What is a bicameral legislature?A legislature consisting of two chambers or houses.
What is a caucus?In a legislature, a group of legislators that unites to promote an agenda not pursued within the parties or the legislative committees.
What is a closed rule?A provision that allows no amendments to be proposed once a bill comes to the chamber floor.
What is cloture?A rule that limits debate on a bill to a specific number of hours. Senate rules require 60 senators to support such a motion to end debate - including filibusters - and proceed to a vote.


What is a conference committee?A meeting of legislators from the House and Senate to reconcile two bills passed on the same topic.
Who are delegates?Representatives who listen carefully to what their constituents want and make decisions based on feedback from constituents.
What is the elitist model?The view that the workings of Congress are strongly biased toward serving the interests of wealthy, privileged people in society.
What is the expertise model?The view that the internal institutions of the congressional chambers are designed to help Congress make more informed decisions.


What is a filibuster?Instances in which senators, once recognized to speak on the floor, talk for an extended period - ''hold the floor'' - in an attempt to block the rest of the Senate from voting on a bill.
What is gerrymandering?Drawing strangely shaped district boundaries to gain political advantage.
Define incumbency advantage.The advantage current officeholders have in an election, in particular as it relates to the high rates at which congressional legislators win re-election.
What is a joint committee?A committee made up of members of both the House and Senate.


What is logrolling?An instance of two or more legislators agreeing to vote in favor of one another's proposed bills or amendments.
Who is the majority leader?The head of the party holding a majority of seats and, in the Senate, the leader of the Senate. In the House, the majority leader is second to the Speaker of the House.
What is mark-up?A committee or subcommittee process where committee members edit and amend bills.
What is an open rule?A provision that allows any amendment to be proposed once a bill comes to the chamber floor.


What is the partisan model?The view that majority-party leaders dominate the workings of Congress and ensure that most legislative benefits comes to majority-party members.
What is party discipline?The tendency for legislators that belong to the same party to vote the same way on a given bill.
What is plurality rule?A method for determining an election's winner in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins.
What is a pocket veto?A veto that occurs automatically if a president does not sign a bill for 10 days after passage in Congress and Congress has adjourned during that 10-day period.


Define pork barrel.Government spending that benefits a narrow constituency in return for electoral support or some other kind of political support, including campaign donations.
What is the pork-barrel model?The view that the internal institutions of the congressional chambers are designed primarily to help members of Congress secure economic benefits for their constituents.
What is proportional representation?A method for allocating seats in a legislature in which the number of seats a party receives in a district or nationwide is proportional to the votes it receives in the elections.
What are Reed's Rules?Procedural guidelines used by the majority-party leadership for determining who sits on which committees, how the order of business should be decided, and how the majority party should limit the powers of the minority party.


What is a restricted (or modified) rule?A provision that allows only certain kinds of amendments to be proposed once a bill comes to the floor, typically only amendments that pertain to the original purpose of the bill.
What is a single-member district?An electoral district in which a single person is elected to a given office.
Who is the Speaker of the House?The constitutionally designated leader of the House of Representatives. In the modern House, he or she is always the leader of the majority party.
What is a special (or select) committee?An ad hoc committee appointed to consider a special issue or serve a special function that disbands once it has completed its duties.


What is split referral?A rule - in place since 1975 - that permits the Speaker to split a bill into sections and give sections to specific committees.
What is a standing committee?A group of legislators given permanent jurisdiction over a particular issue area or type of policy.
Who are trustees?Representatives who make decisions using their own judgments about what is best for their constituents.
What is a unanimous consent agreement?Rules under which the Senate debates, offers amendments, and votes on a given bill. All members of the chamber must agree to them, so any senator can object and halt progress on a bill.


Who is a whip?A member of the House or Senate who is elected by his or her party to help party leaders coordinate party members' actions, including enforcing party discipline.
What is appropriation?The passage, by Congress, of a spending bill specifying the amount of authorized funds that actually will be allocated for an agency
What is an authorization?A formal declaration by a legislative committee that a certain amount of funding may be available to an agency. Some authorizations terminate in a year; others are renewable automatically, without further congressional action.
Who were the Blue Dog Democrats?Members of Congress from more moderate states or districts who sometimes ''cross over'' to vote with Republicans on legislation.


What is casework?Personal work for constituents by members of Congress.
What is a conservative coalition?An alliance of Republicans and southern Democrats that can form in the House or the Senate to oppose liberal legislation and support conservative legislation.
Who is a constituent?One of the persons represented by a legislator or other elected or appointed official.
What is a continuing resolution?A temporary funding law that Congress passes when an appropriations bill has not been decided by the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1.


What is a direct primary?An intraparty election in which the voters select the candidates who will run on a party
What is a discharge petition?A procedure by which a bill in the House of Representatives may be forced (discharged) out of a committee that has refused to report it for consideration by the House. The petition must be signed by an absolute majority (218) of representatives and is used only on rare occasions.
What are earmarks?Funding appropriations that are specifically designated for a named project in a member
What is an enumerated power?A power specifically granted to the national government by the Constitution. The first 17 clauses of Article I, Section 8, specify most of the enumerated powers of Congress.


What is the executive budget?The budget prepared and submitted by the president to Congress.
What is fall review?The annual process in which the Office of Management and Budget, after receiving formal federal agency requests for funding for the next fiscal year, reviews the requests, makes changes, and submits its recommendations to the president.
What is the first budget resolution?A resolution passed by Congress in May that sets overall revenue and spending goals for the following fiscal year.
What is a fiscal year (FY)?A 12-month period that is used for bookkeeping, or accounting, purposes. Usually, the fiscal year does not coincide with the calendar year. For example, the federal government


What is franking?A policy that enables members of Congress to send material through the mail by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage.
What is hillstyle?The actions and behaviors of a member of Congress in Washington, D.C., intended to promote policies and the member
What is homestyle?The actions and behaviors of a member of Congress aimed at the constituents and intended to win the support and trust of the voters at home.
What is an instructed delegate?A legislator who is an agent of the voters who elected him or her and who votes according to the views of constituents regardless of personal beliefs.


What is a justiciable question?A question that may be raised and reviewed in court.
What is lawmaking?The process of establishing the legal rules that govern society.
What is an ombudsperson?A person who hears and investigates complaints by private individuals against public officials or agencies.
Define oversight.The process by which Congress follows up on laws it has enacted to ensure that they are being enforced and administered in the way Congress intended.


What is a party identifier?A person who identifies with a political party.
Who is the president pro tempore?The temporary presiding officer of the Senate in the absence of the vice president.
What is reapportionment?The allocation of seats in the House of Representatives to each state after each census.
What is redistricting?The redrawing of the boundaries of the congressional districts within each state.


What is representation?The function of members of Congress as elected officials representing the views of their constituents.
What is a Rule?The proposal by the Rules Committee of the House that states the conditions for debate for one piece of legislation.
What is the Rules Committee?A standing committee of the House of Representatives that provides special rules under which specific bills can be debated, amended, and considered by the House.
What is a safe seat?A district that returns a legislator with 55 percent of the vote or more.


What is the second budget resolution?A resolution passed by Congress in September that sets ''binding'' limits on taxes and spending for the following fiscal year.
What is a select committee?A temporary legislative committee established for a limited time period and for a special purpose.
What is the seniority system?A custom followed in both chambers of Congress specifying that the member of the majority party with the longest term of continuous service will be given preference when a committee chairperson (or a holder of some other significant post) is selected.
What is spring review?The annual process in which the Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to review their programs, activities, and goals and submit their requests for funding for the next fiscal year.


What is unorthodox lawmaking?The use of out-of-the-ordinary parliamentary tactics to pass legislation.
What is conditional party government?The theory that the degree of authority delegated to and exercised by congressional leaders varies with and is conditioned by the extent of election-driven ideological consensus among members.
What are entitlements?A claim for government funds that cannot be abridged without violating the rights of the claimant; for example, social security benefits or payments on a contract.
What is a filibuster?a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches


What is gerrymandering?the drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent
What are joint committees?Congressional committees on a few subject-matter areas with membership drawn from both houses.
Who is the majority leader?the Speaker's top assistant whose job is to help plan the majority party's legislative program and to steer important bills through the House
What are multiple referrals?the process occurring when party leaders give more than one committee responsibility for considering a bill


What is the Necessary and Proper Clause?Constitutional clause that gives congress the power to make all laws ''necessary and proper'' for executing its powers
What is an open rule?an order from the House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the floor
What is a pocket veto?A veto taking place when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president, who simply lets it die by neither signing nor vetoing it.
What are political action committees?Funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a political action committee (PAC) and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor the PAC's expenditures.


Define pork barrel.appropriations made by legislative bodies for local projects that are often not needed but that are created so that local representatives can win re-election in their home districts
Who is the president pro tempore?Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president
What are presidential coattails?These occur when voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of the president's party because they support the president. Recent studies show that few races are won this way.
What is proportional representation?an electoral system used throughout most of Europe that awards legislative seats to political parties in proportion to the number of votes won in an election


What is a quorum?The minimum number of members who must be present to permit a legislative body to take official action
What are riders?amendments to bills, often in the form of appropriations, that sometimes have nothing to do with the intent of the bill itself and many times are considered to be pork barrel legislation
What is a roll-call vote?A congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering ''yea'' or ''nay'' to their names.