Calendar of Business:
An agenda or list of business eligible for floor consideration. Each house decides which measures are discussed, and in what order, in accordance with its rules and practices.

Calendar Wednesday:
On Wednesdays in the House, committees may be called in the order in which they appear in Rule X of the House, for the purpose of bringing up any of their bills for either the House or the Union Calendar, except bills that are privileged. General debate is limited to two hours. Bills called up from the Union Calendar are considered in the Committee of the Whole. It is primarily a method for circumventing the Rules Committee’s refusal to report special rules granting privilege to those measures. Calendar Wednesday is not observed during the last two weeks of a session and may be dispensed with at other times by a two-thirds vote. This procedure is rarely used and is routinely dispensed with by unanimous consent. 

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Call of the Calendar:
Senate bills not brought up for debate by a motion, unanimous consent or a unanimous consent agreement are brought before the Senate for action when the calendar listing them is "called." Bills must be called in the order listed. Measures considered by this method usually are non-controversial, and debate on the bill and any proposed amendments is limited to a total of five minutes for each senator. Party leaders and their aides check with senators beforehand to make sure that no one objects to the measures. The system is referred to as "the clearance process."

Caucus:
From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of Members of the House or the Senate, or both, that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.

Chairman:
The presiding officer of a committee or subcommittee. In the Senate, chairmanship is based on seniority of committee tenure, but a Senator may not chair more than one standing committee.

Chairman's Mark/Staff Draft:
Recommendation by committee (or subcommittee) chair of the measure to be considered in a markup, usually drafted as a bill.

Chamber:
The meeting place for the membership of either the House or Senate; also the membership of the House or Senate meeting as such. A chamber is often referred to as "the floor."

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Chaplain:
A clergyman elected by the Senate to open its daily sessions with prayer. The chaplain is also available as an advisor and counselor to Senators, Senators' families, and congressional employees.

"Christmas Tree" Bill:
Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments. (See also Rider.) The amendments that adorn the bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests. 

Classes of Senators:
Senators are elected to six-year terms, and the terms of one-third of the Senators expire every two years. A class is the approximately one-third of the Senate elected in the same general election.

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Clean Bill:
Frequently after a committee has finished a major revision of a bill, one of the committee members, usually the chairman, will assemble the changes and what is left of the original bill into a new measure and introduce it as a "clean bill." The revised measure, which is given a new number, then is referred back to the committee, which reports it to the floor for consideration. This often is a time-saver, as separate floor votes are avoided for committee-recommended changes in a clean bill. Reporting a clean bill also protects committee amendments that are subject to points of order concerning germaneness.

Clerk of the House:
Chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives, responsible principally for administrative support of the legislative process in the House. Duties correspond to those of the Secretary of the Senate. (See also Secretary of the Senate.)

Closed Rule:
Permits general debate for a specified period of time but generally permits no amendments.

Cloakroom:
Democratic and Republican cloakrooms adjacent to the Senate chamber serve as gathering places for party members to discuss chamber business privately.

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Cloture:
The process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate other than by unanimous consent. A motion for cloture can apply to any measure before the Senate, including a proposal to change the chamber’s rules. A cloture motion requires the signatures of 16 senators to be introduced. To end a filibuster, the cloture motion must obtain the votes of three-fifths of the entire Senate membership (60 if there are no vacancies), except when the filibuster is against a proposal to amend the standing rules of the Senate and a two-thirds vote of senators present and voting is required. The cloture request is put to a roll-call vote one hour after the Senate meets on the second day following the introduction of the motion. 

If approved, cloture limits each senator to one hour of debate. The bill or amendment in question comes to a final vote after 30 hours of consideration (including debate time it takes to conduct roll calls, quorum calls and other procedural motions.) (See also Filibuster.)   Also see the CRS Reports discussing filibusters and cloture linked on our Legislation and Legislatures page.

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Cluster Voting:
Allowance for sequential recorded votes on a series of measures or amendments that the House finished debating at an earlier time or on a previous date. The Speaker can reduce the minimum time for the second and subsequent votes in the series to five minutes each.

Colloquy:
Discussion between members during floor proceedings, generally to put on the record a mutual understanding about the intent of a provision or amendment. The discussion is usually scripted in advance.

Committee Amendment:
An amendment recommended by a committee in reporting a bill or other measure.

Committee Calendar:
Senate committees periodically publish a committee calendar that lists the bills and resolutions referred to them, action taken on those measures, and other relevant information.

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Committee Jurisdiction:
The subjects and functions assigned to a committee by rule, resolution, precedent, or practice, including legislative matters, oversight and investigations, and nominations of executive officers.

Committee Membership:
Senators are assigned to specific committees by their party conference. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.

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Committee of the Whole:
The working title of what is formally "The Committee of the Whole House (of Representatives) on the State of the Union." The membership is composed of all House members sitting as a committee. Any 100 members present on the floor of the chamber to consider legislation comprise a quorum of the committee. Any legislation taken up by the Committee of the Whole, however, must first have passed through the regular legislative or Appropriations Committee, and have been placed on the calendar.

Technically, the Committee of the Whole considers only bills directly or indirectly appropriating money, authorizing appropriations or involving taxes or charges on the public. Because the Committee of the Whole need number only 100 representatives, a quorum is more readily attained, and legislative business is expedited. Before 1971, members’ positions were not individually recorded on votes taken in Committee of the Whole. (See Teller Vote.)

When the full House resolves itself into the Committee of the Whole, it supplants the Speaker with a "chairman." A measure is debated and amendments may be proposed, with votes on amendments as needed. (See also Five-Minute Rule.) The committee, however, cannot pass a bill. When the committee completes its work on the measure, it dissolves itself by "rising." The Speaker returns and the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole reports to the House that the committee’s work has been completed. At this time members may demand a roll-call vote on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole. The final vote is on passage of the legislation.

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Committee on Committees:
Committees formed in each party conference and responsible for nominating the party's Senators to committee membership and committee leadership positions. Nominations are subject to approval by the full party conference and to a formal vote of the Senate.

Committee Print:
A publication used by committees for various purposes. For example, the rules of each standing committee may be published as a committee print, and drafts of bills or committee reports may be produced as committee prints.

Committee Report:
Document accompanying a measure reported from a committee. It contains an explanation of the provisions of the measure, arguments for its approval, and other information.

Committee Substitute:
Short for committee amendment in the nature of a substitute.

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Committee Veto:
A requirement added to report language directing that certain policy directives by an executive department or agency be reviewed by certain congressional committees before they are implemented. Under common practice, the government department or agency and the committee involved are expected to reach a consensus before the directives are carried out especially when an appropriations committee is involved. (See  also Legislative Veto.)

Companion Bill or Measure:
Similar or identical legislation that is introduced in the Senate and House. House and Senate lawmakers who share similar views on legislation may introduce a companion bill in their respective chambers to promote simultaneous consideration of the measure.

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Concurrent Resolution:
A concurrent resolution, designated H. Con. Res. in the House or S. Con. Res. in the Senate, must be adopted by both houses but is not sent to the president for his signature and therefore does not have the force of law. A concurrent resolution, for example, is used to fix the time for adjournment of a Congress. It also is used as the vehicle for expressing the sense of Congress on various foreign policy and domestic issues, and it serves as the vehicle for coordinated decisions on the federal budget under the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. (See also Bills, Joint Resolution.)

Conditional Adjournment:
When Congress adjourns for more than three days, authority is often provided the Speaker and President Pro Tempore (or the Senate Majority Leader) to reconvene Congress at an earlier date to address an emergency or important issue. This authority is provided in the concurrent resolution authorizing the conditional adjournment.

Conferees:
Senators appointed to serve on conference committees. They are also called "managers." Conferees are usually appointed from the committee or committees that reported the legislation; they are expected to try and uphold the Senate's position on measures when they negotiate with conferees from the other body.

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Conference:
(1) A formal meeting between the representatives of the House and the Senate to reconcile differences between the two houses on provisions of a bill passed by both chambers. Members of the conference committee are appointed by the Speaker and the presiding officer of the Senate and are called "managers" for their respective chambers. A majority of the managers for each house must reach agreement on the provisions of the bill (often a compromise between the versions of the two chambers) before either chamber can consider it in the form of a "conference report." When the conference report goes to the floor, it cannot be amended, and if both chambers do not approve it, the bill may go back to conference in certain situations, or a new conference must be convened. Many rules and informal practices govern the conduct of conference committees.

Bills passed by both houses with only minor differences must be sent to conference. Either chamber may "concur" in the other’s amendments, completing action on the legislation. Sometimes leaders of the committee of jurisdiction work out an informal compromise instead of having a formal conference. (See Custody of the Papers.) (2) A common reference to a conference committee. (3) The official title and the organization of all Republicans in both houses of Congress.

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Conference Committee:
A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees that is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation. (See also Amendments between the Houses.)

Conference, Party:
The organization of all party members in the chamber. The conferences elect the party and committee leaders as well as rank-and-file committee members from their party. The conferences meet periodically to discuss political strategy and review party positions on pending legislative business.

Conference Report:
The compromise product negotiated by the conference committee. The "conference report," which is printed and available to Senators, is submitted to each chamber for its consideration, such as approval or disapproval. (See also Joint Explanatory Statement of Managers.)

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Confirmations:
Informal term for the Senate giving "Advice and Consent" to a presidential nomination for an executive or judicial position.  (See also Nominations.) 

Congressional Record:
The daily printed account of proceedings in both the House and Senate chambers, showing substantially verbatim debate, statements, and a record of floor action. Highlights of legislative and committee action are embodied in a Daily Digest section of the Record, and members are entitled to have their extraneous remarks printed in an appendix known as "Extension of Remarks." Members may edit and revise remarks made on the floor during debate, and quotations from debate reported by the press are not always found in the Record.

The Congressional Record provides a way to distinguish remarks spoken on the floor of the House and Senate from undelivered speeches. In the Senate, large black dots, or bullets set off all speeches, articles and other matter that members insert in the Record without actually reading them on the floor. However, a loophole allows a member to avoid the bulleting if he delivers any portion of the speech in person. In the House, undelivered speeches and other material are printed in a distinctive typeface. (See also Journal.)

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Congressional Terms of Office:
Normally begin on January 3 of the year following a general election and are two years for representatives and six years for senators. Representatives elected in special elections are sworn in for the remainder of the predecessor’s term. A person may be appointed to fill a Senate vacancy and either serves until a successor is elected or until the next general election. The successor serves until the end of the term applying to the vacant seat. 

Consideration:
To "call up" or "lay down" a bill or other measure on the Senate floor is to place it before the full Senate for consideration, including debate, amendment, and voting. Measures normally come before the Senate for consideration by the Majority Leader requesting unanimous consent that the Senate take it up.

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Continuing Resolution (CR):
A joint resolution enacted by Congress and signed by the president (when the new fiscal year is about to begin or has begun) to provide new budget authority for federal agencies and programs to continue in operation until the regular appropriations acts are enacted. (See also Appropriations Bills.)

The continuing resolution usually specifies a maximum rate at which an agency may incur obligations, based on the rate of the prior year, the president’s budget request or an appropriations bill passed by either or both houses of Congress but not yet enacted.

Continuing resolutions are also called "CRs" or continuing appropriations. In the House, CRs are privileged after September 15.

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Contract Authority:
Budget authority contained in an authorization bill that permits the federal government to enter into contracts or other obligations for future payments from funds not yet appropriated by Congress. The assumption is that funds will be available for payment in a subsequent appropriations act.

Controllable Budget Items:
In federal budgeting this refers to programs for which the budget authority or outlays during a fiscal year can be controlled without changing existing, substantive law. The concept "relatively uncontrollable under current law" includes outlays for open-ended programs and fixed costs such as interest on the public debt, Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits and outlays to liquidate prior-year obligations. More and more spending for federal programs has become uncontrollable or relatively uncontrollable. 

Controlled Time:
When a unanimous consent agreement limits the time for debate on a bill or other measure and places it under the control of bill floor managers, the time is said to be controlled. Each manager then allows any senator to participate in debate by yielding a specified amount of time to the senator.

Cordon Rule:
Senate rule that requires a committee report to show changes the reported measure would make in current law.

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Correcting Recorded Votes:
Rules prohibit members of both houses from changing their votes after the result has been taken, a member may announce that he/she was "incorrectly recorded." In the Senate, a request to change one’s vote almost always receives unanimous consent. In the House, members are prohibited from changing their votes if tallied by the electronic voting system. If the vote was taken by roll call, a change is permissible if consent is granted. 

Corrections Day Calendar:
A June 20, 1995 House Resolution allowed the replacement of the Consent Calendar by a new Corrections Day Calendar. This recent resolution enables the house Speaker to invoke the new House Floor Schedule on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month after "consultation" with the Minority Leader. Any legislation considered under the new floor schedule requires a 3/5 majority for passage. In addition, only bills reported favorably by a committee will be considered under the new calendar.

Cost Estimate:
A Congressional Budget Office estimate of outlays from reported legislation.

Credit Authority:
Authority to incur direct loan obligations or make loan guarantee commitments.

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Current Services Estimates:
Estimated budget authority and outlays for federal programs and operations for the forthcoming fiscal year based on continuation of existing levels of service without policy changes. The president transmits these estimates of budget authority and outlays to Congress, accompanied by the underlying economic and policy assumptions upon which they are based, when the budget is submitted.

Custody of the Papers:
Possession of an engrossed measure and certain related basic documents that the two houses produce as they try to resolve their differences over the measure. To reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill, a conference may be arranged. The chamber with "custody of the papers" - the engrossed bill, engrossed amendments and messages of transmittal - is the only body empowered to request the conference report once agreement has been reached on the bill by the conferees.

Custody of the papers sometimes is manipulated to ensure that a particular chamber acts either first or last on the conference report. (See also Papers.)

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The sources for this glossary include the US Senate and the Congressional Deskbook.

URL:  TheCapitol.Net/glossary/c.htm      Last updated: January 01, 2008