| A  | B  | C  | D  | E  | F  | G  | H  |  I  | J  | K  | L  | M |  N  | O  | P  | Q  | R  | S  | T  | U  | V  | W  | X  | Y  | Z  |  

Absence of a Quorum

When less than 51 Senators answer a quorum call, the absence of a quorum is established. In the absence of a quorum, the Senate may not conduct legislative business. Instead, the Senate must either adjourn or continue to make motions to obtain a quorum.  A motion to get a quorum instructs the Sergeant-at-Arms to either request, compel or arrest absent Senators. 

Act

A bill which has passed both houses of Congress and has been signed by the president or passed over his veto, thus becoming a law.

Advice and Consent

The United States Constitution (Article II, section 2) requires that the Senate give its advice and consent to the president on war and treaty-making decisions and on appointments to certain key offices. A treaty is a formal compact between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. It then becomes part of the supreme law of the United States, equally binding with the Constitution in all places to which the national jurisdiction extends, and taking precedence over state constitutions and laws. The need for Senate consent may be circumvented if the president terms an international accord an executive agreement. The latter needs only presidential consent to bind the government and avoids possible delays involved in gaining Senate approval for a treaty. Most presidential appointments require confirmation by a majority vote in the Senate. Presently, between fifty and seventy thousand individuals are nominated annually. Over 99 percent of nominations are to minor positions (mostly military officers). Nominees to major positions (federal judges, members of regulatory bodies, and key executive and diplomatic personnel not covered by merit systems) face the closest scrutiny.

The first time George Washington sought the advice of the Senate on a treaty, he came before the Senate in person on August 22, 1789, expecting the Senate's immediate consent. But the Senate was not to be rushed and decided to take its time deliberating the matter. Washington was infuriated that the Senate would not act quickly while he waited. He left the halls of Congress but returned two days later when the Senate ratified the treaty. After this incident, Washington never again returned in person to seek the Senate's advice and consent. This incident established the Senate precedent of offering advice and consent only after time for debate and deliberation and only after the president has submitted the treaty in writing.

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the nation's largest union organization, was created in 1955 when the separate AFL, founded in 1886, and the CIO, founded in 1938, merged into one organization

Aisle

The space which divides the Majority side from the Minority on the House/Senate floor. 

Amending

Amending is the process by which members attempt to change the content of legislation as it is considered in committee markup sessions and during House and Senate floor sessions. The legislative process permits a bill to be amended at as many as seven different stages: when it is considered by a subcommittee of the House, by the parent committee of that subcommittee, and by the full House; when it is considered by a subcommittee and committee of the Senate and by the Senate itself; and when the House and Senate try to reach final agreement on the bill's content, either in a conference committee or by a formal exchange of amendments between the two houses. In some cases, one or more of these stages are bypassed; for example, the House and Senate sometimes pass noncontroversial bills without first considering them in formal committee and subcommittee meetings. In other cases, stages are added to the process; for example, some bills are considered by one House or Senate committee only; after having been debated and amended by another committee of that house.

Amendment

Proposal of a congressman to alter a bill; usually printed, debated, and acted upon in the same manner as a bill.

Amendment I

Perhaps the most important and most widely cited part of the Constitution, the First Amendment protects individual religious freedom, free speech, a free press, and the freedom to petition the government by written word, marching, and picketing. [Ratified 1791]

Amendment II

This amendment has been the subject of heated debate in recent years. What it meant in the 1790s may be quite different from what it means in the 1990s. Does it mean that individuals have the right to own and carry firearms, or does it refer to the right of the people to maintain a militia for their mutual protection? [Ratified 1791]

Amendment III

In the 1790s citizens were still angry about the old British practice of quartering soldiers in the homes of colonists. This provision addressed that concern, but in modern times this is obsolete. [Ratified 1791]

Amendment IV

Guarantees that citizens be safe from unreasonable searches or arrests without a warrant. [Ratified 1791]

Amendment V

Provides certain protections in matters of law such as double jeopardy where a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense. It also provides that no person shall be forced to give testimony in court against themselves. In popular language this is known as pleading the Fifth Amendment.

Amendment VI

Provides for speedy public trials by jury for those indicted in criminal cases. [Ratified 1791]

Amendment VII

Provides for jury trials in civil cases. Even though the Constitution sets a civil dispute with a minimum of $20 as sufficient grounds for a jury trial, this amount has been increased considerably over two centuries, and the small claims, which could overwhelm the court system, have been handled in other ways such as small claims courts. [Ratified in 1791]

Amendment VIII

Punishment for crimes or bail shall not be excessive nor cruel and unusual. Does the death penalty constitute cruel and unusual punishment? This has been hotly debated for many years, with no clear resolution in sight. [Ratified 1791]

Amendment IX

This is a catch-all clause that retains for the people other rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution.

Amendment X

The states or the people retain the powers not specifically granted to the federal government in the Constitution. Some use this amendment to argue that the federal government should be limited and state government and states' rights should be increased.

Amendment XI

Provides that states can only be sued in state courts. [Ratified 1798]

Amendment XII

Calls for separate elections for president and vice president. This amendment was added in 1804 following the unusual circumstances of the presidential election of 1800, where Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college, forcing the House of Representatives to elect the president. [Ratified 1804]

Amendment XIII

The first of the landmark Civil War and Reconstruction Era amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. [Ratified 1865]

Amendment XIV

Declares that African Americans born or naturalized in the United States were citizens subject to the equal protection of the laws. Earlier, in the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Supreme Court had declared African Americans were not citizens.  Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment also rendered obsolete the controversial passages in Article 1 which declared that only three-fifths of African Americans held as slaves be counted in the census for purposes of representation . [Ratified 1868]

Amendment XV

Protects the right to vote of African Americans. Even though this constitutional language is clear, many southern states tried to circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment through their own state constitutions and state laws which made it difficult or impossible for African Americans to vote. But the Fifteenth Amendment was a powerful tool for those who fought for civil rights over the past century. This amendment is the basis of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [Ratified 1870]

Amendment XVI

Provides constitutional authority for the collection of income taxes. This amendment became necessary to overcome an 1895 Supreme Court decision which declared a federal income tax was unconstitutional. [Ratified 1913]

Amendment XVII

Provides for the direct election of senators. Until 1913 senators were elected by the state legislatures rather than by the people.

Amendment XVIII

This amendment ushered in the era of Prohibition, when the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages was banned in the United States. This so-called noble experiment lasted 14 years and saw the rise of organized crime, the development of speakeasies (places where liquor was consumed illegally), and the rise of large government police units such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which tried to enforce the provisions of this amendment and laws related to it. [Ratified 1919]

Amendment XIX

While women had voted in some states before the adoption of the 19th Amendment, this important amendment established uniform rules in all states that guaranteed women the right to vote. [Ratified 1920]

Amendment XX

Sometimes called the Lame Duck Amendment, this provision reduced the time between the November elections and the beginning date of the new term of office for the president and Congress. It also provides for presidential succession should the president-elect die before taking office. [Ratified 1933]

Amendment XXI

This amendment repealed Prohibition as established in the 19th Amendment. Alcoholic beverages became legal again in the United States. [Ratified 1933]

Amendment XXII

This amendment, pushed by Republicans following the unprecedented election to four terms of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, limited the president to two terms. [Ratified 1951]

Amendment XXIII

Provides for the first time for residents of the District of Columbia to vote for three presidential electors. The election of 1964 was the first time District residents could exercise their right to vote in a presidential election. [Ratified 1961]

Amendment XXIV

Eliminates the poll tax as a qualification for voting. The poll tax prevented many individuals from voting, especially in the South where it was still in use in five states as late as the 1960s. [Ratified 1964]

Amendment XXV

This amendment clarifies the language regarding what happens when the president dies in office or resigns. While it was a long standing custom that the vice president succeeds the president, this amendment confirms that the vice president becomes the president under these circumstances. [Ratified 1967]

Amendment XXVI

This amendment gives the right to vote to those 18 years of age or older. Its adoption was prompted by the circumstances of the Vietnam War, where those 18 years of age were subject to be drafted into the military even though they were not yet old enough to vote. This amendment corrected that disparity.

Amendment XXVII

One of the most unusual amendments because of the amount of time it took to be ratified, this amendment provides that no congressional pay raise can take effect until the voters have had a chance to go to the polls in a congressional election. Throughout American history the issue of congressional pay increases has often led to great political controversy. Under this amendment, if Congress votes itself a pay raise, they must face the voters before that raise goes into effect, thereby giving the voters an opportunity to decide if the raise is warranted.  First proposed as one of the original amendments to the Constitution in 1789, this amendment lay dormant and unratified until a recent flurry of states ratified it. Since there was no time limit specified in the original amendment in 1789, this provision became part of the Constitution. [Ratified 1992]

American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), founded in 1920 to protect the constitutional rights of individuals and institutions, has been in the thick of many highly visible and often controversial cases involving free speech and the protection of civil rights. The organization depends on the support of dues-paying members and a corps of lawyers willing to volunteer their services to protect the First Amendment of the Constitution, and other constitutional provisions that bear on civil liberties. To visit the ACLU homepage, click here.

Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)

The ADA was formed in 1947 to promote a liberal political agenda including civil rights for all Americans. Among the founders of the organization were former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt; Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers; John Kenneth Galbraith, economist; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., historian; and others, including Hubert H. Humphrey, then mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who later, as a member of the U. S. Senate, would play a major role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. To visit the ADA homepage, click here.

Apportionment and Redistricting

The boundaries of congressional districts in all but the smallest states are redrawn at the beginning of every decade to equalize their populations. The need for such adjustment stems from the constitutional requirement that congressional districts have equal populations, together with a constantly shifting U.S. population. The alteration of old district lines to achieve new ideal populations is the essence of redistricting, or, as it is sometimes called, reapportionment. The first step in congressional redistricting is called apportionment. The Census Bureau calculates each state's share of congressional districts when the decennial census is finished. The second step is to adjust congressional boundaries within each state's border to achieve near equality in district populations. The result of this two-stage process is that district populations are made equal within states but, by strict standards, remain relatively unequal across states. The authority for congressional apportionment is constitutional. Article I, section 2 states that "Representatives shall be apportioned among the states according to their numbers."

Appropriation Bill

A bill granting the actual monies approved by an authorization bill, but not necessarily to the total approved; must originate in the House.

Article I

The first Article of the U.S. Constitution deals with the structure, duties, and powers of the legislative branch of government, the part of government that makes laws and has broad powers to influence the way all Americans live and work.

Article II

Article II is about the executive branch of government, how the president and vice president are elected, their terms of office, the powers of the president, and the president's powers in relationship to the legislative branch of government.  The Framers of the Constitution wanted to strike a balance between an all-powerful executive and a chief magistrate, an executive who would merely carry out the laws passed by Congress. Throughout American history there has been a constitutional tug of war between Congress and the president over the proper exercise of power. Throughout much of the 19th century, Congress held the upper hand in setting national policy and determining the course of national action. In the 20th century, however, the balance of power shifted in favor of the executive branch. Many factors accounted for this shift, but among them were the growth in the size and power of the executive branch as a result of two world wars and the actions of government to end the economic depression of the 1930s.

Article III

This article, on the powers of judicial branch of government, is very brief and contains very few details when compared with Articles I and II. It was up to Congress to establish the actual structure of the federal court system, which it did in the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Constitution does not mention one important function of the Supreme Court, which is known as judicial review, the right of the Supreme Court to declare state laws unconstitutional. This practice was established in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803 and upheld in many cases since that time.

Article III, Section 2

This section spells out the kinds of cases which can come directly to the Supreme Court without having been heard first in a lower court. It also provides for the familiar role the Supreme Court has of reviewing decisions of lower courts, which is known as appellate jurisdiction.  Another very important provision of Article III, section 2 is the right of anyone accused of a crime to have a trial by jury (except in cases of impeachment).

Article II, Section 2, Clause 3

This provision of the Constitution is now obsolete. But it is a reminder of a time when holding slaves was legal in the country and those who tried to escape became fugitive slaves who could be captured and returned to slavery.

Article V

This article describes the two methods by which the Constitution may be amended. One requires both houses of Congress to pass the proposed amendment by two-thirds vote in each house before submitting the amendment to the states for their approval (ratification). The second method is for two-thirds of the states to petition Congress to hold a national convention to propose amendments which would have to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. In the past 200 years there have been thousands of proposals introduced in Congress to amend the Constitution. But the Constitution has only been amended 27 times. Considering that the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were adopted in 1791, during the first two years of government under the Constitution, the Constitution has only been amended seventeen times in the past 206 years.

Article VI

This article calls for the new federal government to assume the debts of the earlier government which operated under the Articles of Confederation, this nation's first constitution. This was one of the most hotly debated topics at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.  Article VI also declares that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, binding all states and all courts to recognize that federal law takes precedence over state law.

Article VII

The shortest of all the articles of the Constitution, it provides the number of states necessary to ratify the Constitution. In 1787 there were thirteen states and nine were required for ratification.

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation is the name of the first United States Constitution used during the American Revolutionary era. It was introduced in the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776, drafted by John Dickinson and others, and sent to the states for ratification on November 15, 1777. It was not ratified by a sufficient number of states until March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation left most power to the state legislatures. There was no federal executive branch and only very limited federal court functions. Congress under the Articles of Confederation was a unicameral, or "one house," legislature which sometimes acted on judicial and executive matters. Members of the Confederation Congress voted by state with each state, regardless of the number of delegates in attendance, receiving only one vote. Congress could borrow money but most of its funds came from the state legislatures. Many members of Congress and the state legislatures were disappointed with the government as established under this constitution and in 1787 Congress called for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. The Federal Convention that met in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 went beyond mere revisions of the Articles of Confederation and drafted a whole new constitution, the one under which this nation is governed today. You may want to compare the similarities and the differences between the two constitutions. To see a copy of the Articles of Confederation, click here.

At-Large Representatives

Representatives from states with a population size qualifying for only one House seat.  At-Large Members represent Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Attorney General

The chief law officer and the legal counsel to the executive branch of government. The office of attorney general was created by Congress in 1789. The attorney general is also the chief administrator of the U. S. Department of Justice.

Authorization Bill

Authorization legislation has two functions: to provide legal authority for federal programs and activities and to authorize subsequent appropriations to fund them. Authorizations are within the jurisdiction of all House and Senate legislative committees, except the committees on appropriations. The bifurcated process of setting policy through authorizations and then separately appropriating annual funding, in place since 1836, is not constitutionally required but was instituted under the rules of the House and Senate to facilitate both policy-making and annual appropriations. Congressional committee structure and procedure draw clear distinctions between authorizing and appropriating and the committees with those respective responsibilities.

Bargaining

A political activity in which two or more congressmen attempt to influence each other in order to reach an agreement.

Beltway

An interstate highway encircling Washington, DC and passing through Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Bicameral

Composed of two legislative bodies, or houses, through which all bills must pass. Congress is a bicameral legislature, as are most state legislatures.

Bill

A proposed law, printed, and presented to Congress for action that may lead to its adoption through the legislative process. Many bills are introduced into each session of Congress, but few actually become law.

Bill of Attainder

The Constitution prohibits Congress from passing any law that strips an individual of civil rights or property.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. For more information, click here.

Bill Referral

When a member of Congress introduces a bill in the House or Senate, it is first referred to the proper House or Senate committee that has jurisdiction over the topic covered by the bill. Sometimes bills are referred to more than one committee. The committee (or committees) examines the bill and decides if it should be sent to the floor of the House or Senate to be voted on by all the members. Sometimes a bill is "killed" early in its journey through the House or Senate when it is referred to a committee which is unfavorable to its provisions, or when it is referred to several committees at the same time, which is called a joint referral.

Bill Sponsorship

When a member of Congress introduces a bill, he or she is said to be the bill's sponsor. A bill may have one or more sponsors. Many bills have hundreds of sponsors. The more sponsors, the better the likelihood of passage when the bill comes to the floor of the House or Senate. A member may later decide to remove his or her name as a sponsor of a bill, by announcing this change on the floor of the House or Senate.

Bipartisan

This word means "two party". If a bill has bipartisan support, it means that both major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats support it.

Blocs and Coalitions

Composed of members of legislative assemblies who work and vote together in pursuit of particular legislative goals, blocs and coalitions have arisen despite attempts by political party leaders to maintain strict party discipline. Such groups coalesce around policy issues on which neither political party has established a position that satisfies the constituents of group members. Congressional coalitions do not form with the intention of dominating the entire legislative agenda. Rather, they are interested in the resolution of particular and immediate policy questions.

Blue Dog Democrat

One of twenty-four conservative Democratic Members of the House of Representatives who have banded together to support a more centrist position on economic issues than that held by their party's leadership.  The name comes from the artwork of Louisiana painter, George Rodrigue, who is well-known for a series of paintings featuring an unusual blue dog.  The coalition formed after meeting regularly in the offices of two Louisiana Members, whose walls featured the blue dog paintings.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

This was a landmark civil rights case which struck down state laws which allowed for racial segregation in public schools. Racial segregation of public schools had been widely practiced in the United States and was sanctioned by an earlier Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the Plessy case the doctrine of "separate but equal" became the law of the land. But seldom, if ever, were the education facilities available provided to black school children equal to those of white students. In 1954, however, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier position and said: "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The Court cited the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws." Click here for more information.

Budget

A document sent to Congress by the president in January, detailing estimated revenue and expenditures for the next fiscal year and recommending appropriations. This is the first step in the process of determining annual appropriations bills for the money needed to keep the federal government operating.

Budget Process

The power of the purse granted to Congress in Article I of the Constitution has long been an essential element of Congress's role as a policymaker. In recent years, the budget process has become the central feature of the internal operations of Congress. It affects the relative power of committees, the resources of majority party leaders, the rules and floor procedures, and Congress's ability to negotiate with the president. Three important factors help explain the evolution of the congressional budget process and judgments about its performance. First, the experimentation in congressional budgeting since the late 1960s reflects legislative attempts to adapt to a rapidly changing budgetary, economic, and political environment. Second, the development of the congressional budget process reflects the constitutional separation of powers and institutional combat between the executive and legislative branches. Third, apparent inconsistencies in Congress's budgeting performance reflect the tension between two basic roles of members of Congress: that of responsible national policymakers versus that of local district representatives concerned about reelection and oriented toward providing tangible benefits for constituents.

Bully Pulpit

A term which stems from President Theodore Roosevelt''s reference to the White House as a "bully pulpit," meaning a terrific platform from which to persuasively advocate an agenda.  Roosevelt often used the word "bully" as an adjective meaning superb or wonderful.  Roosevelt also had political affiliation with the Progressive Party, nicknamed the "Bull Moose" party.  It got the moniker when Roosevelt ran for President as its candidate in 1912, after declaring himself as "fit as a bull moose."

Byrd, Robert Carlyle

Robert Carlyle Byrd (b. 1917), a Democrat of West Virginia, served in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1953 to 1959, and has served in the U. S. Senate since 1959. He has served in leadership posts in Senate, as Democratic whip from 1971 to 1977; minority leader from 1981 to 1987; majority leader 1977-81; and from 1987 to 1989. During the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Senator Byrd was the only non-southern Democrat to vote against cloture. He has written about the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act in his 4- volume history of the United States Senate. To read Senator Byrd's account of the filibuster click here

Calendar

Schedule of the order in which bills will be considered on the House or Senate floor.

Calendar Wednesday

Procedure by which standing committees may call bills out of regular calendar order on Wednesdays; not often used.

Call up a Bill

To raise a bill on the floor for immediate consideration.

Campaign Committees

The four congressional campaign committees- the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)- were founded to assist in the reelection of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Though they continue to pursue this mission, their focus has broadened to include the recruitment and election of challengers and of candidates for open seats. They have also increased the kinds and quantity of the assistance they provide to candidates.

Capitation

Congress is prohibited from levying taxes on the basis of an equal sum per person. This is sometimes called a head tax or a poll tax.

Capitol Hill

The Capitol Hill neighborhood is relatively compact, generally considered to be bounded by Massachusetts Avenue on the north, the foot of the Capitol on the west, E Street on the south, and Lincoln Park and 11th Street on the east. The most important buildings are the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress (now in three separate structures), the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Botanic Gardens, and Union Station. The Capitol Complex includes the Russell, Dirksen, and Hart Senate office buildings and the Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn House office buildings. 

Casework

Intermediary work performed by members of Congress on behalf of constituents who may have problems, or "cases," with the federal government.

Caucus

An informal group of Members sharing an interest in the same policy issues.  Every member of Congress is automatically a member of his or her party caucus.  Other examples include the Arts Caucus, the Women's Caucus, the Black Caucus, the Rural Caucus, etc.

Celler, Emanuel

Emanuel Celler (1888-1981), a Democrat of New York, served in the House of Representatives for fifty years from 1923 to 1973. He was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 1949 to 1952 and again from 1955 to 1972. As a liberal Democrat he supported civil rights legislation that came before his committee and played a key role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Censure

An official reprimand or condemnation.

Census

Population count held every ten years, pursuant to provisions of the U. S. Constitution.

Chamber

The actual meeting places of the total membership of either the House or Representatives or Senate. The Senate chamber is the place where Senators gather to debate and vote on bills. The House chamber, at the opposite side of the Capitol from the Senate chamber, is where House members gather to debate and vote on bills. Sometimes the chamber is referred to as the "floor" of the House or Senate. When the members of the House or Senate are gathered in their respective chambers, the entire assembly is called a "house" of Congress or a "body."

Checks and Balances

The mixing of legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the U.S. Constitution is known as the system of checks and balances. The mixing is particularly noteworthy because the Constitution is based on the doctrine of separation of powers, which requires clear demarcation of the powers and responsibilities of the institutions entrusted with different government functions. The separation of powers is an institutional device fashioned partly to prevent the tyranny thought to result from concentrating legislative, executive, and judicial powers in a single person or in one part of the government. From their study of history, however, the Framers of the Constitution understood that the complete separation of functions had failed to prevent the accumulation of different types of powers in one institution. To help ensure that the powers would remain separated, the Framers qualified the separation-of-powers doctrine by mixing executive, legislative, and judicial powers, thereby giving each branch a set of tools with which to prevent encroachment on its powers by either of the other branches.

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice of the United States is mentioned only once in the Constitution. Article 3 of the Constitution, which is about the judicial branch of government, does not refer to the Chief Justice. While the framers of the Constitution planned for the establishment of a Supreme Court and a federal court system, the details were left to Congress to determine by law. The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 established the Supreme Court and the federal court system. It is proper to refer to the Chief Justice as the Chief Justice of the United States, not as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Chuse

No, this is not a misprint. It is merely an 18th century spelling of the word choose. You will find chuse and chusing used elsewhere in the Constitution.

Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties is the overall term for the fundamental liberties,
privileges, and immunities of citizens that are protected by law.

Civil Rights

Civil rights are those rights that belong to all persons who are citizens of a state or country. These include those rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments to the Constitution, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Not all citizens have had the equal benefit of civil rights, especially minorities, such as African Americans and other ethnic or religious minorities, and women. The laws of the United States in the last half century have generally moved in the direction of guaranteeing all Americans full protection of the law and full exercise of their civil rights. The civil rights movement of the 1960s made great strides forward in this area. Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this important law has been expanded and modified on numerous occasions to address the continuing struggle to insure the civil rights of all Americans are protected and that the law is fair to all.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957

This law, the first civil rights legislation passed in eighty years, was introduced by the Eisenhower administration in 1956. Congress, after much delay and debate, passed it the following year. It was limited in scope and not as far-reaching or as comprehensive as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It did, however, create a Civil Rights Commission and a civil rights division in the Department of Justice. It prohibited interference in the exercise of voting rights but depended on the filing of citizen complaints before voting irregularities would be investigated by the federal government. This act was an important first step which helped pave the way for additional legislation related to civil rights.

Civil Rights Act of 1960

This act attempted to deal with some of the deficiencies of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and strengthen protection of African Americans exercising their right to vote. But a key provision of the bill which would have provided for federal voting registrars in the South was defeated by southern opposition. The act did require that voting and registration records be preserved. It extended the life of the Civil Rights Commission. It also made any criminal act using explosives a federal crime for the first time.

Clean Bill

Bill written by a standing committee, incorporating recommended changes plus what is left of the original bill into a new measure with a new bill number.

Clerk of the House

The chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives.  The Clerk creates and maintains legislative documents, voting tallies, and other records.

Cloakrooms

L-shaped rooms located adjacent to the House and Senate chambers and beneath the visitors' galleries, the Capitol cloakrooms were originally used for storing members' personal belongings while they were on the floor. Both the House and Senate have Democratic and Republican cloakrooms, modestly furnished with chairs, sofas, and telephones. Members use the cloakrooms to conduct conversations without disrupting business on the floor. They may discuss strategy on legislation, conduct business by telephone, purchase a light meal, read newspapers, watch television, or rest. Cloakrooms are among the few areas of the Capitol restricted to members only. No personal staff members are allowed in the cloakrooms; selected committee staff may be allowed access when they have legislation pending on the floor. Over time, communications equipment has been added, and the cloakrooms have become clearinghouses for information relating to the status of business on the floor and centers for disseminating information from the leadership to the members. Staff persons and pages are assigned to the cloakrooms to relay messages to members, to inform them regarding the scheduling of legislation, and to notify members when their presence is required on the floor.

Closed Rule

A rule by the House Rules Committee that limits or prevents amendments to a bill placed on the Calendar.

Cloture, or Closure

The procedure used to cut off debate and end a filibuster is known as cloture. A filibuster is a delaying tactic used in the Senate to prevent a vote on a bill or resolution. The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has a tradition of unlimited debate. The Senate cannot stop debate as long as at least one Senator objects to cutting off the debate. Therefore, a Senator, or a small group of Senators, could delay the business of the Senate by keeping control of the floor in endless debate.  Senate rules were changed in 1917 to help control filibusters by creating a procedure called cloture, which means to bring a debate to a close. Under the cloture rule (Senate Rule XXII), if at least 16 Senators want to end debate they can petition the Senate. Two days after the filing of the petition the Senate would take a vote to end debate by placing a one-hour time limit on each Senator. Debate, and therefore the filibuster, would be ended and the matter before the Senate would be brought to a vote if two-thirds of the Senators present voted for cloture. This was the rule in force during the debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1975, however, the rule on cloture was changed to reduce the number of votes required to invoke cloture from a two-thirds to three-fifths of those present. In other words, since 1975 it has been easier to cut off a filibuster than it was before. If, however, the Senate is filibustering consideration of a change in a Senate rule rather than a bill, two-thirds of the members present are still required to achieve cloture. During Senate consideration of a civil rights bill in 1957, for example, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina opposed the bill and filibustered it by holding the floor of the Senate for 24 hours and 18 minutes. During the long filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Senate stayed in session around the clock, forcing Senators to eat and sleep near the Senate chamber.

Coalition

A temporary alliance of individuals or groups, often from opposing political parties.

COLA