Second Reading – The stage in bill passage where amendments on the floor are taken up.
Secret or Closed Session – A session of either house that is held behind closed doors to discuss business deemed to require secrecy. Only members and necessary staff may attend.
Secretary of the Senate – The chief administrative and budgetary officer of the Senate. The secretary manages a wide range of functions that support the operation of the Senate as an organization as well as those functions necessary to its legislative process.
Select or Special Committee – A committee established by a resolution in either house for a special purpose, and, usually, for a limited time.
Senate – The house of Congress in which each state is represented by two senators; each senator has one vote. The Constitution gives the Senate equal legislative power with the House of Representatives. Although the Senate is prohibited from originating revenue measures, and as a matter of practice it does not originate appropriation measures, it can amend both. Only the Senate can give or withhold consent to treaties and nominations from the President. It also acts as a court to try impeachments by the House and elects the Vice President when no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes.
Senator – A duly sworn elected or appointed member of the Senate. The Constitution requires that a senator be at least thirty years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and an inhabitant of the state from which he or she is elected. Senators are usually elected in even-numbered years to six-year terms that begin the following January.
Senior Senator – Of the two senators from a state, the one with the longer continuous service in the Senate.
Seniority – The priority, precedence, or status accorded members according to the length of their continuous service in a house or on a committee.
Seniority Rule – The customary practice, rather than a rule, of assigning the chairmanship of a committee to the majority party member who has served on the committee for the longest continuous period of time.
Sequestration – A procedure for canceling budgetary resources – that is, money available for obligation or spending – to enforce budget limitations established in law. Sequestered funds are no longer available for obligation or expenditure.
Sergeant at Arms – The officer in each house responsible for maintaining order, security, and decorum in its wing of the Capitol, including the chamber and its galleries. In the House of Representatives, the mace is the symbol of this office. The Senate sergeant at arms also performs the duties of doorkeeper. Although elected by their respective houses, both sergeants at arms are invariably the candidates of the majority party.
Sessions – Normally, each Congress consists of two sessions, with each usually beginning in January and ending when Congress adjourns for the year.
Sine Die – Without fixing a day for a future meeting. An adjournment sine die signifies the end of an annual or special session of Congress.
Slip Law – The first official publication of a measure that has become a law. It is published separately in unbound, single-sheet form or pamphlet form. A slip law usually is available two or three days after the date of the law’s enactment.
Speaker – The presiding officer of the House of Representatives and the leader of its majority party. The Speaker is selected by the majority party and formally elected by the House at the beginning of each Congress. Although the Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a member of the House, in fact, all Speakers have been members. As presiding officer, the Speaker maintains order in the House, manages the flow of legislation to the floor, and has numerous administrative responsibilities, including general control of the House side of the Capitol. As party leader, the Speaker chairs the party’s Committee on Committees, plans the party’s legislative strategy, and negotiates the committee party ratios with the minority leader. In addition, the Speaker is second to the Vice President in line of succession to the presidency.
Speaker Pro Tempore – A member of the House who is designated as the temporary presiding officer by the Speaker or elected by the House to that position during the Speaker’s absence.
Speaker’s Table – The Speaker is required to dispose of certain communications received by the House of Representatives from the executive branch and from the Senate, and these communications are said to be on his table. He refers most of them to the appropriate committees.
Speaker’s Vote – The Speaker is not required to vote, and his name is not called on a roll-call vote unless he so requests. Usually, the Speaker votes either to create a tie vote, and thereby defeat a proposal, or to break a tie in favor of a proposal. Occasionally, the Speaker also votes to emphasize the importance of a matter or his special interest in it.
Special Appropriation Bill – An appropriation measure other than a general appropriation bill and therefore not subject to the rules of the authorization-appropriation process.
Special (or Select) Committee – A committee set up to perform a specific task. Once the task is completed the committee is discontinued.
Special Committee Meeting – A meeting convened at the request of a committee’s members. In both houses, a majority of a committee’s members can force the convening of such a meeting if its chairman refuses a request to call one.
Special Session – A session of Congress convened by the President, under his constitutional authority, after Congress has adjourned sine die at the end of a regular session.
Split Referral – A measure divided into two or more parts; each part is referred to a different committee.
Sponsors/Cosponsors – In both the House and the Senate, any number of members may join in introducing a bill. The first member listed is the sponsor of the bill, and all members’ names following are the bill’s cosponsors.
Staff Director – The most frequently used title for the head of staff of a committee or a subcommittee. On some committees, that person is called chief of staff, clerk, chief clerk, chief counsel, general counsel, or executive director. The head of a committee’s minority staff is usually called the minority staff director.
Standing Committee – A permanent committee that operates in each chamber to study measures introduced and to make recommendations to their respective chambers concerning appropriate action.
Star Print – A reprint of a bill, resolution, amendment, or committee report correcting technical or substantive errors in a previous printing. It is so called because of the small black star that appears on the front page or cover.
State of the Union Message – A presidential message to Congress under the constitutional directive that the President shall “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Customarily, the President sends an annual State of the Union Message to Congress, usually in late January.
“Statutes at Large”– A chronological arrangement of the laws enacted in each session of Congress. Though indexed, the laws are not arranged by subject matter nor is there an indication of how they affect or change previously enacted laws.
Statutory Rules – Procedural rules mandated by law for one or both houses. Though embodied in law, they are enacted under the constitutional rulemaking power of Congress. Therefore, each house may at any time change a statutory rule insofar as that rule applies to that house.
Steering and Policy Committee (House) – A committee of the House Democratic Caucus that advises the party leaders on legislative strategy and scheduling for floor consideration and also serves as the party’s Committee on Committees.
Steering Committee (Senate) – The committee of the Democratic Party Conference in the Senate that recommends committee assignments for party members. Its recommendations are subject to confirmation by the conference and adoption by the Senate.
Straw Vote Prohibition – Under a House precedent, a member who has the floor during debate may not conduct a “straw vote” or otherwise ask for a show of support for a proposition. Only the chair may put a question to a vote.
Subcommittee – Smaller subject-matter division of a committee; facilitates specialization and division of labor. A subcommittee’s party composition usually reflects the ratio on its parent committee.
Substantive Law – Public law other than appropriations law; sometimes called basic law or, in some contexts, existing law. It often refers to law that authorizes an agency or program.
Substitute – A motion, amendment, or entire bill that is introduced in place of pending legislation. Passage of a substitute kills the original measure.
Supplemental Appropriations – Spending approved as an addition to the regular appropriations for a program or an agency. Normally such appropriations are passed after the regular (annual) appropriations bills, but before the end of fiscal year to which they apply. They are also referred to as “deficiencies.”
Surplus – The amount by which the government’s budget receipts exceed its outlays for a given fiscal year.
Suspension of the Rules – In the House, a two-thirds majority may suspend the rules and bring a bill directly to the floor; in the Senate, only a majority vote is needed.