congress vocab

Question	Answer
bicameral	having two branches or chambers.
the house of representatives .	the lower house of the United States Congress.
constituents	a member of a constituency
gerrymander	the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts
Senate	any of various legislative or governing bodies, in particular.
Speaker of the House	The presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives.
President pro tempore	a high-ranking senator of the majority party who presides over the US Senate in the absence of the vice president.
Party whips	a member of parliament who is selected by their parliamentary party to take on the role of team manager.
standing committee	a permanent committee that meets regularly.
select committee	a small legislative committee appointed for a special purpose.
Joint Committee	a term that is used to refer to a committee made up of members of both chambers of a bicameral legislature.
seniority system	Senators are given preferential treatment in choosing committee assignments based on seniority. Seniority on a committee is based on length of time serving on that committee.
expressed powers	Those powers of Congress specifically listed in the Constitution.
implied powers	In the United States, are those powers authorized by a document (from the Constitution) that, while not stated, seem to be implied by powers expressly stated.
elastic clause	granting Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated list of powers.
impeach	call into question the integrity
bills of attainder	an item of legislation (prohibited by the US Constitution) that inflicts attainder without judicial process.
ex post facto laws	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.
US Representative Qualifications	Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for representatives. Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent.
franking privilege	The right of members to post mail to constituents without having to pay postage. A copy of the member's signature replaces the stamp on the envelope.
pork barrell projects	A metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district.
US Senator Qualifications	The Constitution sets 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.
filibuster	an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.
Cloture	a procedure for ending a debate and taking a vote.
veto	a constitutional right to reject a decision or proposal made by a law-making body.
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.

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	Created by Fernando Carranz about 9 years ago