Congressional Mumbo Jumbo
The people who live within a legislators state or district.
What are constituents?
This person is considered the most powerful person in Congress. They hold the highest position in the House of Representatives.
Who is the Speaker of the House?
A member of the Senate must be this many years old.
What is 30?
The permanent type of committee that handles most legislative business and cover broad areas of responsibility, like Homeland Security or Foreign Affairs.
What are Standing Committees?
If a president officially rejects a bill, he has used "this" power.
What is veto?
The current office holder during an election cycle.
What is the incumbent?
The role of these individuals, from both the majority and minority parties in both the House and the Senate, is to keep their party members aware of important votes and to make sure they vote along their party lines.
What are "Whips"?
A member of the House must be a citizen of the US for this many years before they can be qualified?
What is 7 years.
This type of committee involves members of both the House and the Senate and deals with issues that are of interest to both groups.
What is a Joint Committee?
Unlike in the House, where debate on a bill is usually limited to one hour, debate in the Senate is generally unlimited. In fact, sometimes senators use lengthy speeches to delay or avoid voting on a bill. This tactic is known as ....
What is filibuster?
The term used to describe the US Congress because it has two "houses" or chambers.
What is "bicameral"?
This person is technically the leader of the Senate, although they only usually show up if there is a tie on a vote that needs to be broken.
Who is the Vice-President?
One qualification that members of both the House and the Senate share is that they must be ....
What is "residents of the state" that they serve.
This type of committee is temporary and is formed to investigate a specific interest or problem.
What is a select or standing committee?
Before a bill can be sent to the President, it must pass a vote in .....
What is "both chambers of Congress"?
A federally funded project that a legislator may secure for their home district or state.
What is a "pork" project?
This person acts in the place of the Vice-President and presides over the Senate in their absence.
Who is the President Pro Tempore?
The person next in the line of succession if something should happen to the President and the Vice President is .....
Who is the Speaker of the House.
Having "this" quality that means "longtime service" helps to ensure that members of Congress get their choice of membership on the committees they want, and may help them become the committee "chair".
What is seniority?
When a large number of "riders" ( amendments that are added to a bill but aren't really related to it) are attached to a bill, that bill is sometimes known as a ...... because it has "something for everyone".
What is a Christmas Tree Bill?
How seats in the House are divided up among the states according to population.
What is apportionment?
This person is the "everyday" leader of the Senate: they control the daily agenda, including which bills get voted on.
Who is the Senate Majority Leader?
The political parties with the most seats in the House or the Senate is refered to as....
What is the majority party?
This type of committee is a special kind of joint committee designed to hammer out differences on a bill between the House and Senate. This is neccessary because both versions of the bill ( House and Senate) must be exactly the same before it goes to the president.
What is a conference committee?
After a bill goes through an initial hearing, but before it is voted on, it goes through a period where amendments and changes can be made. This is called the ....... stage.
What is "mark up"?