Second: The number of members required to indicate support for an action. such as calling for a vote.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

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Resolution/Simple Resolution: Sentiment of one chamber on an issue, or a measure to carry out the administrative or procedural business of the chamber. Does not become law. Designated as H. Res. or S. Res.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

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Rescission: Cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Ramseyer Rule: House rule that requires a committee report to show changes the reported measure would make in current law.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Queen-of-the-Hill Rule: A special rule that permits votes on a series of amendments, usually complete substitutes for a measure, but directs that the amendment receiving the greatest number of votes is the winning amendment.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Previous Question: Nondebatable House (or House committee) motion, which, when agreed to, cuts off further debate, prevents the offering of additional amendments, and brings the pending matter to an immediate vote.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Precedent: Previous ruling by a presiding officer that becomes part of the procedures of a chamber.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Congress receives more than 86.9 million pieces of snail mail annually, and more than 200 million emails each year. How effective are these communications? Joshua Tauberer, the creator of research tool GovTrack says that in his personal experience:

[…] what Congressional staff say is that two things happen with letters and other communications. First, Representatives and Senators use the information essentially like a poll: They tally up responses and use the totals to guide their decision making. Second, on rare occasions they use some letters as case studies in speeches on the floor, to support their point with a little personal touch. A letter turning into a case study is especially rare, especially in terms of the volume of communications received, which means by and large the actual personal content of messages (beyond what can be tallied) is pretty much unread. Moreover, your personal communication is worthless in isolation. As part of a movement, when the tally will add up to something, it might have an impact. I’m sure there are some representatives that take tallies seriously, but I don’t know how many. No House staffer says they actually read the letters carefully: They are frank that they don’t have the resources to do it.

Below is a list of tips for contacting Congress

1. Each U.S. citizen has only three legislators in Congress: the two Senators who represent your state and whichever Representative is elected from your congressional district.
2. Constituency matters. Include your mailing address, especially your zip code, to demonstrate you are a constituent of the Member of Congress to whom you are writing. Don’t waste your time writing to a Senator or Representative who is not one of your three legislators.
3. Members of Congress have both limited time and limited staff. On average, each Representative has a staff of 15 and each Senator has 34 people on his or her team.
4. On that note, be brief in whichever form of communication you decide to pursue. Aim to make each letter only one page in length.
5. Address only one topic per letter or phone call. (Don’t write or call about every single bill, however.)
6. Be courteous.
7. Telephone calls are usually not answered personally by the member of Congress, but by a person on his or her staff. Ask to speak with the aide who handles the issue you are calling about.
8. Be specific and reference the specific bill you support or oppose rather than a general issue. Mention bills by their number.
9. Explicitly state something along the lines of, “I support/oppose (S.___/H.R.___),” and the reasons for your support or opposition.
10. Write about a particular bill when it is about to be discussed in committee or on the floor.
11. Whichever mode of communication you use to contact the office, ask for a written reply that includes your legislator’s position.
12. GovTrack also says that, “Writing in a form letter provided to you by an advocacy group will probably have very little effect. Especially if it is a fax. Faxes are quickly discarded. Members’ staffs notice when they receive hundreds of the same letter, and they don’t count these letters as important as personalized messages.”
13. Use the following formats to address your written correspondence and snail mail envelopes.

Letters to Senators:

Honorable [Full Name]
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator [Last Name]:

Letters to Representatives:

Honorable [Full Name]
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear [Mr. or Ms.] [Last Name]:

Some resources for contacting Congress are listed below:

• Our comprehensive Congressional Directory 2010 lists members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, complete with color photos and a fold-out map of Capitol Hill. It’s even wire-spiral bound for flat-fold reference and durability.
• Find out who your U.S. Representative is at http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
• View a complete list of Representatives at http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html.
• Find out who your U.S. Senator is at http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm.
• View a complete list of Senators at http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm.
• View a searchable directory of congressional telephone numbers at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt.
• You can call the Capitol Switch Board at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Congress member by name and state.
• USA.gov, the official web portal for the U.S. federal government, has compiled contact information including phone numbers plus email and postal addresses for key elected officials on their Contact Government page. In addition to info on Congress members, the list also includes data for state governors and legislators, as well as the President and Vice President.

You can also contact your Congressperson through Twitter using 2gov. The site has a feature called “Tweet A Message to Your Representatives,” which will do just that: identify your district’s Representative, send a public Twitter message directed at him or her, then send a professional report to his or her office that compiles all of the tweets. You can choose to send the message anonymously or to authenticate it with your full name and street address to prove you are a registered voter. (Your address isn’t publicly shared.)

2gov is “a social lobbying platform for registered voters,” created by USA.gov co-founder David Binetti and run by Votizen, Inc. You can follow the site’s Twitter updates at @2gov, although there have been no new tweets since May.

Source: “Communicating with Elected Officials,” Congress.org
Source: “Tips for Contacting Congress,” American Foreign Service Association
Source: “Tips for Communicating with Congress,” GovTrack.us
Source: “FAQ: How to Contact Congress,” TheCapitol.Net
Source: “What’s the Deal With…Contacting my Representatives or Senators?,” TheCapitol.Net
Image by Drama Queen, used under its Creative Commons license.

Pass Over without Prejudice: A request in the House to defer action on a measure called up from the Private Calendar without affecting the measure’s position on the calendar.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Are you contemplating a stint as a Congressional intern? Most of these internships are not paid, but the competition for them is still high. Some of the most powerful people in Washington began their careers as interns on Capitol Hill. Former Vice President Dick Cheney began his political career as an intern for Rep. William Steiger in 1969, for example.

The majority of Capitol Hill internships take place during the summer. Clare Herbert interned with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) in 2008 through the Washington Ireland Program for Service and Leadership (WIP). She later started working for the WIP, mentoring future interns. In her article, “Advice for Interns Working on Capitol Hill,” Herbert suggests that interns should always wear suits to the office, even on “casual” days, although D.C. can be quite humid in the summer months. She explains her reasons for this below:

You never know where the day will take you, and I found it better to be dressed respectably enough to go anywhere. Look at it this way: If someone needs an intern to deliver a message to someone important and [you're] in a suit while your colleagues are in flip flops, you’re gonna get picked. You work in the Senate, not an ice-cream store. Dress like it.

Herbert also stresses that you should do some research before your internship begins to become familiar with how the legislative branch works. Her suggestions include signing up for any relevant Capitol Hill newsletters (or blog feeds, such as ours), and even watching old episodes of West Wing. Another good place to start learning is TheCapitol.Net page of Research Links and Reference Tools, taking some of our Public Courses, or purchasing any of our Publications or Capitol Learning Audio Courses™. (You can read Herbert’s diary of her time working as Sen. Dodd’s intern on her Washington Ireland Program blog.)

When you begin looking for available internships, you can ask around yourself or try programs such as the one through the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, a non-profit organization that works with colleges and universities across the U.S. to provide students with internships in Washington. The Fund for American Studies (FAS) D.C. Internships website may also help lead you to some opportunities. The Fund’s District GPS blog may have some useful information once you’ve attained the internship.

An anonymous eHow contributing writer compiled a list entitled “How to Get an Internship on Capitol Hill,” which doesn’t really contain any advice beyond common sense, but does include one bit of advice you may not have considered. Congressional internships don’t happen solely in Washington; you can also apply for internships in the Congressperson’s home state office. An anonymous commenter on the same article adds, “Try to go for your Senators and Reps from your state first before choosing others, usually constituents have priority over candidates from other states.”

Source: “Advice for Interns Working on Capitol Hill,” Clare Herbert’s blog, 04/13/10
Source: “Interning in DC – A Capital Semester Alumna’s Perspective,” District GPS, 10/22/09
Source: “How to Get an Internship on Capitol Hill,” eHow, date unknown
Image by Drama Queen, used under its Creative Commons license.

Modified Open Rule: Permits general debate for a specified period of time, and allows any member to offer amendments consistent with House rules subject only to an overall time limit on the amendment process and a requirement that amendments be pre-printed in the Congressional Record.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Modified Closed Rule: Permits general debate for a specified period of time, but limits amendments to those designated in the special rule or the House Rules Committee report accompanying the special rule. May preclude amendments to particular portions of a bill.

This definition is from the Glossary in our Congressional Deskbook. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Congressional Deskbook: The Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Congress, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

Minority, Supplemental, and Additional Views: Statements in a committee report presenting individuals’ or groups’ opinions on the measure.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Hopper: Box on the House clerk’s desk where members place bills and resolutions to introduce them.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM

Fast-Track Procedures: Procedures that circumvent or speed up all or part of the legislative process. Some rule-making statutes prescribe expedited procedures for certain measures, such as trade agreements.

This definition is from our Glossary of Legislative and Congressional Terms. Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Learn how to translate words that are used every day on Capitol Hill. Our legislative glossary is based on the Glossary in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider.

TheCapitol.Net offers training in legislative and congressional operations, Washington research skills, advocacy and communication, critical thinking and writing, and the federal budget process. We also offer two Certificate programs: Certificate in Congressional Operations and the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy.

We show you how Washington and Congress work. ^TM