AP Gov Ch. 4 1-16

• Pork Barrel Spending 


  legislation that directs specific funds to projects within districts or states
• logrolling


  trading of votes on legislation by members of Congress to get their earmarks passed into legislation
• oversight


  efforts by Congress to ensure that executive branch agencies, bureaus, and cabinet departments, as well as their officials are acting legally and in accordance with congressional goals
• constituency 


  a body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator
• apportionment


  the process of determining the number of representatives for each state using census data
• redistricting


  state's redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census
• gerrymandering


  the intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or group of voters
• incumbency


  being already in office as opposed to running from the first time
• Speaker of the House


  the leader of the House of Representatives, chosen by an election of its members
• Political Action Committee (PAC)


  an organization that raises money for the candidates and campaign for the upcoming election
• House Majority Leader


  the person who is second in command of the House of Representatives
• Whip


  a member of Congress chosen by his or her party members, whose job is to ensure party unity and discipline
• Minority Leader


  the head of the party with the second-highest number of seats in Congress, chosen by the party's members
• Senate Majority Leader


  the person who has the most power in the Senate and is the head of the party with the most seats
• Committee Chair


  leader of a Congressional committee who has authority over the committee's agenda
• Discharge Petition


  a motion filed by a member of Congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote