The Basics of Congress
This Chamber confirms presidential nominations and approves treaties.
What is the Senate?
After introduction in a Chamber of Congress, a bill is typically referred for consideration to this body.
What is a committee?
This individual has chief agenda-setting authority for a committee.
What is the committee chair?
This type of agreement in the Senate sets limits on debate and amendments.
What is a unanimous consent agreement?
This official compilation organizes the laws of the U.S. by subject matter into 54 titles.
What is the United States Code?
Only this Chamber can originate revenue legislation.
What is the House of Representatives?
What is a one-pager or a section-by-section?
True or False: Every bill must be considered by a committee before it can be subject to a vote on the House or Senate floor.
False.
In the House, this committee sets the terms for floor debate.
What is the Rules Committee?
Overriding a presidential veto requires this fraction of votes in each chamber.
What is two-thirds?
These two types of legislation are the only used for making law. Others like concurrent and simple resolutions are used for congressional administrative business.
What are bills and joint resolutions?
Members who formally join a bill are known as this when done so prior to introduction and this when done so following introduction.
What are original cosponsors and cosponsors?
These bodies within committees may consider legislation, conduct markups, hold hearings, and undertake other committee business.
What are subcommittees?
What is two-thirds majority?
A process called this allows the Senate and the House to resolve differences between the two chambers on the same underlying bill.
What is a conference committee?
Standalone bills address a single issue or subject and can be bundled into a broader bill package that addresses a broader set of related topics. This type of bill packages together multiple measures, often across different policy areas, into one very large piece of legislation, frequently used to pass end-of-the-year spending.
What is an omnibus bill?
To gain support for a bill, a sponsor may send out this correspondence to request co-sponsors or votes.
What is a Dear Colleague?
This document accompanies a bill delivered out of committee and explains its provisions and, sometimes, committee decisions.
What is a committee report?
This type of bill may not legislate or authorize new programs nor make changes to existing law.
What is an appropriations bill?
After a bill is signed by the President, it is assigned this official designation and published in the Statutes at Large.
What is a Public Law number (P.L. 119-XYZ).
This fast-track legislative process is limited only to budget- and revenue-related bills and allows for expedited consideration by bypassing the Senate filibuster and requiring only a simple majority to pass both Chambers.
What is the reconciliation process?
Before formal introduction, members request assistance from this non-partisan office that helps draft legislation in precise legal language.
What is the Office of Legislative Counsel?
Committees may hold either or both of these two kinds of convenings to consider legislation.
What is a legislative hearing or a markup?
In the Senate, a two-thirds majority may limit debate on a bill, amendment, or motion, by leveraging this rule.
What is cloture?
This document explains the compromise reached between the House and the Senate, often on larger bills like the NDAA.
What is the joint explanatory statement?