Ch. 11 key terms

Funded about 11,000 projects, from building a Civil War Theme Park, to funding community swimming pools and parking garages.

May stop a filibuster, 3/5 of entire Senate membership must vote for it.

Important bills, s/a bills of revenue, referred to first. Sits on floor, but directed by chairman of sponsoring committee.

A legislative grant of money to finance a government program.

Giving the right to use power

Lawmaking body made up of two parts. In US it is Senate and House of Reps

Associations of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest.

An amendment on a matter unrelated to a bill that is added to the bill so that it will "ride" to passage to Congress. When bill has a lot of riders, it is called a Christmas tree bill.

An order from teh House Rules Committee that sets a time limit on a debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor.
An order from teh House Rules Committee that permits a bill to be amended on the legislative floor.

Committees on which both reps and senatos serve. An especially oimprtant kind of joint committee is a Conference Committee, made up of reps and senators appointed to reslove differences in the SEnate and House versions of teh same piece of legislation before final passage.

a bill must be placed in on of these in order to come before either house

may be signed by 218 members of the House in order to have a bill brought to the floor

a court case regarding racial gerrymandering; ruled that race may be a factor in redistricting, but not a "dominant and controlling" one

allows the legislature to make any laws "necessary and proper" to enfore and execute the power of the constitution

practice of "talking a bill to death" during debate to delay it being enacted

free mailing that incumbents receive

amendments that are relevant to the topic of the bill

manipulating districts in order to make it easier for a certain party to win in order to gain advantage in the House

those who already hold office

consist of members from both the House and the Senate; set up to conduct business between the houses and to help focus attention on major issues

when a member of congress supports another member's project in return for support for their own project

responsible for scheduling bills and for rounding up votes for bills that the party favors in the House

most influential person in the Senate; has right to be the first senator heard on the floor; determines Senate's agenda and has a say in committee asignments

when districts are of unequal sizes and populations

after it goes through a committee, changing or rewriting a bill and then returning it to the committee

spokesperson for the minority party in the House

spokesperson for the minority in the senate, has as much power as the majority leader will allow

rearranging districts to allow a minority representative to be elected

when congress reviews and restricts the annual budget prepared by the executive branch; they set authorizations and apprpriations

assist each floor leader by being go-betweens for the members and the leadership; inform members when important bills will come up for a vote, do osecounts for the leadership, and pressure members to support the leadership

forgetting about bills for weeks or forever,this happens to the majority of bills and they never make it out of the committee

bills that give benefits to constituents of members of congress, hoing to gain their votes

a largely cerimonial position in the Senate; the official chair of the senate, but has no real power

can be simple (sets up rules, regulations, or practices that don't have the force of law), concurrent (settles housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses), joint (essentially the same as a law, must be approved by both houses and the president)

a budget bill that must originate in the House, as mandated by the constitution

committees formed for specific purposes and are usually temporary

used from 1910 to the early 1970s, this is how the committee charman was chosen; the member with the longest continuous service in teh committee was placed automatically in the chairmanship

supreme court case in which the plaintiffs charged the Justice department with reverse discrimination based on the equal rights amendment of the 14th amendment when they had ordered North carolina to redraw a district to allow the election of another black rep.

most important leadership position in the House, office is provided for in the constitution; majority party does the choosing

committees that "stand" for a long time; handle bills in different policy areas

supporters of this believe that popular control of Congress has weakened and that members may become dictatorial or unresponsive to their constituents and that congress members should fulfill their civic duty then retreat back to private life

teller, voice, division, roll call, electronic

case in which the court ordered that districts be drawn so that each person's vote was equal

olitical districts in which candidates elected to the House win in close elections, typically by less than 55% of the vote

districts in whoch incumbents win with over 55% of the vote

a bill that deals with matters of general concern

a bill taht deals with specific, private, personal, or local matters, rather than with general affairs (i.e. immigration, personal claim)

a nongermane amendment to a bill

the minimum number of members who must be present in order for business to be conducted in Congress