Calendar – List of bills awaiting action, entered in order reported.
Cap – The legal limit on new spending and budget authority in a discretionary appropriations category of the budget during a particular fiscal year.
Capped Entitlement – An entitlement on which an overall annual funding limit is placed and funding is distributed by formula.
Casework – Assistance to constituents who seek help in dealing with federal and local government agencies. Constituent service is a high priority in most members’ offices. Caseworkers on members’ staff advise constituents about agency regulations and procedures, determine whether any complaints are justified, and try to persuade agencies to rectify errors or injustices. Most cases involve problems with Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits, and immigration.
Casting Vote – The Vice President’s vote while presiding over the Senate. It may be cast only to break a tie vote, but the Vice President is not required to vote.
Categorical Grant – An allocation of funds for a particular programmatic purpose.
Caucus – Meeting of legislators of the same political party to decide policy or a course of action.
Censure – The strongest formal condemnation of a member for misconduct short of expulsion. A house usually adopts a resolution of censure to express its condemnation, after which the presiding officer reads its rebuke aloud to the member in the presence of his or her colleagues.
Chamber – The Capitol room in which a house of Congress normally holds its sessions. The chamber of the House of Representatives, officially called the Hall of the House, is considerably larger than that of the Senate because it must accommodate 435 representatives, 4 delegates, and 1 resident commissioner. Unlike the Senate chamber, House members have no desks or assigned seats. In both chambers, the floor slopes downward to the well in front of the presiding officer’s raised desk. A chamber is often referred to as the “floor”, as when members are said to be on or going to the floor.
Chairman – The presiding officer of a committee (including the Committee of the Whole), a subcommittee, or a task force. At meetings, the chairman preserves order, enforces the rules, recognizes members to speak or offer motions, and puts questions to a vote. Senate committee chairman are invariably selected on the basis of seniority on the committee, but they may not chair more than one standing committee. House chairmen are chosen by their party’s caucus or conference, usually on the basis of seniority, and they, too, may chair only one standing committee. Although chairmen are formally elected by their houses, they are always the nominees of the majority party.
Classes of Senators – A class consists of the thirty-three or thirty-four senators elected to a six-year term in the same general election. Since the terms of approximately one-third of the senators expire every two years, there are three classes.
Clean Bill – After a committee has considered and revised a bill, it may rewrite it, incorporating its amendments into a new or “clean” bill. This bill is given a new number and is the committee’s best judgment of the superior sections in all versions.
Clerk of the House – An officer of the House of Representatives responsible principally for administrative support of the legislative process in the House. Invariably the candidate of the majority party, the clerk is elected by resolution at the beginning of each Congress and continues in office until a successor is chosen.
Clerk-Hire – The personal staff to which a member is entitled. The clerk-hire allowance is the maximum amount of money available to a member to compensate his or her staff. In the House, both the number of staff a member may hire and the allowance amount are established by law or resolution. The Senate sets no limit on the number of personal staff a senator may hire within the limits of the allowance, but senators from the more populous states are authorized larger sums.
Closed Hearing – A hearing closed to the public and the press. A House committee may close its hearing only if it determines that disclosure of the testimony to be taken would endanger national security, violate any law, or tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person. The Senate has a similar rule.
Closed Rule – (House) Prohibits the offering of amendments, thus requiring that the bill be accepted or rejected as reported by committee.
Cloture – Process by which debate can be ended in the Senate. Cloture limits further consideration of a pending proposal to thirty hours to end a filibuster. A motion for cloture requires 16 Senators’ signatures for introduction and the support of two-thirds of those present and voting.
Colloquy – A formal conversational exchange between members during floor proceedings. The device is often used to obtain information or to put mutual understandings about the intent of a measure, a provision, or an amendment into the Congressional Record, thereby establishing legislative history for the guidance of executive officials and the courts.
Comity – The practice of maintaining mutual courtesy and civility between the two houses in their dealings with each other and in members’ speeches on the floor.
Committee – A subdivision of the House or Senate that prepares legislation for action by the parent chamber. There are several types of committees. Most standing committees are divided into subcommittees, which study legislation, hold hearings, and report their recommendations to the full committee. Only the full committee can report legislation for action by the House or Senate. (See also Committee of the Whole, Conference Committee, Joint Committee, Special Committee, Standing Committee, Subcommittee.)
Committee Assignments – The committees on which a member serves.
Committee Jurisdiction – The legislative subjects and other functions assigned to a committee by rule, precedent, resolution, or statute. A committee’s title usually indicates the general scope of its jurisdiction, but often fails to mention other significant subjects assigned to it. Because each house has a relatively small number of standing committees, many of them have immense jurisdictions, which is one reason for the creation of numerous subcommittees.
Committee of the Whole – All members on the floor of the House sit as one committee to consider legislation reported by a standing committee before it goes to the floor. The Committee of the Whole debates and amends legislation and requires only 100 members for a quorum.
Committee on Committees – A political party committee that assigns party members to positions on standing committees and most select committees in its house, subject to approval by the party organization and pro forma election by the chamber. Ordinarily, the committee only fills vacant positions, adhering to the custom that members should not be removed from their assignments without their consent.
Committee Ratios – The ratios of majority to minority party members on committees. By custom, the ratios of most committees reflect party strength in their respective houses as closely as possibly. In the House, however, the Appropriations, Budget, Rules, and Ways and Means committees often have disproportionate ratios to ensure firm majority party control.
Concur – Agree to an amendment of the other house, either by adopting a motion to concur in that amendment or by a motion to concur with an amendment to that amendment.
Concurrent Budget Resolution – A budget resolution passed by both houses, but not requiring the signature of the President. The annual budget resolution presents both fiscal aggregates such as total budget authority, outlays and deficit, and a subdivision of spending by functional category for the year. May also include binding instructions on the level of savings each committee must produce.
Concurrent Resolution – A concurrent resolution, designated H Con Res or S Con Res, must be adopted by both houses but is not sent to the President for signature and does not have the force of law. A concurrent resolution is used to express the sense of Congress on a particular issue, to serve as a vehicle for coordinated decisions under the federal budget, or to fix the time of adjournment.
Conference – A formal meeting or series of meetings between members representing each house to reconcile House and Senate differences on a measure. Also, the official title of the organization of all Democrats or Republicans in the Senate and of all Republicans of the House.
Conference Committee – A committee made up of members from both chambers. Its purpose is to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Members of the conference committee are appointed by the leader of each body. The committee must reach agreements on the provisions of the bill (often a compromise) before it can be sent up for final floor action in the form of a “conference report.”
Conference Report – A document submitted to both houses that contains a conference committee’s agreements for resolving their differences on a measure. It must be signed by a majority of the conferees from each house and must be accompanied by an explanatory statement. Both houses prohibit amendments to a conference report and require it to be accepted or rejected in its entirety.
Congress – 1) The national legislature of the United States, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. 2) The national legislature in office during a two-year period. Congresses are numbered sequentially; thus the 1st Congress of 1789-1791 and the 102nd Congress of 1991-1993.
Congressional Budget Office – A congressional support agency created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to provide nonpartisan budgetary information and analysis to Congress and its committees.
“Congressional Directory” – The official who’s who of Congress, usually published during the first session of a two-year Congress. Among other features, it contains brief biographies of all members and their committee assignments, office locations, and telephone numbers. The Directory has been published by Congress continuously since 1821.
Congressional District – The geographical area represented by a single member of the House of Representatives. For states with only one representative, the entire state is a congressional district.
“Congressional Record” – Daily record of the proceedings and debates of the Senate and the House; not always a verbatim account of floor debate.
Congressional Research Office – A department of the Library of Congress whose staff provide nonpartisan, objective analyses and information on virtually any subject to committees, members, and staff of Congress. Established in 1917 as the Legislative Research Service, it is the oldest congressional support agency.
Congressional Terms of Office – A term normally begins on January 3 of the year following a general election and runs two years for representatives and six years for senators.
Consider – To take up a measure, motion, or matter for the purpose of acting on it.
Constitutional Rules – Constitutional provisions that prescribe procedures for Congress.
Constitutional Votes – Constitutional provisions that require certain votes or voting methods in specific situations.
Contempt of Congress – Willful obstruction of the proper functions of Congress. Most frequently, it is a refusal to obey a subpoena to appear and testify before a committee or to produce documents demanded by it. Such obstruction is a misdemeanor and persons cited for contempt are subject to prosecution in federal courts.
Continuing Appropriation – When a fiscal year begins and Congress has not yet enacted all the regular appropriation bills for that year, it passes a joint resolution “continuing appropriations” for government agencies at rates generally based on their previous year’s appropriations.
Continuing Resolution – Legislation which extends appropriations for specific ongoing programs when the regular appropriation has not been enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1).
Cosponsor – A member who has joined one or more other members to sponsor a measure.