Procedural Devices
A House bill in which there are no amendments allowed during debate on the Floor is considered under this type of rule.
What is a closed rule?
This committee structures the terms of debate on the House floor.
What is the Rules Committee?
This chamber of Congress is often considered to be a supermajoritarian institution.
What is the Senate?
When bargaining with Congress fails, presidents often turn to this strategy to persuade Congress to act.
This is what happens if Congress cannot pass a budget or a continuing resolution by October 1st.
What is a government shutdown?
This is the way in which the Senate typically sets its rules of debate.
What is a unanimous consent agreement?
A bill introduced in the House might be considered by more than one committee, a term known as this.
What is multiple referral?
These are the people that are involved in a "four corners meeting."
Who are the majority and minority leaders for each chamber?
These are the three methods for overturning an executive order.
What are 1. new executive order, 2. Congressional action, and 3. overturned by courts?
The 12 Appropriations bills that Congress must pass relate to this type of spending.
What is discretionary?
If rank and file members want to circumvent their party leadership and consider a piece of legislation, they may try to rally enough support to file this.
What is a discharge petition?
Temporary committees with few legislative powers are often these types of committees.
What are select/special committees?
According to the Binder article, this is why the use of conference committees has declined.
What is partisanship and polarization?
These are three reasons for the decline of presidential vetoes.
What are 1. fewer bills, 2. increased leadership/centralization of legislative process, 3. presidential calculation has changed?
This is a special legislative process that allows expedited consideration of budget legislation.
What is reconciliation?
This is a strategy that the majority party can use to limit debate in the Senate.
What is filling the amendment tree?
In the House, majority party leadership plays the central role in determining these two critical aspects of the legislative process.
What are 1. which bills reach the floor and 2. how they are debated?
This is how conference committee members are chosen in the Senate.
What is appointed by the presiding officer by unanimous consent?
If Congress and the president are on opposite sides of the status quo, Congress can pass legislation knowing the president will veto it, a strategy known as this.
What is the blame game veto?
This is the (abridged) budget process laid out by the 1974 Congressional Budget Act.
What is 1. budget resolution, 2. authorize departments and programs, 3. appropriate funds to authorized departments and programs?
This is what happens when the rules are suspended in the House (3 things).
What is 1. no amendments offered, 2. 40 minutes debate time, 3. requires 2/3 vote to pass?
These are 3 examples of the informal criteria used in the committee assignment process.
What are seniority, party loyalty, district characteristics, substantive expertise (multiple answers accepted)?
These are two frequent forms of non-conference reconciliation.
What are 1. concede and accept and 2. "ping pong" amendments?
President's might engage in these 5 types of appeals when bargaining with Congress.
What are 1. policy-based, 2. partisan-based, 3. popularity based, 4. political favors, 5. coalition-building?
The Byrd rule mandates this.
What is that amendments offered in the Senate under reconciliation must pertain to the budget?