Vocabulary from Oleszek’s Congressional Procedures and the Policy
Process
The following list is made up of terms, often italicized,
in quotation marks, or in the chapter subheadings, that appear in the indicated
chapters of Oleszek. Some of the terms, like
“clean bill” or “privileged legislation” are narrow technical terms that have a
dictionary definition. Many of the terms, like “committee hearings” or
“authorization-appropriation process” are broad and describe complex patterns of
behavior that are part of the core of congressional procedure: they are, in
fact, the major topics for discussion rather than simple terms to define. For
each term, no matter how simple or complex, you should be able (1) to describe
the essential meaning of the term and (2) to explain the
political or strategic use of the behavior in question.
These are not the only terms that you should be familiar with, but they do constitute a basic list that I expect each of you to know. Terms marked with an asterisk are not necessarily explained in the chapters but were explained in class. The terms in red indicate the terms in the chapter(s) assigned for each class.
Chapter 2—“Congressional Budget
Process”—and Chapter 13 of Dodd and Oppenheimer
1.
1921 Budget and Accounting Act
2.
fiscal year
3.
authorization-appropriation process
4.
earmarks (“pork”)—statutory and non-statutory
5.
backdoor spending, backdoor authorization
6.
limitation amendments or riders
7.
1974 Budget Act—CBO, Budget committees, timeline, concurrent resolutions
8.
udget resolutions
9.
reconciliation
10.
sequestration
11.
debt limit legislation
12.
continuing resolutions
13.
supplemental appropriations
14.
logrolling
15.
must pass legislation, “last train leaving the station”
16.
2011 Budget Control Act (BCA)
17.
divided government, divided party control
Chapter 3—“Preliminary Legislative Action”
legislation or
legislative measures—bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, simple
resolutions*
popular names
or acronyms
constitutional
authority statement
omnibus
legislation or megabills
major legislation,
must-pass legislation, administration bills
referral
process, simple and multiple referrals—joint, split, sequential, committee of
primary jurisdiction
committee
options (what the committee can do with the bills referred to the committee)
power of
committee chairmen, term limits
committee/subcommittee hearings
committee
mark-ups, quorums
committee
reports, “reporting out” legislation, legislative history
bypassing
committees—reasons for and methods of bypass
Chapters 4 & 5—“Scheduling Legislation in the House” and “House Floor Procedure”
calendars
discretionary
recognition
suspension of
the rules
privileged legislation
Rules
Committee
rules—open,
closed, modified, waiver, structured, self-executing, multiple-stage,
time-structured, bifurcated
voting on the rule, on discharge petitions, on extraction, on Calendar Wednesday
House leadership—Speaker, majority and minority leaders, whips, Rules Committee, committees*
whip notices*
fast-track procedures
Steps followed in consideration major bills on the Floor of the House:
(1) adoption of the rule
(2) resolution into the Committee of the Whole (the House resolves into the Committee of the Whole)
(3) general debate
*floor managers
delaying tactics
(4) amending process
the five-minute rule
committee and floor amendments, germaneness, substitute amendments, killer or poison pill amendments
House amendment tree—first degree, second degree amendments in order on the floor
voting on amendments
cue givers, rational ignorance
voting methods—voice, division, recorded, yea-and-nay; electronic votes
(5) Committee of the Whole rises (dissolves)
(6) motion to recommit
(7) moving the previous question
the three readings
engrossment
Chapters 6 & 7—“Scheduling Legislation in the Senate” and “Senate Floor Procedure”
*Senate leadership—majority and minority leaders, whips, committees
calendars—General Orders, Executive
legislative and calendar days
*daily order of business—morning hour, morning business
adjourn v. recess
motion to proceed, cloture on motion to proceed
Rule XIV (“fourteen”) procedure
unanimous consent agreements—simple agreements, complex agreements (or time agreements)
clearance
holds
executive business, executive session
recess appointments
treaties, executive agreements*, fast-track trade agreements
filibuster, principle of unlimited debate
cloture
Steps followed in consideration major bills on the Floor
of the Senate:
(1) motion to proceed
cloture vote
floor managers, voting methods
(2) debate and amendment
amendments, Senate amendment tree(s)—first and second degree amendments in order on the floor
unanimous consent (“UC”) agreements
killer or poison pill amendments
non-germaneness—exceptions
(3) final passage
motion to reconsider
quorum calls
nuclear (or “constitutional”) option, Senate rule-making
Chapter 8—“Resolving
House-Senate Differences”
rubber stamp approach*
ping-pong or amendment exchange approach
preconferencing*
preconference (in anticipation of a conference) strategies
conference committees—
(1) requesting a conference
(2) selecting and instructing conferees
(3) bargaining in conference
(4) filing a conference report
(5) final action
enrollment
presidential options: sign bill, enact without signing, veto message, pocket veto
signing
statements
SOME ADDITIONAL TERMS
divided government
(v. unified government)
a Congress, a session
committee on
committees
polarization
parliamentarian,
parliamentary procedure, parliamentary law
motion to
table
colloquy
shell bill
Chapter 9—“Legislative
Oversight”
*the administrative
state
*generality
and ambiguity of statutes, legislative history
programmatic
oversight, political oversight, institutional oversight
Supreme
Court cases: McGrain v. Daugherty
Statutes—LRA
of 1946, GPRA of 1993 and 2011, CRA of 1993
House and
Senate rules and agencies (CBO and CRS)
hearings
legislative veto (cp. CRA)
the authorization-appropriation process
confirmation hearings
investigations
Government Accountability Office
(“GAO”)
statutory attempts (inspectors general, annual reports)