From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Secretary of the Senate Chief administrative and budgetary officer of the Senate selected by the Senate per the Constitution (Article I, Section 3) responsible for overseeing the duties of Senate employees, educating Senate pages, administering oaths, handling the registration of lobbyists, and handling other tasks … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Pair / Logrolling photo credit: dno1967b A pair is a voluntary, informal arrangement that two lawmakers, usually on opposite sides of an issue, make on recorded votes. In many cases the result is to subtract a vote from each side, with no effect on the … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Cloakroom / Hotline Donnald K. Anderson: Running the Democratic Cloakroom Democratic and Republican cloakrooms adjacent to the Senate and House chambers serve as gathering places for party members to discuss chamber business privately. Each cloakroom operates a “hotline” (telephone cloakroom recording) for party … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Lame Duck / “Lame Duck” Session When Congress (or either chamber) reconvenes in an even-numbered year following the November general elections to consider various items of business. Some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress. Hence, they are informally … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Executive Session / Executive Business / Secret Session photo credit: glasseyes view Executive Session (1) A meeting of a Senate or House committee (or occasionally of either chamber) that only its members may attend. Witnesses regularly appear at committee meetings in executive session – for … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Constitutional Authority Statement photo credit: _BuBBy_ On January 5, 2011, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to House Rule XII adding a requirement to all measures introduced in the House of Representatives that are intended to become law. Specifically, Rule XII, clause 7(c) requires … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Quorum photo credit: ateneinrivolta Quorum, n. A sufficient number of members of a deliberative body to have their own way and their own way of having it. In the United States Senate a quorum consists of the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and a … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Scheduling photo credit: CarbonNYC Senate practice today generally concedes to the Majority Leader the prerogative of arranging the floor schedule of the Senate and making unanimous consent requests and motions to proceed to consider bills and other items of business. The Majority Leader is also … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms President of the Senate / President Pro Tempore photo credit: gualtiero President of the Senate: Under the Constitution (Article I, Section 3), the Vice President of the United States presides over the Senate and is allowed to cast a vote in the event of a … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Appropriation / Cardinals of Congress David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: How Appropriations is Supposed to Work Appropriation: Provision of law that provides authority for federal agencies to obligate funds and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Appropriations for the federal government … Read more