Vocab

Question 0

At-large

Answer 0

Statewide. Entire state can vote

Question 1

Reapportionment

Answer 1

Reassigning representation based on population after every census

Question 2

Caucus

Answer 2

A private meeting of party leaders to choose candidates for office

Question 3

Quorum

Answer 3

Minimum number of members who must be present to permit legislative body to take official action

Question 4

Cloture

Answer 4

Allows each senator to speak only one hour on a bill under debate

Question 5

Select committees

Answer 5

Formed to study one specific issue and report it’s findings to the Senate or the house

Question 6

Seniority system

Answer 6

Is the members of a majority party with the longest intro to service on a particular committee leadership of that committee

Question 7

necessary and proper clause

Answer 7

Article 1, section 8, of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to make all laws that are necessary and proper for carrying out its duties

Question 8

Appropriations bill

Answer 8

A proposed law to authorize spending money

Question 9

Perjury

Answer 9

Lying under oath

Question 10

Legislative veto

Answer 10

The provisions Congress wrote into some laws that allowed it to review and cancel actions of executive agencies

Question 11

Private bills

Answer 11

A Bill dealing with individual people or places

Question 12

Rider

Answer 12

A provision included in the bill on a subject other then the one covered in the bill

Question 13

Appropriation

Answer 13

Approval of government spending

Question 14

Lobbyists

Answer 14

Interest group representatives

Question 15

Redistricting

Answer 15

To set up new district lines after reapportionment is complete

Question 16

Incumbents

Answer 16

Elected official that is already in office

Question 17

Majority Leader

Answer 17

The speakers top assistant whose job is to help plan the majority party’s legislative program and to steer important bills through the house

Question 18

President pro Tempore

Answer 18

The Senate member, elected by the Senate, who stands in as president of the Senate in the absence of the vice president

Question 19

Standing committees

Answer 19

A permanent committee in Congress that oversees bills that deal with certain kinds of issues

Question 20

Joint committees

Answer 20

A committee of the house and the senate that usually acts as a study group and reports its findings back to the house of the Senate

Question 21

Committee staff

Answer 21

The people who work for House and Senate committees

Question 22

Implied powers

Answer 22

Powers that the government requires to carry out the expressed constitutional powers

Question 23

Interstate commerce

Answer 23

Trade among states

Question 24

Contempt

Answer 24

Willful obstruction of justice

Question 25

National budget

Answer 25

The yearly financial plan for the national government

Question 26

Public bills

Answer 26

A bill dealing with general matters and applying to the entire nation

Question 27

Hearing

Answer 27

A session at which a committee listens to the testimony from people interested in the bill

Question 28

Authorization bill

Answer 28

Hey Bill that sets up a federal program and specifies how much money may be appropriated for the program

Question 29

Lobbying

Answer 29

Direct contact made by a lobbyist in order to persuade government officials to support the policies their interest group favors

Question 30

Gerrymandering

Answer 30

To draw a district boundaries to gain an advantage in elections

Question 31

Constituents

Answer 31

A person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent

Question 32

Whips

Answer 32

An assistant to the party floor leader in the legislator

Question 33

Filibuster

Answer 33

A method of defeating a bill in the Senate by stalling the legislative process and preventing a vote

Question 34

Subcommittees

Answer 34

A group within a standing committee that specializes in a subcategory of it standing committees responsibility

Question 35

Conference committee

Answer 35

A temporary joint committee set up when the house and the senate have passed different versions of the same bill

Question 36

Expressed powers

Answer 36

Powers directly stated in the constitution

Question 37

Revenue bills

Answer 37

A law proposed to raise money

Question 38

Subpoena

Answer 38

A legal order that a person appear or produce requested documents

Question 39

Immunity

Answer 39

Freedom from prosecution for witnesses whose testimony ties them to illegal acts

Question 40

Impoundment

Answer 40

The president’s refusal to spend money Congress has voted to fund the program

Question 41

Simple resolution

Answer 41

A statement adopted to cover matters affecting only one house of Congress

Question 42

Closed rule

Answer 42

Ruin that for bids members of Congress to offer amendments to a bill from the floor

Question 43

Entitlements

Answer 43

Required government expenditure that continues from one year to the next

Question 44

Pork – barrel legislation

Answer 44

Laws passed by Congress that appropriate money for local federal projects