discharge petition

Definition

A procedural tool allowing House members to force a bill out of committee if they can gather 218 signatures, essentially staging a legislative jailbreak. It's rarely successful because it requires betraying your party leadership.

Example Usage

The discharge petition gained 215 signatures before leadership finally agreed to schedule the bill, preventing the embarrassing spectacle.

Origin

Established by House rules in 1910 during progressive-era reforms

Fun Fact

Signatures on discharge petitions were kept secret until 1993, allowing members to sign them and then deny doing so—a level of political cowardice that eventually became too much even for Congress.

Source: House of Representatives procedural guides and parliamentary manuals

Related Terms

Beginner

amendments

Official changes to laws or constitutions, proving that even the people who wrote the rules knew they'd need to fix them later. In legislative bodies, they're the modifications proposed to bills, usually adding provisions that have nothing to do with the original purpose. Constitutional amendments are particularly special—they're nearly impossible to pass but apparently easier than admitting the founders didn't think of everything.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Advanced

Supermajority

A voting threshold so high it basically requires near-unanimous agreement, which in Congress is like requiring cats and dogs to coordinate a synchronized swimming routine. It exists to make sure really big decisions have really big support, or more often, really big delays.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Beginner

bellwether

A constituency, state, or demographic that reliably predicts overall election outcomes. Named after the practice of putting bells on lead sheep, these predictive regions supposedly show which way the flock is heading.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Intermediate

barrel

In politics, a container for pork—and we're not talking about meat. Barrel refers to pork barrel spending, the time-honored tradition of politicians funneling taxpayer money to their home districts for projects ranging from essential infrastructure to museums dedicated to obscure vegetables. It's how bridges to nowhere get built and how representatives prove they're "bringing home the bacon," even if that bacon costs $500 million.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Intermediate

ex officio

Holding a position by virtue of one's office rather than by election or appointment to that specific role. The 'you're already here, might as well join this committee too' principle of government organization.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Intermediate

accede

The formal political term for finally saying 'yes' after weeks of strategic maybe's and diplomatic foot-dragging. It's what happens when a country, politician, or organization stops playing hard-to-get and officially joins a treaty, agreement, or that international club they've been eyeing. Think of it as the geopolitical equivalent of accepting a friend request, except with more paperwork and potential constitutional implications.

🏛️ Government / Politics

Translate This Term

See “discharge petition” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

pre-roll fatigue

The soul-crushing weariness viewers experience from excessive unskippable video ads before content. Usually measured by ...