GLOSSARY OF LEGALESE AA: Administrative Assistant. The top aide in a Congressional office, reporting directly to the member of Congress. He/she usually has overall responsibility for evaluating the political outcome of various legislative proposals and constituent requests. The AA is usually the person in charge of overall office operations, including the assignment of work and the supervision of key staff. Bills: Bills are legislative proposals to create a new law (or amend or repeal an existing law). Bills must be passed by both chambers in identical form and signed by the President (or repassed by Congress over a presidential veto) before becoming law. Bills are numbered sequentially as introduced and prefixed with "H.R." in the House and "S." in the Senate (e.g., H.R. 1 or S. 1256). Boll Weevils: A group of conservative Southern Democratic House Members who frequently vote with Republicans on budget and defense issues. Budget Authority: Generally, the amount of money that may be spent or obligated by a government agency or for a government program or activity. Technically, it is statutory authority to enter into obligations that normally result in outlays. The main forms of budget authority are appropriations, borrowing authority, and contract authority. It also included authority to obligate and expend the proceeds of offsetting receipts and collections. Congress may make budget authority available for only one year, several years, or an indefinite period, and it may specify definite or indefinite amounts. Budget Reconciliation: A procedure bringing existing tax and spending laws into line with Congressional budget resolutions. Caucus: A group of Members who share a common interest. The most powerful are the Democratic and Republican caucuses in each body. There are at least 100 other caucuses representing interests from sugar to shoes. There is no formal caucus on disability issues. Chairman's Mark: The draft of a bill that the Chair of a committee uses as the starting point in a committee mark-up. Christmas Tree: A legislative measure generously ornamented with unrelated amendments benefiting a wide range of interests. [How you get Members to support your bill when they ordinarily might not; pork.] Cloakroom: The area just off the House and Senate floors where Members can relax, use the phone, discuss strategy and legislation, and/or get a bite to eat. Each party in each chamber has its own cloakroom. Cloture: A method by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate. A cloture petition must be signed by 16 Senators and must be approved by three-fifths of the full Senate in order pass. Once cloture is invoked, debate on the pending matter is limited to 30 hours. Colloquy: A exchanged between two or more Members on the floor during debate on a bill. Usually prepared in advance, a colloquy is designed to give additional explanation of the provisions in the pending bill. Committee of the Whole: The term for all House Members sitting as a committee on the floor of the House. The procedure is used during consideration of major legislation when time is of the essence, since only 100 Members are needed for a quorum. When the House is in the Committee of the Whole, the mace is taken down from its pedestal onto a lower stand. When the committee "rises" back to the full House, the mace is put back on its stand. Concurrent Resolution: Concurrent resolutions are measures concerning the affairs of both chambers, such as an expression of agreement on an issue, the creation of a joint committee, agreement on a joint meeting or session, or agreement on the time for final adjournment of the whole Congress. Concurrent resolutions must be passed by both chambers in the same form but are not presented to the President and do not have the force of law. Concurrent resolutions are designated as H.Con.Res. in the House and S.Con.Res. in the Senate. Conference: A meeting between committee members of the House and Senate to reconcile differences between their respective versions of a bill. The final agreement is called a conference report. CR: Continuing resolution. A legislative measure at the end of the fiscal year to fund on-going government programs until Congress has had time to complete work on separate appropriations bills. CRS: Congressional Research Service. An arm of the Library of Congress that provides virtually any kind of information or research requested by a Member. CRS will not, however, provide any information or research requested by a Member to the public. C-Span: Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. Provides live, gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House and Senate proceedings, plus other programming of political interest. Dear Colleague: A letter sent from one Member to another (or all of them), usually asking support for a particular piece of legislation. Discharge Petition: A method of getting a bill out of committee and onto the House floor when the committee refuses to act on the bill. In order to bring the bill to the floor, the discharge petition must be signed by a majority of House Members (218). District Work Period: A member euphemism for recess. D.O.: District office. In addition to their Capitol Hill offices, Members usually maintain one or more offices in their districts. Executive Session: A meeting of a committee - or even the entire House or Senate - that is closed to the public. In the Senate, an executive session can refer to the consideration of items, such as nominations and treaties, on the executive calendar. Filibuster: A delaying tactic often used by the minority to prevent action on a bill. Strict rules in the House make filibusters more difficult than in the Senate. Germane: Pertinent to the legislation being considered. Amendments in the House must be germane to the legislation to which they are attached. Germaneness rules in the Senate are more lax. Hopper: A box in the House where Members deposit bills. Joint Resolution: Joint resolutions require the approval of both chambers (in identical form) and the President's signature before becoming law. Proposed amendments to the Constitution, continuing and supplemental appropriations and commemoratives are usually drafted as joint resolutions. Joint resolutions are numbered sequentially upon introduction and are designated as H.J.Res. in the House and S.J.Res. in the Senate. Junket: A fact-finding mission to foreign country conducted during a district work period, and often paid for by special interest groups. LA: Legislative assistant; an aide to a Member who is responsible for legislative duties. Lame Duck Session: A session of Congress that occurs after the November elections but before the new Members have been sworn in. Mace: The symbol of the power of the House. A bundle of 13 ebony rods bound in silver and topped by silver globe and silver eagle. Majority Leader: The majority party's chief floor spokesman, elected by the party's caucus-sometimes called floor leader. In the Senate, the majority leader also develops the party's political and procedural strategy, usually in collaboration with other party officials and committee chairmen. He/she negotiates the Senate's agenda and committee ratios with the minority leader and usually call up measures for floor action. The chamber traditionally concedes to the majority leader the right to determine the days on which it will meet and the hours at which it will convene and adjourn. In the House, the majority leader is the Speaker's deputy and heir apparent. He/she helps plan the floor agenda and the party's legislative strategy and often speaks for the party leadership in debate. Mark Up: A procedure in committee or subcommittee during which Members amend provisions of a bill. Upon completion, the measure is "reported out" of committee for consideration by the full House or Senate. Morning Business: The period at the beginning of each legislative day in the Senate during which Senators may introduce bills and resolutions. Senators can also make speeches on any subject during this period. Outlays: Amounts of government spending. They consist of payments, usually by check or in cash, to liquidate obligations incurred in prior fiscal years as well as in the current year, including the net lending of funds under budget authority. In federal budget accounting, net outlays are calculated by subtracting the amounts of refunds and various kinds of reimbursements to the government from actual spending. Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO): A requirement of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, effective for fiscal years 1991-1995, that congressional actions on revenue legislation and legislation on entitlements or other mandatory programs should not add to the budget deficit. Increased spending for such programs resulting >from new legislation and revenue losses from legislation reducing taxes or fees are supposed to be offset by legislated spending reductions in other programs subject to PAYGO or by legislated increases in other taxes. If Congress fails to enact the appropriate offsets, the act requires presidential sequestration of sufficient offsetting amounts in specific direct spending accounts. Congress and the president can circumvent the requirement if both agree that an emergency makes a particular action necessary or if a law is enacted declaring that deteriorated economic circumstances make it necessary to suspend the requirement. Point of Order: A parliamentary term used in committee and on the floor to object to an alleged violation of a rule and to demand the chair enforce the rule. The objecting member must explain the nature of the violation. A point of order immediately halts the proceedings until the chair decides whether the contention is valid. If the chair sustains a point of order against a measure or an amendment, it may not be considered; against a provision in a measure, it is immediately delated; against a conference report, it is automatically rejected; and if against unparliamentary remarks by another member, that member must sit down or proceed in order. If the floor manager of a bill concedes a point of order, the chair immediately sustains it. Otherwise, the chair usually permits members to present arguments for and against it before announcing a ruling, but is not required to do so and can cut off discussion whenever he or she chooses. Pork Barrel: A public project in someone else's district. President of the Senate: The vice president of the United States in his constitutional role as presiding officer of the Senate. Senators address him and his surrogates as "Mr. President." The Constitution permits the vice president to cast a vote in the Senate only to break a tie, but he is not required to do so. This vote is sometimes called a casting vote. The Senate usually authorizes the vice president, by unanimous consent, to appoint senators to conference committees and to some commissions and boards, but he normally appoints those recommended by the Senate's party leaders or by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee with jurisdiction over the measure. Modern vice presidents usually preside only when their vote may be needed, on ceremonial occasions, or to rule on some crucial procedural questions. The president pro tempore or a senator designated by him presides over the Senate during the vice president's frequent absences. President Pro Tempore: Under the Constitution, an officer elected by the Senate to preside over it during the absence of the vice president of the United States. Often referred to as "the pro tem," he is usually the majority party senator with the longest continuous service in the chamber and also, by virtue of this seniority, committee chairman. When attending to committee and other duties, the president pro tempore appoints other senators to preside. Whoever presides is formally addressed as Mr. or Madam President. Quorum: The minimum number of members required to be present for the transaction of business. Under the Constitution, a quorum in each house is a majority of its members: 218 in the House and 51 in the Senate when there are no vacancies. By House rule, a quorum in Committee of the Whole is 100. In practice, both houses usually assume a quorum is present even if it is not, unless a member makes a point of no quorum in the House or suggests the absence of a quorum in the Senate. Consequently, each house transacts much of its business, and even passes bills, when only a few members are present. Ranking Member: (1) Most often a reference to the minority member with the highest ranking on a committee or subcommittee. (2) A reference to the majority member next in rank to the chairman or to the highest ranking majority member present at a committee or subcommittee meeting. Ratification: (1) The president's formal act of promulgating a treaty after the Senate has approved it. The resolution of ratification agreed to by the Senate is the procedural vehicle by which the Senate gives its consent to ratification. (2) A state legislature's act in approving a proposed constitutional amendment. Such an amendment becomes effective when ratified by three-fourths of the states. Roll Call: Calling the names of Members either for the purposes of determining a quorum of taking a vote. Simple Resolution: Simple resolutions express the opinion or regard the internal affairs of one chamber only. They are not considered by the other chamber, are not presented to the President and do not have the force of law. Along with concurrent resolutions, they are often referred to as "non-binding" resolutions. Simple resolutions are designated as H.Res. or S.Res. Speaker of the House: The presiding officer of the House of Representatives and the leader of its majority party. The Speaker is selected by the majority party and formally elected by the House of the beginning of each Congress. Although the Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a member of the House, in fact, all Speakers have been members. The Speaker and his surrogates are addressed as "Mr. [or Madam] Speaker." As presiding officer, the Speaker maintains order in the House, manages the flow of legislation to the floor, and has numerous administrative responsibilities, including general control of the House side of the Capitol. He/she refers measures to committees to report by a deadline and may discharge them if they fail to meet the deadline. As a party leader, the Speaker chairs the party's Committee on Committees, plans the party's legislative strategy, and negotiates committee party ratios with the minority leader. In addition, the Speaker is second to the vice president in the line of succession to presidency. Suggest the Absence of a Quorum: The phrase senators usually use to force a quorum call. Except under cloture, the Senate's presiding officer has no authority to count to determine whether a quorum is present; he must immediately direct the clerk to call the roll when a senator makes the suggestion. Quorums are rarely present in the Senate during debate, but suggestions that quorum is absent are frequently made not to establish a quorum but for the propose of what some have called "constructive delay." Since the suggestion immediately suspends floor action while the roll is called, the pause gives senators time for informal discussions, and negotiations for an absent senator to arrive and offer an amendment or deliver a speech on whatever business may be pending. Aware of these purposes, the clerk calls the roll very slowly to avoid inadvertent disclosure of a quorum's absence, which would require senators to make an unnecessary trip to the floor. Once the call's purpose has been achieved, a senator asks unanimous consent that the call be dispensed with, a request invariably granted, and the Senate resumes its proceedings. Supplemental: A supplemental appropriations bill, providing additional money for a government program during the course of a fiscal year. Table: A motion used in both bodies to kill a measure without having to vote directly on the bill. A motion to table cannot be debated and comes to an immediate vote. Once a bill is tabled, it is dead. Unanimous Consent Agreement: A procedure used in both Houses but more frequently in the Senate for considering a matter without strictly following the rules. An objection by one Member will prevent any action by unanimous consent. Whip: The majority or minority party member in each house who acts as assistant leader, helps plan and marshal support for party strategies, encourages party discipline, and advises his leader on how his colleagues intend to vote on the floor. In the Senate, the Republican whip's official title is assistant leader. Whips are elected by their party caucuses. SOURCE: ROLL CALL GUIDE TO CONGRESS & CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY'S AMERICAN CONGRESSIONAL DICTIONARY FAST FACTS ABOUT THE 104TH CONGRESS Party Affiliation Senate: 53 Republicans (103rd Congress, 47) 47 Democrats (103rd Congress, 53) Fifty-three percent (53%) of the Members of the Senate in the 104th Congress are Republicans; 47% of the Members of the Senate in the 103rd Congress were Republicans; all of the 11 new Senators are Republicans. Republicans are the majority party in the Senate for the first time since 1986. House: 230 Republicans (103rd Congress, 177) 208 Democrats (103rd Congress, 261) 2 Independents (103rd Congress, 1 - plus 1 vacancy) Fifty-three percent (53%) of the Members of the House of Representatives in the 104th Congress are Republicans; 40% of the Members of the House in the 103rd Congress were Republicans; 84% of the 87 new House Members are Republicans. Republicans are the majority party in the House for the first time since 1954. SOURCE: CONGRESSIONAL YELLOW BOOK, 1995 Prior Legislative Experience A smaller percentage of the new Members of the 104th Congress served previously as Members of their home states' legislatures. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of the new Senators served in their states' legislatures, while 35% of the Senators of the 103rd Congress did. In the House, the difference is greater. There only 38% of the new House Members served in their states' legislatures, while 50% of the 103rd Congress House Members did. SOURCE: CONGRESSIONAL YELLOW BOOK, 1995 Year of Birth On average, the 98 new members of Congress were born 10 years later (are 10 years younger) than the Members of the 103rd Congress. The average year of birth of the 11 new Senators of the 104th Congress is 1945; the average year of birth of the Senators of the 103rd Congress was 1935. The average year of birth of the 87 new House of Representatives is 1950; the average year of birth of Members of the House in the 103rd Congress was 1941. SOURCE: CONGRESSIONAL YELLOW BOOK, 1995 Gender Seven (7) women were Members of the Senate in the 103rd Congress. One of the 11 new Senators is a woman, increasing their number to 8 in the 104th Congress. Forty-eight (48) women served in the 103rd Congress, comprising 11% of its Members. Eleven (11) of the 87 new Members of the House are women (14%), however, the total number of women in the House of Representatives in the 104th Congress remains at 48. SOURCE: CONGRESSIONAL YELLOW BOO