From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Congressional Review Act: A new idea to eliminate Obama’s agency regulations The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency, in some cases, rules issued in a previous session of … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Executive Branch EXECUTIVE BRANCH – Cram for the Exam The president is the head of the executive branch of the government, which includes many departments and agencies. The power of the Executive Branch is vested in the President of the United States, who … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Executive Privilege / Qualified Privilege Mark Rozell – The Looming Battle Over Executive Privilege The phrase “executive privilege” is a shorthand reference to the “qualified privilege” of the executive to decline to respond to a request for information–documents or testimony or both–from either … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Dear Colleague letters Members of Congress circulate Dear Colleague letters to urge their colleagues to co-sponsor their legislation. It is common in both chambers for the key proponent of a measure to send a Dear Colleague letter (in print or electronically) to other members requesting … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Oversight / Oversight Committee Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a federal agency or program. Oversight Committee: A congressional committee, or designated subcommittee of a committee, charged with general oversight of one or more federal agencies activities. Usually, the oversight panel for a particular … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Agency photo credit: independentman Agency: No one definition of this term has general, governmentwide applicability. “Agency” and related terms, like “executive agency” or “federal agency,” are defined in different ways in different laws and regulations. For example, the provisions of the Budget and Accounting Act … Read more