Deck 5: Congress

Question 1

What is the difference between plurality rule and majority rule?

A) Plurality rule takes more people to win an election.
B) Plurality rule encourages the success of third party candidates.
C) Plurality rule does not require more than 50 percent.
D) Majority rule does not require runoff elections.
E) Majority rule does not require more than 50 percent.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Why would two sitting incumbents face each other in a general election for Congress?

A) One moved to run for the Senate and lost.
B) Each is running for governor.
C) They have been redistricted into the same district.
D) Their districts have been moved into the same state.
E) Incumbents do not face each other in general elections.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What effect did the districting cases of Baker v. Carr and Wesberry v. Sanders have?

A) All districts are of the same geographic size.
B) All states have more equal representation in the House.
C) All states have equal representation in the Senate.
D) All districts have roughly equal populations within states.
E) All state legislatures are roughly the same size.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What is the best explanation for why Congress bears ultimate responsibility in lawmaking?

A) The Supreme Court cannot rule congressionally generated laws unconstitutional.
B) The president cannot be trusted to make wise decisions.
C) The bureaucracy cannot make decisions.
D) The creation of laws occurs within Congress.
E) The veto override ability of Congress is guaranteed to work.

Question 5

In 2013, President Obama signed the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act into law, a bill providing $60 billion for areas affected by storms, including Hurricane Sandy. Many representatives and senators added their own spending items unrelated to disaster relief to the bill. These additions are examples of ________.

A) pork barrel
B) carrots and sticks
C) bicameral legislation
D) proportional legislation
E) gerrymandering

Question 6

Compared to the other two branches of the federal government, the Constitution grants Congress ________.

A) far less power in lawmaking
B) about the same amount of power in lawmaking
C) substantially more power than the Supreme Court, but less power than the president in lawmaking
D) near blanket authority to make laws in the national interest
E) substantially more power than the president, but less power than the Supreme Court in lawmaking

Question 7

The ________ is less responsive to constituents than the ________.

A) House; Senate
B) House; Supreme Court
C) bureaucracy; Senate
D) president; Supreme Court
E) Senate; House

Question 8

Why does the makeup of state government affect redistricting for Congress?

A) State legislatures often determine the boundaries of congressional districts.
B) Nomination for office occurs through state legislatures, and divided government produces more moderate candidates.
C) Governors draw maps on their own, and thus parties must control the governorship if they wish to have an effect.
D) State legislatures approve judges, and therefore the judges that draw the map respond exclusively to the partisanship of the legislature.
E) Commissions draw all maps, and thus the makeup of state governments does not affect congressional redistricting.

Question 9

Which of these is a power given to Congress in the Constitution?

A) executive agreements
B) drafting treaties
C) vetoing legislation
D) coining money
E) nominating judges

Question 10

Where do Americans usually see the most political representation of their views in their political system?

A) political parties
B) congressional caucuses
C) Supreme Court judges
D) individual politicians
E) congressional committees

Question 11

What is the trade-off inherent in performing constituent service?

A) Increased constituent service creates less time for other activities because time is limited.
B) More offices must be opened in order to deal with greater demands for constituent service.
C) Constituent service involves committees on which members serve; therefore, it increases committee power at the expense of party power.
D) Members do not value services provided to constituents, and thus choose to do less of it.
E) There is no trade-off for constituent service.

Question 12

Which of the following is the best explanation for the increase in the amount of constituency service?

A) The president values his or her constituents and mandates that Congress engage in this activity.
B) Constituent service is a consistent percentage of the annual budget.
C) Bureaucrats argue among themselves, and this causes an increase in paperwork.
D) The complexity of the federal government has increased as it has grown larger.
E) Riders on bills mandate that elected officials do more casework.

Question 13

What is the best explanation for liberal representatives largely coming from liberal districts and conservative representatives from conservative districts?

A) Citizens vote for candidates that are most like them, thus producing representatives who share the general majority opinion in districts.
B) Representatives poll on most issues and typically vote in accordance with the majority opinion from these polls.
C) Political parties perfectly match the liberal-conservative dimension, and thus members vote with their party on all votes.
D) State legislators know the preferences of citizens in their states and draw district boundaries to match these preferences.
E) Representation is inconsistent, and members simply vote their conscience on every issue in the chamber.

Question 14

What is an effect of primary elections for Congress?

A) decreased party control of members
B) increased power for committee chairs
C) decreased power for individual members
D) increased party control of members
E) decreased power for committee chairs

Question 15

Which of these is the best explanation for why representatives might not vote in a manner consistent with majority opinion in their districts?

A) The majority opinion is factually incorrect.
B) The minority opinion is the position of the opposition party.
C) The representative is facing a tough primary election challenger.
D) The representative is facing a tough general election challenger.
E) The representative will never vote against the district majority opinion.

Question 16

________ representation is more independent of district opinion than ________ representation.

A) Delegate; descriptive
B) Descriptive; substantive
C) Substantive; trustee
D) Delegate; trustee
E) Trustee; delegate

Question 17

Which of these is an allowable gerrymander?

A) two completely separated portions of one district
B) income-based distribution of constituents
C) minority-heavy districts relative to the general population
D) preference for individual business interests
E) decreasing the population of the district relative to other districts in the state

Question 18

Why do only 33 or 34 senators face reelection in each cycle?

A) Many senators retire rather than face reelection.
B) One-third of the chamber is reelected at a time.
C) Each state only has one senator, and retirements lower the number of reelections.
D) Senators want to become president and thus pursue that goal.
E) All senators face reelection in each cycle.

Question 19

What does the elastic clause entail?

A) Over time, the distance between Congress and the president increases and decreases.
B) When necessary, the Supreme Court can become more activist.
C) The powers given to the president can be expanded through the authority to make laws in the national interest.
D) Congressional powers can be expanded without limit.
E) Congressional powers can be expanded through the authority to make laws in the national interest.

Question 20

What is the best explanation for why the size of the House would be capped at 435 members?

A) The House chamber could not fit more members and therefore needed to be kept at that size.
B) The House would have difficulties in resolving collective dilemmas if the size were any greater.
C) The House must not be more than four times larger than the Senate by constitutional provision.
D) The House was limited by state populations in 1911.
E) The House is not limited to 435 members, but rather is that size due to the original district size distributions.

Question 21

What is the most limiting factor for the power of congressional party leaders?

A) size of the chamber
B) level of campaigning of representatives
C) coordination of fellow partisans
D) number of committees
E) number of parties in the electorate

Question 22

Which model for evaluating Congress emphasizes an ideological, team-oriented approach?

A) the partisan model
B) the distributional model
C) the informational model
D) the logrolling model
E) the principal-agent model

Question 23

Which of these is a constitutionally mandated institution of Congress?

A) majority leader of the Senate
B) Speaker of the House
C) minority leader of the House
D) Speaker of the Senate
E) committee chair

Question 24

The term quid pro quo, which means "something for something" in Latin, fits best with which model of understanding Congress?

A) the informational model
B) The partisan model
C) The distributional model
D) The logrolling model
E) The principal agent model

Question 25

Which is a type of congressional committee?

A) separate
B) regular
C) national
D) agriculture
E) standing

Question 26

Why are measures of incumbency success in reelection often overstated?

A) Incumbents lie about their reelection to office.
B) Measures of incumbent success are actually understated.
C) Rather than face probable defeat, representatives often retire.
D) These measures are probabilities of success, and thus are not accurate.
E) These measures add together Senate and House reelection rates.

Question 27

According to the partisan model, why are minority-party members at a disadvantage?

A) Party leaders of the majority party make almost all of the important legislative decisions.
B) Majority party leaders tend to put their fellow party members on important committees.
C) Majority party leaders control the agenda.
D) None of these is correct.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 28

Where does the informational model place the most emphasis?

A) drafting legislation
B) referring legislation
C) committee deliberation
D) floor debate
E) presidential vetoes

Question 29

Why is having a fellow partisan as the chamber leader important?

A) The leader is the agenda setter.
B) The leader is the chair of committees.
C) The leader drafts important legislation.
D) The leader pressures the president to sign bills.
E) The leader makes all members vote in partisan fashion.

Question 30

Why do large bills contain many small, targeted provisions?

A) Writing bills in small portions is easier.
B) These provisions garner more support for a bill from affected members.
C) Office staff write bills among many people.
D) Presidents find these bills easier to sign into law.
E) The Court is less likely to declare these bills unconstitutional.

Question 31

Why are conference committees important?

A) Combined effort between the House and Senate is important to American government.
B) They enable leaders of the House and Senate to meet.
C) The Constitution mandates that all legislation be passed through conference committees.
D) Differences between the House and Senate bills are resolved.
E) The president is able to direct the content of legislation at this stage.

Question 32

Helen lives in District 1 in Colorado, a district represented by Democrat Diana Degette. Because the House of Representatives is controlled by the Republican Party, Helen's district is unlikely to get special provisions from congressional bills. Which model best explains this phenomenon?

A) the informational model
B) the logrolling model
C) the distributional model
D) the partisan model
E) None; this is an unlikely situation.

Question 33

Which of these is a duty of the party whip?

A) organize party retreats for the member organization
B) write legislation that is in the best interest of the party
C) encourage members to vote for party-sponsored legislation
D) coordinate partisans on relevant committees to produce partisan legislation
E) speak at party events with outside interest groups

Question 34

Why would free riding occur in congressional politics?

A) Representatives utilize air travel to visit their constituents as often as possible.
B) Writing legislation is difficult, and members will let other members do it.
C) Being a representative is difficult, and members do not put effort into their tasks.
D) Committees are not valuable, and members do not want to be on difficult ones.
E) Parties allow members to not work in order to advance.

Question 35

Which of these is the best explanation for why logrolling works?

A) Representatives will vote together to get their own pet projects passed as well.
B) Representatives desire to work together in drafting and passing legislation.
C) Committees require that members draft legislation together.
D) Representatives pick which committees their bills go to.
E) Presidents appreciate the work that logrolling takes and pass these bills.

Question 36

How do campaign finance laws advantage incumbents?

A) Incumbents are allowed to take unlimited donations from private groups and challengers are not.
B) Incumbents are allowed to give an unlimited number of speeches, and challengers are not.
C) Incumbents are allowed to accept new donations from political action committees before their official campaign announcements, and challengers are not.
D) Incumbents are allowed to change their tax statuses, and challengers are not.
E) Incumbents are allowed to roll over funds from previous elections, and challengers cannot.

Question 37

Why do the jurisdictions of committees matter?

A) The party caucuses determine the jurisdiction of committees.
B) Bills are drafted entirely in committees.
C) Committee jurisdictions determine what bills are heard in what committee.
D) Committees are the same between the House and Senate.
E) Only standing committees hear legislation.

Question 38

Which of these is a combined committee between members of the House and Senate?

A) agriculture
B) conference
C) standing
D) special
E) member

Question 39

The ________ model emphasizes leadership control while the ________ model emphasizes committees.

A) partisan; informational
B) distributional; informational
C) informational; distributional
D) informational; partisan
E) partisan; distributional

Question 40

What is the best example of party discipline?

A) representatives leaving at the same time for their districts
B) representatives campaigning for one another in nonelection years
C) representatives caucusing with their fellow partisans in election years
D) representatives voting with their fellow partisans on difficult votes
E) senators caucusing with their fellow partisans in election years

Question 41

Why is the Senate more individualistic than the House?

A) The lower number of members makes parties more difficult.
B) The president plays a much greater role in the Senate.
C) The Constitution mandates that the Senate be more individualistic.
D) Senate debate and procedure rules permit such behavior relative to the House.
E) The Senate is not more individualistic than the House.

Question 42

What presidential tool is most useful at the end of a congressional session?

A) appointment powers
B) signing statements
C) executive orders
D) pocket vetoes
E) advertisements

Question 43

________ rules allow no amendments while ________ rules allow specified amendments.

A) Open; closed
B) Closed; open
C) Open; restricted
D) Closed; restricted
E) Restricted; closed

Question 44

What is the central purpose of subcommittees?

A) serving as agenda setters for bills
B) They are relatively unimportant, but were mandated by the Constitution.
C) formally deciding which bills go to the floor
D) passing legislation
E) solving collective dilemmas in committees

Question 45

Which of these Senate tools is the closest to a rule issued by the House Rules Committee?

A) committee markups
B) unanimous consent agreements
C) filibusters and holds
D) multiple track requests
E) right of first recognition

Question 46

How can votes on the floor of the House and Senate be utilized by interest groups?

A) Scores of closeness to the group's interest are generated through votes.
B) Senators are differentiated from representatives.
C) Interest groups use votes to push for new interest groups.
D) Representatives utilize these to grade their party leaders.
E) Interest groups judge based on individual bills.

Question 47

In what way are committees a central feature of the distributional model?

A) Members pay party leaders to be assigned to committees.
B) Committees are not a central feature of the distributional model.
C) Parties control access to committees in the referral process.
D) Members do not value committees independently of monetary gain.
E) Committees allow members to insert specialized allocations into bills.

Question 48

What is the importance of markups for individual representatives?

A) Representatives can bribe other representatives in this process.
B) Party leaders can control the actions of committee members.
C) Presidents influence the markup process.
D) Bureaucrats give testimony about the needs of their programs.
E) Representatives can control bill content at this stage.

Question 49

What important role does the Speaker play in the referral process?

A) marks up bills before they reach committee
B) strategically controls referral of bills
C) appoints committee chairs
D) authors bills to shape their referral
E) The Speaker is not important to the referral process.

Question 50

Why is the inability of a party leader to control a candidate's usage of a party label in elections important?

A) Election monitors have a more difficult time differentiating fake ballots.
B) Women candidates have a more difficult time being nominated in primary elections.
C) Candidates run individualistic campaigns and not partywide plans.
D) Parties do have the ability to control the usage of their label.
E) Presidents can utilize this feature to generate more institutional strength.

Question 51

What is the impact of the power and duties of the House Rules Committee relative to proceedings in the Senate?

A) There is no difference between the two committees.
B) Senators have more power than representatives.
C) The House has greater partisan control of floor proceedings.
D) The Senate has greater partisan control of floor proceedings.
E) The parties have complete control in the House over all proceedings.

Question 52

Why are staffs for legislative and campaign work separate entities?

A) The sizes are too much to deal with under one heading.
B) The president mandates that staff be organized in this fashion.
C) Congress functions more efficiently in this fashion.
D) The separation is mandated by election law.
E) The separation is mandated by the Constitution.

Question 53

What is the Rules Committee? How does the Rules Committee support the power of party leaders in the House of Representatives? How does the absence of a parallel institution in the Senate increase the power of individual senators relative to party leaders?

Question 54

Why might a representative propose a bill knowing it will fail?

A) Party leaders write the bill for the member.
B) guaranteed referral to a committee on which the member serves
C) popularity with the representative's constituents
D) The Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down the bill.
E) The president favors the legislation.

Question 55

The Congressional Black Caucus holds a meeting at the beginning of every session. What is most likely discussed in those meetings?

A) issues related to the Democratic Party
B) issues related to the Republican Party
C) issues related to African Americans
D) issues related to African politics
E) issues related to urban politics

Question 56

Why are laws passed by Congress often in line with the status quo?

A) The Supreme Court will strike down extreme legislation.
B) Most representatives are close to the center of the ideological distribution.
C) Presidents favor the status quo and will only sign bills close to it.
D) The type of broad support needed to pass legislation generates moderate legislation.
E) Most laws passed by Congress are far from the status quo.

Question 57

What is the best description of the difference between the informational and distributional models of congressional organization?

A) Informational places more weight on the opinions of party leaders.
B) Distributional places less emphasis on jurisdictions of committees.
C) Informational places more emphasis on members receiving benefits.
D) Distributional places less emphasis on the needs of constituents.
E) There is no true difference between the two models of organization.

Question 58

What effect does the constitutional feature of separation of powers have on the pace of legislation?

A) The pace is sped up.
B) The pace is slowed.
C) The pace is no different with or without separation of powers.
D) The pace is slowed through the Supreme Court only.
E) The pace is slowed through the bureaucracy.

Question 59

How do parties exercise control over the functioning of committees?

A) Leaders function as committee chairs.
B) Leaders appoint committee chairs.
C) Parties approve all members of committees.
D) Parties are constitutionally bound to committees.
E) Parties exist wholly outside committees.

Question 60

Which of these models of congressional organization places the most emphasis on the growth of bureaucracies such as the congressional research service?

A) distributional
B) descriptive
C) partisan
D) substantive
E) informational

Question 61

Compare and contrast the constituencies and terms of office of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Why did the framers provide for different electoral mechanisms to select representatives and senators? How do these institutional choices relate to the different procedures and characters of each house of Congress?

Question 62

Identify and define the three major models of congressional activity described in the text. Explain how each model can explain some aspect or aspects of the congressional committee system. Which model is most consistent with the structure and operation of congressional committees?

Question 63

Compare and contrast the delegate and trustee models of representation. What might motivate constituents to accept a trustee-type representative rather than a delegate-type representative? Which model is a more accurate representation of how members of Congress actually operate? Give examples or cite evidence to support your judgment.

Question 64

Identify two collective dilemmas faced by Congress. What institutions has Congress put in place to mitigate the negative consequences of these dilemmas? How do the institutions you identify help Congress as an institution overcome the problems that would be created by the uncoordinated activities of its members?