Key terms for Congress- Complete the following key terms.

1. constituent - being a part of a whole.

2. pork barrel spending - metaphor for the appropriation of government spending localized projects secured
3. standing committee -a permanent committee that meets regularly.
4. joint committee - a committee made up of members of both chambers of a bicameral legislature
5. conference committee - a committee of the United States Congress appointed by the House of Representatives
and Senate to resolve disagreements
6. appropriations- the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission.
7. joint resolution- a resolution passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
8. Casework- social work directly concerned with individuals, especially that involving a study of a person's family
history and personal circumstances
9. congressional page - Senate pages of The House
10. seniority rule - a rule in the U.S. Congress by which members have their choice of committee assignments in order
of rank based solely on length of service
11. filibuster - an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not
technically contravening the required procedures
12. cloture hold - applied to efforts to hold the Senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill.
13. rider - a condition or proviso added to something already said or decreed.:
14. Christmas tree bill - a political term referring to a bill that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments
15. logrolling - the practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed
legislation
16. bicameral legislation - one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses
17. closed rules, open rules - Under an open rule, any Member may offer an amendment, Under a Closed Rule no
amendments may be offered
18. Committee of the Whole - is a device in which a legislative body or other deliberative assembly sits as a single
committee with all assembly members being committee members. ... Other main motions may
19. discharge petition - a petition signed by the members of the House of Representatives to bring a bill from
committee to the floor for consideration
20. elastic clause - granting Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out
21. germane amendments- an amendment to a bill must be strictly relevant to the bill.
22. gerrymandering - manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class.
23. impeachment power- is an enumerated power of the legislature that allows formal charges to be brought against a
civil officer of government
24. investigation power- investigate under congress power
25. incumbency - t he holding of an office or the period during which one is held.
26. majority leader of the House- Elected by the majority party in the House the leader's responsibilities include the
scheduling of legislation for Floor consideration
27. majority leader of the Senate - Elected by most of the Senate by the House
28. Malapportionment - the creation of electoral districts with divergent ratios of voters to representatives.
29. marking up - the process by which a U.S. congressional committee or state legislative session debates, amends,
and rewrites proposed legislation.
30. minority leader of the House & Senate -
31. Oversight- an unintentional failure to notice or do something.
32. party whips- is the name given to an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a
legislature.
33. Pigeonholing- deposit (a document) into a pigeonhole.
34. pocket veto- an indirect veto of a legislative bill by the president or a governor by retaining the bill unsigned until it
is too late for it to be dealt with during the legislative session
35. president pro tempore- a high-ranking senator of the majority party who presides over the US Senate in the
absence of the vice president.
36. resolutions, simple, concurrent, joint- joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions and simple resolutions.
37. racial gerrymandering- The court's solution required that states create majority-minority districts
38. revenue bills - These are the group of bills that impose the federal taxes.
39. select committees - a small legislative committee appointed for a special purpose.
40. seniority system - is the concept of a person or group of people taking precedence over another person
41. term limits - is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected
office.