Chapter 12

Question 1

bicameral

Answer 1

characterized as having a legislative assembly composed of two chambers or houses.

Question 2

constituency

Answer 2

the residents in the area from which an official is elected.

Question 3

agency representation

Answer 3

the type of representation in which a representative is held accountable to a constituency if he or she fails to represent that constituency properly.

Question 4

incumbency

Answer 4

holding a political office for which one is running.

Question 5

sociological representation

Answer 5

a type of representation in which representatives have the same racial, gender, ethnic, religious, or educational backgrounds as their constituents.

Question 6

term limits

Answer 6

legally prescribed maximum of the number of terms an elected official can serve.

Question 7

apportionment

Answer 7

the process, occurring after every decennial census, that allocates congressional seats among the 50 states.

Question 8

redistricting

Answer 8

the process of redrawing election districts and redistributing legislative representatives.

Question 9

gerrymandering

Answer 9

the apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one racial or ethnic group or political party.

Question 10

patronage

Answer 10

the resources available to higher officials, usually opportunities to make partisan appointments to offices and to confer grants, licenses, or special favors to supporters.

Question 11

pork barrel

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

private bill

Answer 12

a proposal in Congress to provide a specific person with some kind of relief.

Question 13

conference

Answer 13

a gathering of House Republicans every two years to elect their House leaders.

Question 14

caucus

Answer 14

a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters.

Question 15

Speaker of the House

Answer 15

the chief presiding officer of the House of Representatives.

Question 16

majority leader

Answer 16

the elected leader of the larger party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. In the House, they are subordinate in the party hierarchy to the Speaker of the House.

Question 17

minority leader

Answer 17

the elected leader of the smaller party in the House or Senate.

Question 18

whip

Answer 18

a party member in the House or Senate responsible for coordinating the party’s legislative strategy, building support for key issues, and counting votes.

Question 19

standing committee

Answer 19

a permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject, such as finance or agriculture.

Question 20

select committees

Answer 20

(usually) temporary legislative committees set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees.

Question 21

joint committees

Answer 21

legislative committees formed of members of both the House and Senate.

Question 22

conference committees

Answer 22

joint committees created to work out a compromise on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation.

Question 23

seniority

Answer 23

the ranking given to an individual on the basis of length of continuous service on a committee in Congress.

Question 24

staff agencies

Answer 24

legislative support agencies responsible for policy analysis.

Question 25

congressional caucuses

Answer 25

associations of members of Congress based on party, interest, or social group, such as gender or race.

Question 26

bill

Answer 26

a proposed law that has been sponsored by a member of Congress and submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate.

Question 27

committee markup

Answer 27

the session in which a congressional committee rewrites legislation to incorporate changes discussed during hearings on the bill.

Question 28

closed rule

Answer 28

a provision by the House Rules Committee limiting or prohibiting the introduction of amendments during debate.

Question 29

open rule

Answer 29

a provision by the House Rules Committee that permits floor debate and the addition of new amendments to a bill.

Question 30

filibuster

Answer 30

a tactic used by members of the Senate to prevent action on legislation they oppose by continuously holding the floor and speaking until the majority backs down. requires a vote of three-fifths of the Senate to end a filibuster.

Question 31

cloture

Answer 31

a rule allowing a majority of two-thirds or three-fifths of the members of a legislative body to set a time limit on debate over a given bill. In the U.S. Senate, 60 senators (three-fifths) must agree.

Question 32

veto

Answer 32

the president’s constitutional power to turn down acts of Congress. A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.

Question 33

pocket veto

Answer 33

a presidential veto that is automatically triggered if the president does not act on a given piece of legislation passed during the final 10 days of a legislative session.

Question 34

party unity vote

Answer 34

a roll-call vote in the House or Senate in which at least 50 percent of the members of one party take a particular position and are opposed by at least 50 percent of the members of the other party.

Question 35

roll-call vote

Answer 35

a vote in which each legislator’s yes or no vote is recorded as the clerk calls the names of the members alphabetically.

Question 36

logrolling

Answer 36

a legislative practice whereby agreements are made between legislators in voting for or against a bill; vote trading.

Question 37

oversight

Answer 37

the effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies.

Question 38

appropriations

Answer 38

the amounts of money approved by Congress in statutes (bills) that each unit or agency of government can spend.

Question 39

executive agreement

Answer 39

a consensus made between the president and another country, that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate’s “advice and consent.”

Question 40

impeachment

Answer 40

the formal charge by the House of Representatives that a government official has committed “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Question 41

delegate

Answer 41

a representative who votes according to the preferences of his or her constituency.

Question 42

trustee

Answer 42

a representative who votes based on what he or she thinks is best for his or her constituency.