LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK

USEFUL INFORMATION

Congressional Record A daily publication of the federal government that details the legislative proceedings of Congress.

The Congressional Recordbegan in 1873 and, in 1947, a feature called The Daily Digest was added to briefly highlight the daily legislative activities of each House, committee, and sub-committee.

The text of the Congressional Record is not a verbatim transcript of the statements made on the floor of the Senate or the House of Representatives. After obtaining permission from their respective Houses to do so, members of Congress can revise their speeches prior to publication in the Record and are permitted to extend their comments to include remarks not made on the floor of Congress.

Terms and notions

(pch) Placed on Calendar House; (PCs) Placed on Calendar Senate – This phrase accompanies a bill that is pending before committees of either house. The bill is assigned a calendar number, which determines when it will be considered by that house.

Caucusn.- Generally, a caucus is a meeting of a political party’s members to choose candidates for office or to form policy. In presidential politics, an informal caucus is a meeting in which potential voters and candidates talk about issues, and then voters decide which candidate they support and which delegates to send to their political party’s convention. In a layered caucus system, loyal party activists decide which candidate they support and select delegates to county meetings, who then select new delegates to state meetings, who then decide which delegates will go to national nominating conventions to select a candidate. The most well-known presidential caucus is the Iowa caucus, an example of a layered caucus. Held in January, the Iowa caucus is the first test for both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

Another use of the term "caucus" refers to a group of legislators who convene to discuss particular issues or pursue common objectives. There are many caucuses in the U.S. Congress, from the well-known, such as the Congressional Black Caucus and the Senate Women’s Caucus, to the more obscure, such as the Congressional Kidney Caucus.
Standing committee –a committee that is established for ongoing business, that continues to exist from session to session, and that is usu. charged with considering business of a certain recurring kind.

Joint committee– a legislative committee composed of members of both Houses of a legislature.

Legislative jurisdiction – a legislature’s general sphere of authority to enact laws and conduct all business related to that authority, such as holding hearings.

TASK I a) Look up the following words from the text in a dictionary:

Active Vocabulary

unanimous adj.

measure n.

objection n.

assign v.

forum n.

amendment n.

select adj.

multiple adj.

respective adj.

bipartisan adj.

oversight n.

b) Use the active vocabulary to complete the sentences:

1. The Joint ...Committee on Cyber-Safety of the 43rd Parliament was established under a resolution of appointment passed by the House of Representatives on 29 September 2010 and the Senate on 30 September 2010.

2. If you disagree with the decision made in your case, what you do next will depend on whether our case was heard by a referee or a judge. If a referee heard your case, as is typical in the Las Vegas Justice Court, you may file a formal ....

3. Each study will offer a comprehensive analysis of the most important innovations and initiatives for financial access undertaken in the ...country.

4. The debate went on for hours, but in the end the decision was ....

5. The financial data and news provider has created a glossy magazine called Reuters and will distribute 5,000 copies at the World Economic ...in Davos, Switzerland, next week.

6. The U.S. Congress gave final approval to a $182 billion budget ...to keep federal agencies operating past tomorrow.

7. The New-York Historical Society will display a rare copy of the 13th ...signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

8. However, congressional control over U.S. foreign assistance is influenced by a range of often competing interests, spread over ...committees in both houses, with separate but frequently overlapping jurisdictions.

9. A bill or resolution has officially been introduced when it has been ...a number (H.R. # for House Bills or S. # for Senate Bills), and printed in the Congressional Record by the Government Printing Office.

10. One sign of hope for ...cooperation came earlier this week, when the administration added Haiti to the list of countries eligible for H-2 visas, America’s largest temporary work visa program, a move backed by a ...group of U.S. senators and representatives from Florida.

11. The committee has … of finance and general policy.

TASK II Complete the sentences with suitable prepositions:

1. Members who cosponsor a bill ………. its date of introduction are original cosponsors.

2. Occasionally, a Member may insert the words "……..request" after the Member's name.

3. A task force may be established formally ………. a resolution passed by the House.

4. A Senator may use a more formal procedure by rising and introducing the bill or resolution …….the floor.

5. If any Senator objects ……. the introduction of a bill or resolution, the introduction of the bill or resolution is postponed until the next day.

6. If there is no objection, the bill is read …… title and referred …… the appropriate committee.

7. The bill is then referred as required …. the rules of the House to the appropriate committee.

8. . In total, the rules of the House and [rules] of the Senate each provide …….. over 200 different classifications of measures to be referred to committees.

9. Each committee's jurisdiction is divided into certain subject matters ……… the rules of each House and all measures affecting a particular area of the law are referred to the committee with jurisdiction ……. that particular subject matter.

10. Speaker may refer an introduced bill to multiple committees for consideration of those provisions of the bill …… the jurisdiction of each committee concerned.

11. Members rank …….seniority in accordance with the order of their appointment to the full committee.

TASK III Insert the following verb forms :

require, obtain, serve, entered, placed, cosponsor, rising, apply, objects to, sign, submitted.

1. An unlimited number of Members may … a bill.

2. Cosponsors are not required to … the bill.

3. A Senator may use a more formal procedure by … and introducing the bill or resolution from the floor.

4. Frequently, Senators … consent to have the bill or resolution printed in the Congressional Record following their formal statement.

5. If any Senator … … the introduction of a bill or resolution, the introduction of the bill or resolution is postponed until the next day.

6. The title is … in the Journal and printed in the Congressional Record, thus preserving the purpose of the custom.

7. The rules of the House … that committee chairmen be elected from nominations … by the majority party caucus at the commencement of each Congress.

8. Minority staff requirements do not … to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

9. No Member of the House may … as chairman of the same standing committee or of the same subcommittee thereof for more than three consecutive Congresses.

10. A time limit is … on an additional committee only when the primary committee has reported its version to the House.

TASK IV Complete the following statements:

1. To prevent the possibility that a bill might be introduced in the House on behalf of a Member without that Member's prior approval…

2. Occasionally, a Member may insert the words "by request" after the Member's name to indicate that … .

3. If any Senator objects to the introduction of a bill or resolution…. .

4. The House may also create select committees or task forces to … .

5. If any Senator objects to the introduction of a bill or resolution….

6. The rules of the House require that ….

7. The rules of the House prohibit a committee that maintains a subcommittee on oversight from ….

8. Two-thirds of the committee staff are… and one-third of the committee staff are….

9. Minority staff requirements do not apply to ….

10. If a Member ceases to be a Member of the party caucus….

TASK VInsert the following words:

bill, forth, out, amendments, approval, entitled, report, unless, filed, session, upon, indicates, matter, rule, committees, notice, departments, communications, law, accomplish

Reported Bills

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 816