KEY TERMS:

INSTITUTIONS - CONGRESS

(Underlined terms have appeared on the multiple choice sections of past released AP exams)

  1. Appropriation: money that Congress has allocated to be spent.
  1. Appropriations Committee: congressional committee that deals with federal spending.
  1. Casework: personal work done by a member of Congress for his constituents.
  1. Closed rule: House Rules Committee rule that bans amendments to a bill.
  1. Cloture: Senate (ONLY) motion to end a filibuster that requires a 3/5 vote.
  1. Conference committee: a committee composed of both House and Senate members to reconcile and work out a compromise between differing House-Senate versions of a bill.
  1. Discharge petition: a motion to force a bill to the House floor that has been bottled up in committee. Requires a majority (218 votes) to pass.
  1. Filibuster: nonstop Senate (ONLY) debate that prevents a bill from coming to a vote. A delaying or obstructionist tactic typically used by the minority party in the Senate. Can be used to block bills or presidential nominees from being confirmed. Can only be overcome with a 60 vote majority (the number needed for a cloture motion)
  1. Finance Committee: Senate committee that handles tax bills.
  1. Franking privilege: allows members of Congress to send mail postage free.
  1. Gerrymandering: redrawing (every ten years after the Census) congressional district lines to favor one party at the expense of the other. Districts are usually drawn by state legislatures, therefore the party that controls the state legislature can gerrymander districts to favor their party. Methods include: “cracking,” “packing,” or bipartisan gerrymanders.
  1. Hold: Senate maneuver that allows a single Senator to stop or delay consideration of a bill or presidential appointment.
  1. Legislative oversight: ongoing process of congressional monitoring of the executive branch to ensure that the latter complies with the law.
  1. Logrolling: when two members of Congress agree to vote for each other’s bill.
  1. Mark up: committee action to amend a proposed bill.
  1. Open rule: House Rules Committee rule that allows amendments to a bill.
  1. Pork barrel: appropriations of public funds by Congress for pet projects that serve the interests local districts these legislators represent, rather than the interests of the larger population. e.g. funding for a Lawrence Welk museum in North Dakota.
  1. Quorum: minimum number of members needed for the House or Senate to meet and conduct business. (218 in the House, 51 in the Senate)
  1. Reapportionment: redistribution of House seats to the states on the basis of changes in state populations, as determined by the decennial census. The Census Bureau determines how many seats each state will get in the House. The number of seats is capped at 435.
  1. Redistricting: After the census (every 10 years) redrawing of congressional district boundaries by the party in power of the state legislature, or (in the case of California) an independent redistricting commission.
  1. Rider: amendment to a bill (Senate only) that has little to do with that bill. Also known as a nongermane amendment.
  1. Rules Committee: the “traffic cop” of the House that sets the legislative calendar and issues rules for debate on a bill.
  1. Seniority system: tradition in which the Senator from the majority party with the most years of service on a committee becomes the chairman of that committee.
  1. Standing committees: the permanent congressional (both House and Senate) committees that have legislative, oversight, and investigative powers.
  1. Ways and Means Committee: House committee that handles tax bills.