Chapter 5

Question 1

bicameral legislature

Answer 1

a legislature consisting of two chambers or houses

Question 2

single-member district

Answer 2

an electoral district in which a single person is elected to a given office.

Question 3

plurality rule

Answer 3

a method for determining an election’s winner in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins.

Question 4

proportional representation

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

gerrymandering

Answer 5

drawing strangely shaped district boundaries to gain political advantage.

Question 6

trustees

Answer 6

representatives who make decisions using their own judgements about what is best for their constituents.

Question 7

delegates

Answer 7

representatives who listen carefully to what their constituents want and make decisions based on feedback from constituents.

Question 8

constituency service

Answer 8

a legislator directly helping a constituent in dealing with government bureaucracy.

Question 9

incumbency advantage

Answer 9

the advantage current officeholders have in an election, in particular as it relates to the high rates at which congressional legislators win reelection.

Question 10

party discipline

Answer 10

pressure on party members to vote on bills that have the support of the party leadership.

Question 11

Speaker of the House

Answer 11

the constitutionally designated leader of the House of Representatives. In the modern House, he or she is always the leader of the majority party.

Question 12

Reed’s Rules

Answer 12

Procedural guidelines used by the majority party leadership for determining who sits on what committees, how the order of business should be decided, and how the majority party should limit the powers of the minority party.

Question 13

majority leader

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

whip

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

standing committee

Answer 15

a group of legislators given permanent jurisdiction over a particular issue area or type of policy.

Question 16

special (or select) committee

Answer 16

a committee appointed to consider a special issue or serve a special function that disbands once it has completed its duties.

Question 17

joint committee

Answer 17

a committee of both the House and Senate.

Question 18

conference committee

Answer 18

a meeting of legislators from the House and the Senate to reconcile two bills passed on the same topic.

Question 19

caucus

Answer 19

In a legislature, a group of legislators that unite to promote an agenda not pursued within the parties or the legislative committees.

Question 20

split referral

Answer 20

a rule (in place since 1975) that permits the Speaker to split a bill into sections and give sections to specific committees.

Question 21

markup

Answer 21

a committee or subcommittee process where committee members edit and amend bills.

Question 22

open rule

Answer 22

a provision that allows any amendment to be proposed once a bill comes to the chamber floor.

Question 23

closed rule

Answer 23

a provision that allows no amendments to be proposed once a bill comes to the chamber floor.

Question 24

restricted (or modified) rule

Answer 24

a provision that allows only certain kinds of amendments to be proposed once a bill comes to the chamber floor, typically only amendments that pertain to the original purpose of the bill.

Question 25

filibuster

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

cloture

Answer 26

a rule that limits the debate on a bill to a specific number of hours. Senate rules require 60 senators to support such a motion to end the debate (including filibusters) and proceed to vote.

Question 27

unanimous consent agreement

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

pocket veto

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

pork barrel

Answer 29

Government spending that benefits a narrow constituency in return for electoral support or some other kind of political support, including campaign donations.

Question 30

distributional model

Answer 30

the view that the internal institutions of the congressional chambers are designed primarily to help members of Congress secure economic benefits for only their constituents, not the general public.

Question 31

logrolling

Answer 31

an instance of two or more legislators agreeing to vote in favor of one another’s proposed bills or amendments.

Question 32

informational model

Answer 32

the view that the internal institutions of the congressional chambers are designed to help Congress make more informed decisions.

Question 33

partisan model

Answer 33

the view that majority party leaders dominate the workings of Congress and ensure that most legislative benefits come to majority party members.