Definitions
Glossary definitions for words that may be unfamiliar to the reader.
- Abraham Lincolnsearch for term
16th President of the United States of America
- age of majoritysearch for term
The age at which the law recognizes a person as an adult.
- assetssearch for term
Assets are anything owned that may be of value. Examples include houses, cars, cash, stocks, bonds, and so on.
b- billsearch for term
A draft of a proposed law under consideration by the legislature.
c- capital gainssearch for term
Income from a thing already owned, such as an increase in value of some property, or rent earned from that property.
- CBOsearch for term
Congressional Budget Office, the office responsible for calculating the effects of various legislation, population changes, and other factors on the revenue, budget, and debt of the United States.
- Christmas tree billsearch for term
A term for an omnibus bill, because everyone keeps hanging stuff on it. Hang too much on, and it topples over (the bill will not pass).
f- felonsearch for term
A person who has committed a serious crime, called a felony.
- felonysearch for term
A serious crime, as opposed to a misdemeanor, which is less serious.
- food stampssearch for term
Though it's changed names over the years (currently called SNAP), and now relies on prepaid cards instead of paper stamps, the food stamp program has been around for years. Though very often used fraudulently for other purchases, food stamps are intended to be used by low-income recipients to buy food.
m- mandatesearch for term
requirement
n- NCLBsearch for term
No Child Left Behind is an American federal law with many implications on how our education system is run.
o- omnibus billsearch for term
"Omnibus" is a form of the Latin "omnis" which means "all" or "every". An "omnibus bill" is a bill that, instead of covering a single issue or legislative action, ties many unrelated actions together. In this way, undesirable laws can be justified as "neccessary" and "unavoidable" in the course of passing more desirable ones.
s- school voucherssearch for term
School vouchers are a program that has been proposed in many different forms in recent years. Most center around giving parents some money if they choose to send their children to a private school instead of a public school, with the intention of making private school attendence more affordable.
- SSIsearch for term
Supplemental Security Income -- money the government gives to people who are blind or disabled, or over 65 years of age.
- stigmasearch for term
a mark of shame; something that makes others think less of one.
t- talking headssearch for term
"Talking heads" is slang for members of the mainstream media. Examples include talk show hosts, TV news reporters, newspaper writers, etc.
- taxsearch for term
a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes
u- unfunded mandatesearch for term
Something that the government requires, but does not (completely) pay for.
w- WICsearch for term
Women, Infants, and Children is a "nutritional" program in which the government pays for Cheerios, processed cheese, and a few other specific food items to be given to low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women.
