Bicameral Two Houses, like the British Parliament. House of Representatives and Senate.

TWO Year Terms Start on Jan. 3rd @ noon on odd # years.

TWO Sessions One session per year.

Special Sessions Only the president can call them. With Congress meeting almost year round it eliminates the need for these.

Reapportion After a census is taken to redistribute seats in the House.

Gerrymandering Drawing district lines for the advantage of a political party.

Caucus Conference of party members.

Speaker of the House The presiding officer; chosen by vote of the House members (majority party choice) Nancy Pelosi

President of the Senate V.P. of the U.S., not a member of the Senate and can only vote in ties.

Majority/Minority Leaders Party officers that carry out caucus decisions.

Majority/ Minority Whips Assistants to the floor leaders.

Committee Chairmen Chosen by majority party caucus for the standing committees.

Seniority Rule A custom/tradition that really important posts on committees go to members with the longest record. Strom Thurmond

Standing Committees Permanent groups that meet each year.

Select Committee Special group set up for a specific purpose/time.

Joint Committee Will use members from both houses, usually used for investigative purposes.

BILL A proposed law; will be dropped into the hopper (wooden box) once introduced on the floor.

Public Bill A bill that will apply to the whole nation. (taxes)

Private Bill A bill that will apply to certain people/places.

Joint Resolution This is used like a bill.

Concurrent Resolutions The House and the Senate must act together, but a law is not needed for the action to happen.

Committee of the Whole The group can make itself into one large committee group and make work on the bill progress faster.

Quorum The majority of full membership that would be needed in order to conduct business. Senate – 51 House - 218

Debate in the House Usually limited to one hour per person. The Speaker can make the person give up the floor by “moving the previous question.”

Voting in the House 1) ayes and nayes 2) standing vote 3) roll call 4) electronic voting

Filibuster A senator that has the floor to speak may do so as long as they can. Can not leave the chamber, sit down, or stop talking. Used by senators to stop a bill from passing.

Cloture Rule To stop the filibuster: Have a petition with 16 members signature, 2 days later vote to invoke cloture, the vote will need 60 senators in favor of the motion; and then the speaker will be limited to only 30 hours to talk.

Salaries Representatives $174,000.00 Leaders $193,400.00 Speaker $223,500.00