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| One of the persons represented by a legislator or other elected or appointed official |
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| The division of a legislature into two separate assemblies |
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| The process of establishing the legal rules that govern society |
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| An arrangement in which two or more members of Congress agree in advance to support each other's bills |
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| Special Provisions in legislation to set aside funds for projects that have not passed an impartial evaluation by agencies of the exevutive branch |
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| The function of members of Congress as electted officials representing the views of their constituents |
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| A legislator who acts according to her or his conscience and the broad interests of the entire society |
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| Personal work for sontituents by members of Congress |
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| A person who hears and investigates complaints by private individuals against public officials or agencies |
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| The process by which Congress follows up on laws it has enacted to ensure that they are being enforced and administered in the way Congress intended |
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| Determining which publi-policy questions will be debated or considered |
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| A power specifically granted to the national government by the Constitution. The first seventeen clauses of Article I, Section 8, specify most of the enumerated powers of Congress. |
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| A standing committee of the House of Representatives that provides special rules under which specific bills can be debated, amended, and considered by the House. |
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| The use of the Senate's tradition of unlimited debate as a delaying tactic to block a bill |
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| An intraparty election in which the voters select the candidates who will run on a party's ticket in the subsequent general election |
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| A person who identifies with a political party |
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| The allocation of seats in the House of Representatives to each state after each census |
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| The redrawing of the boundaries of the congressional districts within each state |
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| A question that may be raised and reviewed in court |
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| The drawing of legislative district boundary lines for the purpose of obtaining partisan or factional advantage. A district is said to be gerrymandered when its shape is manipulated by the dominant party to maximize electoral strength at the expense of the minority party |
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| A policy that enables members of Congress to send material through the mail by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage |
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| A procedure by which a bill in the House of Representatives can be forced (discharged) out of a committee that has refused to report it for consideration by the House. The petition must be signed by an absolute majority (218) of representatives and is used only on rare occasions |
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| A permanent committee in the House or Senate that considers bills within a certain subject area |
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