Congressional Glossary

A filibuster is a Senate tactic that blocks or delays a vote by refusing to end debate. Most legislation stalls until 60 senators vote to cut debate off.

Cloture is the Senate motion that ends debate and forces a final vote. On most legislation it takes 60 votes; on nominations, a simple majority.

A quorum is the minimum number of members who must be present to do business: a majority of each chamber, which means 218 of 435 in the House and 51 of 100 in the Senate.

A roll-call vote is a vote in which each member's name and position are recorded. It is the only kind of congressional vote that shows exactly how your senators and representative voted.

A motion to table sets aside a bill, amendment, or other question permanently. In Congress, a successful motion to table kills the measure without a direct vote on its merits.

A discharge petition forces a bill out of a House committee and onto the floor once 218 members, a majority of the House, sign it. It is the main way around leadership control of the agenda.

A supermajority is any voting threshold higher than a simple majority. In Congress that usually means 60 of 100 senators to end debate, or two-thirds of each chamber for the biggest decisions.

A pocket veto kills a bill through presidential inaction. If Congress adjourns during the 10 days the president has to act, an unsigned bill simply dies, and Congress gets no chance to override.

An omnibus bill packages many separate measures, often all or most of the government's annual spending bills, into one giant bill that passes or fails on a single vote.

Unanimous consent is how the Senate does most of its work: the chamber agrees to set aside its rules and act immediately, so long as not one senator objects.

Budget reconciliation is a fast-track process that lets Congress pass certain tax, spending, and debt-limit legislation with a simple majority in the Senate, because debate is capped by law and no filibuster is possible.

A continuing resolution, or CR, is a stopgap law that keeps the government funded at existing levels when Congress has not passed its regular appropriations bills. No CR and no appropriations means a shutdown.

A voice vote decides a question by members calling out "aye" or "no" together, with the presiding officer judging which side sounded larger. No individual positions are recorded.

A motion to proceed asks the Senate to begin considering a bill or resolution. Because the motion itself can be debated, and filibustered, many measures die before their debate ever starts.

Germaneness is the requirement that an amendment stay on the subject of the bill it amends. The House enforces it strictly; the Senate, with a few exceptions, does not have the rule at all.

A motion to recommit is the House minority's last chance to derail a bill, offered after debate ends and just before the vote on final passage. If it carries, the bill goes back to committee.

The previous question is the House motion that cuts off debate and forces an immediate vote. It is the reason the House has no filibuster, and its absence in the Senate is the reason the Senate does.

A pro forma session is a brief meeting of the House or Senate, often under a minute long, held to satisfy a constitutional formality. No votes are taken and usually no business is conducted.

Voting present means answering a roll call without taking a side: not yea, not nay, just present. The vote counts for attendance and quorum purposes but not toward passing or defeating the question.

A veto override is Congress passing a bill into law over the president's veto. It takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber, one of the hardest thresholds in American government.