Flashcards
Congress Vocab.
Flashcards do conjunto (26)
- 1Bicamerala legislature consisting of two parts, or houses.
- 2House of Representativesthe larger body of COngress, has 435 voting members allotted to the states according to population.
- 3Constituentsa member of a constituency.
- 4Gerrymandermanipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class.
- 5Senateany of various legislative or governing bodies, in particular.
- 6Speaker of the Houseis the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives.
- 7President pro temporeis a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer.
- 8Party whips"enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.
- 9Standing Committeeare permanent legislative panels established by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate rules.
- 10select committeea small legislative committee appointed for a special purpose.
- 11Joint Committeeis a term that is used to refer to a committee made up of members of both chambers of a bicameral legislature.
- 12seniority systemis a way to determine employment advantages based on the length of service of employees.
- 13expressed powersThe Power to tax and spend for the defense and general welfare of the U.S. Borrow money.
- 14implied powersthat is, powers not explicitly named in the Constitution but assumed to exist due to their being necessary to implement the expressed powers that are named in Article I.
- 15elastic clausea statement in the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) granting Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated list of powers.
- 16impeachcharge (the holder of a public office) with misconduct.
- 17bills of attainder(also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder or bill of pains and penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without a trial.
- 18ex post facto laws(Latin for "from after the action" or "after the facts") is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.
- 19US Representative Qualificationslegal qualifications for our congressional representatives are spelled out in the COnstitution.
- 20franking privilegeallows Members of Congress to transmit mail matter under their signature without postage.
- 21pork barrell projectsis a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district.
- 22US Senator Qualificationssets three qualifications for service in the U.S. Senate: age (at least thirty years of age); U.S. citizenship (at least nine years); and residency in the state a senator represents at time of election.
- 23filibusteran action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.
- 24clotureis a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine.
- 25vetoa constitutional right to reject a decision or proposal made by a law-making body
- 26pocket vetois a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action (instead of affirmatively vetoing it).