed of two chambers

4. Incumbency: holding a political office for which one is running

   • Patronage: resources available to higher officials, usually opportunities to make partisan appointments, confer licenses or special favours to supporters
     • Closed rule: provision by the house rules committee that prohibits the introduction of amendments during debate
       • Open rule: permits floor debate and the addition of amendments to a bill
         • Logrolling: a legislative practice whereby reciprocal agreements are made between legislators, usually in voting for or against a bill. unlike bargaining, logrolling unites parties with nothing in common but a desire to exchange support
           • Oversight: effort by congress to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies
       • Cloture: a rule allowing a supermajority of the members of a legis body to set a time limit on debate over a given bill

5. Pork Barrel legislation: the appropriations made by legislative bodies for local projects that often are not needed, but are created so that local reps can carry their home district in the next election

   • Seniority: priority or status ranking given to an individual on the basis of length of continuous service on a congressional committee