Deck 6: Congress

Question 1

One major difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate is which of the following?

A) The House meets for a longer term each year.
B) The members of the House of Representatives were originally chosen by the state legislatures; senators were elected.
C) The House allocates seats by population; the Senate is composed of two members from each state.
D) The Senate chooses its own leader.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

James Madison was referring to ______ when he wrote in Federalist No. 62 that its necessity was "indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions."

A) the House of Representatives
B) the executive veto
C) the Senate
D) the Supreme Court

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution contains ______.

A) the specific powers of the U.S. Congress
B) the specific powers of the U.S. House of Representatives
C) the specific powers of the U.S. Senate
D) the specific prohibitions on the U.S. Congress

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The qualifications for office for the Senate and the House of Representatives contained in the Constitution differ by which of the following?

A) length of residence in the state of representation
B) whether a felony conviction disqualifies a candidate
C) the limitations on numbers of consecutive terms members may serve
D) age and length of citizenship

Question 5

What is a key difference between a parliamentary system and that which we have in the United States?

A) Parliament is unicameral, which is the case in Britain and Canada.
B) The leader of the party with the most seats in parliament becomes prime minister.
C) Parties are organized around traditional castes rather than on the basis of issues.
D) Most parliaments are elected based on a cumulative voting system.

Question 6

Proposed qualifications for holding office in the House or the Senate that were explicitly rejected by the Framers include which of the following?

A) property holding and religious qualifications and a reelection restriction
B) prior service in the military and a minimum education level
C) an oath to swear allegiance to the party with which a candidate affiliated during the election
D) prior experience in elected office at the state level

Question 7

The "necessary and proper clause" ______.

A) enables Congress to declare acts of the President unconstitutional
B) limits Congress to only performing the essential acts of government
C) requires Congress to provide a written justification for all of its actions
D) provides lawmakers with the single most expansive grant of power in the Constitution so lawmakers have authority over many different spheres of public policy

Question 8

Which of the following is true about the way U.S. senators are now chosen?

A) They continue to be chosen by state legislatures today, although many states hold elections that guide the legislatures regarding the people's choice.
B) Since 1913, senators have been elected by the people because of the Seventeenth Amendment.
C) Senators are now elected but subject to confirmation hearings in the House.
D) Since 1913, senators have been elected by the people because of the Fourteenth Amendment and the gerrymander.

Question 9

The incumbency advantage in the House of Representatives ______.

A) rose from 1 or 2 points in the 1960s to almost 8 points by 2002, but has since declined to the levels seen in the 1950s
B) continues to increase every decade as mapmakers draw districts that perfectly fit the needs of lawmakers
C) was eliminated when the House of Representatives adopted a system of proportional representation
D) decreased from an average of 8 points in 2002, but has started rising again in recent elections as national forces play little role in congressional elections

Question 10

In distributing power between the House and the Senate, the final compromise regarding the authority to raise or spend money required that bills raising revenue originate in which of the following?

A) the Senate, with the House having an unrestricted right to amend them
B) the House, with the Senate having a very limited right to amend them
C) the House, with the Senate having an unrestricted right to amend them
D) the Senate, with the House having a very limited right to amend them

Question 11

Which of the following statements about congressional districts in the House of Representatives is accurate?

A) The size of the House continues to increase every 10 years since the Constitution requires 1 representative for every 33,000 residents.
B) States have only gained seats following the decennial census and never lost them.
C) Population movements have meant that states in the south and the west have gained seats at the expense of industrial states in the northeast and Midwest.
D) The Constitution requires that the geographic size of each congressional district needs to be substantially similar.

Question 12

The term gerrymander refers to which of the following?

A) the exclusion of reelection as a consideration in congressional redistricting
B) establishing randomly drawn districts to ensure that no party has an unfair advantage
C) the electoral strategy used by Gerald "Gerry" Ford
D) the manipulation of the shape of a legislative district to benefit a certain incumbent or party

Question 13

Which of the following statements about congressional elections is most accurate?

A) Reelection only matters for members of the majority party.
B) Reelection matters very little since there is frequent turnover in Congress.
C) Winning reelection is essential to everything members want to achieve in office as is the party winning the majority.
D) Reelection matters in the House since its members are popularly elected, but does not matter much in the Senate because its members are appointed.

Question 14

Which of the following statements about gerrymandering today is accurate?

A) Democrats have a significant advantage because their irregular voters can easily be mobilized so that makes Republican House members more vulnerable.
B) The adoption of nonpartisan commissions has wiped out any partisan advantage so every congressional district is competitive.
C) Even with gerrymandering, House election results generally do not follow partisan leanings of the district because of ticket splitting.
D) Republicans have an advantage because their regular voters are distributed more efficiently across House districts so fewer votes are wasted in highly skewed districts.

Question 15

Since the 1964 Supreme Court case Wesberry v. Sanders, congressional districts must have which of the following?

A) symmetric shapes
B) proportional representation of minorities
C) equal populations
D) no built-in incumbency advantage

Question 16

One aspect of the Senate designed to insulate it from transient shifts in public mood is which of the following?

A) One third of the Senate's membership stand for reelection every 2 years.
B) Senators cannot simultaneously run for other offices.
C) The President can veto business on the Senate agenda.
D) The Senate elects its own president.

Question 17

The short, 2-year terms in the House of Representatives were designed by the Framers of the Constitution to ______.

A) make the Senate the more powerful of the two houses
B) keep the House as close to the people as possible
C) keep the House subordinate to the other branches of government
D) ensure that incumbents would always have an advantage

Question 18

Which of the following is a power explicitly given to Congress?

A) the power to coin and borrow money
B) the power to override a presidential veto with a simple majority vote
C) the power to enact ex post facto laws
D) the power to grant noble titles

Question 19

In the time since senators have been popularly elected rather than appointed, which of the following is true?

A) Fewer senators seek reelection than sought reappointment.
B) They have been far more successful at winning reelection than they were at winning reappointment.
C) They have been far less successful at winning reelection than they were at winning reappointment.
D) They have been about as successful at winning reelection as they had been in persuading state legislatures to return them to office.

Question 20

Proportional representation gives a party which of the following?

A) a share of seats in the legislature matching the share of votes it wins on election day
B) a share of seats only equal to the number of districts won by a plurality by one of its candidates
C) a greater likelihood of becoming one of two viable parties
D) a limited ability to be represented in the legislature, as the party only gets to be involved in a small proportion of the votes cast

Question 21

Each member of Congress pursues a strategy that makes him or her succeed individually, but Congress as an institution becomes shackled with collective blame for the overall consequences. What is this an example of?

A) agency loss
B) coordination problem
C) free-rider problem
D) prisoner's dilemma

Question 22

Which of the following statements about parties in Congress is accurate?

A) Strong political parties exist in the House, but party is weak in the Senate because there are few members.
B) Article I of the Constitution dictates the establishment of political parties to make it easier to resolve differences between the chambers.
C) Party leaders assemble and maintain party coalitions, but they need tools to encourage cooperation, and members have to sacrifice some independence.
D) Organizational reforms have reduced the pressures on Congress so the parties do not play a very important role any more.

Question 23

House party leaders are which of the following?

A) members' bosses, not their agents
B) members' agents, not their bosses
C) a shadow government
D) lobbyists

Question 24

The power and influence Senate leaders exert depends on ______.

A) the balance of power between the majority and minority parties
B) the rules adopted at the beginning of each Congress
C) their personal political skills and the extant of intraparty divisions
D) their ability to force members to agree on unanimous consent agreements

Question 25

The Speaker of the House ______.

A) is elected by majority vote and serves as the majority party's leader and agent with the power to appoint committees, make rules, and manage the legislative process
B) is the senior most member of the chamber and is primarily responsible for presiding over floor debates
C) has the ability to exercise command authority through powers specified in Article II of the Constitution in order to reduce transaction costs
D) is largely a ceremonial position

Question 26

The relationship between members of Congress and their districts ______.

A) demands that members remain absolutely loyal to the policy considerations of their constituents
B) involves a great deal of responsiveness on issues as well as soliciting and processing casework, which enables them to keep in touch and stay visible
C) has little effect on members because the 2-year term demands that their only focus is on legislating
D) varies depending on how comfortable members feel about their chances of deterring a primary challenger

Question 27

The powers that party leaders exercise ______.

A) have grown stronger in recent years since Congress decided to resume using earmarks
B) must be voted on at the start of each Congress so every member knows the rules
C) mainly take the form of favors that the leaders may grant or withhold, which can be substantial
D) are absolute because they can demand members vote for the party or face expulsion

Question 28

Political parties in Congress ______.

A) have grown less unified over time, and there is less agreement on major votes and the ideological gap between the parties has shrunk
B) have grown more unified with higher levels of support on party unity votes as well as becoming more polarized along ideological lines
C) have witnessed the Democratic Party become more unified and more ideologically homogeneous while Republicans remain fractured into competing coalitions
D) have gotten much stronger in the House of Representatives while growing weaker and less ideologically polarized in the Senate

Question 29

The influence of national forces in congressional elections ______.

A) only matters in Senate elections since senators are elected statewide.
B) matters because the correlation between the vote share of congressional candidates and presidential candidates at the state and district levels has increased and so congressional elections are treated as national events.
C) has declined in recent years as incumbents have gotten much better at separating themselves from the collective fate of their parties.
D) does not really matter because House and Senate candidates have developed sophisticated campaign strategies that allow them to win seats in the other party's presidential territory.

Question 30

Despite a sharp increase in diversity in the 1990s, Congress remains overwhelmingly White and male because of which of the following?

A) The incumbency advantage can never be overcome.
B) The Voting Rights Act has not lived up to its promise.
C) White males still dominate the most common stepping-stones to Congress.
D) Women and minorities seem less interested in working in politics.

Question 31

The challenges that spurred members to develop the modern Congress fall into two classes: problems besetting the House and Senate as organizations and problems arising from ______.

A) reducing the scope of areas in which Congress passes laws or sets policies
B) the competing individual and collective needs of members
C) allocating more complex policy issues solely to the more experienced Senate for resolution
D) abdicating responsibility for policy to the bureaucracy and letting the states take over

Question 32

Requests from constituents for information and help in dealing with government agencies is referred to as ______.

A) logrolling
B) casework
C) entitlements
D) earmarks

Question 33

How has Congress responded to the problem of performing complex social tasks efficiently?

A) coordination and agenda control
B) command authority and division of labor
C) agenda control and specialization
D) division of labor and specialization

Question 34

In midterm elections, ______.

A) the President's party often gains seats because supporters of the other party are demoralized and do not turn out to the polls
B) the President runs for reelection so it provides a boost to all of the candidates from his party running for reelection
C) the President's party often loses seats, but the size of the losses depends on the performance of the economy and the President
D) the President's performance or that of the economy has little effect on explaining the outcome of midterm elections

Question 35

Which of the following are true about unanimous consent agreements in the Senate?

A) They can be killed by a single objection.
B) They are misnamed, because they only refer to a unanimous consent of the majority party.
C) They are simple rubber stamps of bills that originated in the House.
D) They are copies of matching bills that proceed simultaneously in the House.

Question 36

Because candidate-centered electoral processes give members of Congress far more incentive to be individually responsive than collectively responsible, which of the following is also true?

A) The pursuit of reelection makes logrolling an attractive strategy.
B) Over time, revenues tend to rise while spending tends to drop.
C) Individual irresponsibility leads to collective responsiveness.
D) Candidates present themselves as agents of the party rather than as individuals.

Question 37

Under the Constitution, the President pro tempore presides over the Senate ______.

A) whenever the Speaker of the Senate is absent
B) whenever the Vice President is absent
C) whenever both the Vice President and the Speaker of the House are absent
D) whenever the Vice President is absent, unless the President is available

Question 38

The rules, customs, and procedures in Congress are designed to ______.

A) make it very difficult to pass bills and resolve differences between the chambers
B) empower members to pursue their policy and electoral goals
C) resolve or deflect conflicts so members can get on with the business of legislating
D) ease the passage of bills so that Congress can get more work done in a short period of time

Question 39

The 1910 House revolt that weakened the office of Speaker and stripped Republican Speaker Joe Cannon of much of his power is an example of House members choosing to do which of the following?

A) tolerate higher conformity costs to reduce their transaction costs
B) avoid higher conformity costs by increasing their transaction costs
C) create higher transaction costs by increasing their conformity costs
D) tolerate higher transaction costs to reduce their conformity costs

Question 40

The seniority rule routinely allocates first choice in committee assignments to majority party members who ______.

A) have served the longest time in Congress
B) have served the longest time in government, regardless of the branch
C) are from the oldest states
D) are the most senior in age

Question 41

Floor debates in Congress are ______.

A) public spectacles where members work hard to persuade their colleagues of whom many are undecided
B) for public consumption so members can make arguments justifying their votes to constituents, guide administrators and courts when interpreting legislation, and legitimizing policy choices
C) closed to the public so that members can engage in frank and honest conversations about the issues under consider
D) critical for determining the outcomes of votes since most members try to keep an open mind about proposed bills

Question 42

Which of the following is true about the committee systems in Congress?

A) They are explicitly provided for in Article I of the Constitution.
B) They were designed by Madison at the Continental Convention.
C) They have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo.
D) They are an organizational pillar upholding the institutional power of Congress.

Question 43

To end a filibuster in the Senate, cloture must be invoked by how many votes?

A) three fifths of the Senate membership, currently 60 votes
B) three fifths vote of a joint committee of House and Senate members
C) a majority vote in each of the majority and minority party caucuses
D) a majority vote

Question 44

A discharge petition does which of the following?

A) brings a bill directly to the floor without committee approval when signed by a majority of House members
B) discharges a bill from further consideration by the House once a committee has voted it down
C) is a mechanism for removing a member of the House from office for bad conduct such as treason or the commission of a felony
D) is the procedure through which all bills passed in the House are transmitted to the Senate for consideration

Question 45

The Budget Impoundment and Control Act ______.

A) created a unified spending process by combining the taxing and spending committees in each chamber
B) allowed Congress to override presidential vetoes of budgets with a simple majority vote
C) required Congress to consider the President's budget that presented a unified statement of government revenue and agency spending requests to promote greater fiscal responsibility
D) was designed to force members to vote on explicit levels of taxes, expenditures, and deficits so members would have to take direct responsibility for fiscal consequences of many separate decisions

Question 46

A multiple referral sends a bill to which of the following?

A) to the Supreme Court and the executive for simultaneous preapproval
B) to multiple committees at the same time or in sequence, in whole or piece by piece
C) to the Attorneys General of the states for consideration
D) to the floor of the House and the Senate at once for a simultaneous final vote

Question 47

Which of the following statements about standing committees is not true?

A) They have fixed jurisdictions and stable memberships that facilitate specialization.
B) The seats on each of the standing committees is equally divided between the parties to foster a more cooperative legislative process.
C) Committee membership is generally stable, but changes occur when legislators seize opportunities to move up to committees they deem more important and desirable.
D) Members pursue committee assignments that allow them to serve special constituent interests as well as their own power and policy goals.

Question 48

Committees and subcommittees of both houses of Congress frequently hold hearings on proposed legislation (bills) and other subjects within the scope of those committees. These hearings ______.

A) represent an opportunity to work through each section of the bill and rewrite to attract majority support
B) are governed by strict rules limiting which amendments members are allowed to offer
C) provide an opportunity to make a record for a particular proposal, evaluate how well a program is working, or simply to generate publicity
D) for members to cast votes for or against a particular piece of legislation in order to claim credit

Question 49

In the lawmaking process, ______.

A) unorthodox lawmaking requires heavy investments of leaders' resources
B) Congress must follow a regular order to ensure that all policymaking choices are legitimate
C) it is easy for majorities to enact their preferred policy outcomes because the rules favor swift action
D) the rules of the House favor the minority party while the majority party exercises clear control in the Senate

Question 50

The seniority rule avoids which of the following two unwelcome alternatives in legislative organization?

A) elections and appointments
B) gerrymandering and standing committees
C) executive appointments and House managers
D) a closed conference and cloture

Question 51

If a bill fails because of a pocket veto, it means which of the following?

A) While the House passed it, the Senate metaphorically stuck it in a pocket, forgot about it, and failed to send it to the President.
B) While the Senate passed it, the House metaphorically stuck it in a pocket, forgot about it, and failed to send it to the President.
C) Congress adjourned before 10 days elapsed after sending a bill to the President, and the President metaphorically stuck it in a pocket and forgot about it.
D) Congress failed to give the President the constitutionally mandated 120 days to sign or veto the bill.

Question 52

The use of rules in the House of Representatives ______.

A) specifies when, how long, and under what procedures a bill will be considered
B) specifies how members must conduct themselves during debates in the chamber
C) has grown increasingly open in recent years as the majority party tried to encourage more amendments to pass bipartisan legislation
D) is under the control of the party leadership, and rank-and-file members have no means for expressing their concerns

Question 53

The role of party leaders in voting ______.

A) is absolute because they can threaten members who do not follow the party line
B) is quite minimal as members closely follow the interests of their districts to maximize their chances of winning reelection
C) is constructing legislative packages members feel comfortable supporting and if they succeed no persuasion is necessary
D) matters much more in the Senate than in the House because there are fewer legislators

Question 54

Which of the following is required for a congressional override of a presidential veto?

A) a three fifths vote in each chamber
B) a two thirds vote in each chamber
C) a two thirds vote in at least one chamber and a simple majority in the other
D) a simple majority vote in each chamber

Question 55

What type of committee exists from one Congress to the next unless it is explicitly disbanded?

A) conference
B) standing
C) select
D) ad hoc

Question 56

Which committees are responsible for making decisions about exercising Congress's power of the purse?

A) House and Senate Appropriations Committees
B) House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee
C) House and Senate Budget Committees
D) Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Budget Committee

Question 57

Assignments to committees are ______.

A) chosen by the majority party
B) drawn by lot, or chance
C) irrelevant because the chair of a committee can override the appointments and remove any member
D) made by party committees under firm control of senior party leaders and ratified by the party membership

Question 58

Which of the following best describes the Madisonian system that Congress epitomizes?

A) It essentially means the aristocratic Senate alone dictates which bills become laws.
B) It erects formidable barriers to collective action.
C) It is nothing like what the Framers envisioned when they designed the institutions because it is too easy for one branch to stop the actions of another.
D) It fails to accomplish the intended separation of power.

Question 59

When voting by roll call, which of the following is true?

A) The votes are voice votes, so the public is not able to tell how each member of the House or Senate voted.
B) All Republicans vote and then all Democrats vote.
C) Voting is done in order of seniority.
D) The House votes electronically votes and the Senate votes by roll call.

Question 60

In both chambers, proposals for new legislation, known as bills, ______.

A) are considered under strict rules that allows every bill an equal chance of success
B) often carry their authors' names to gain personal credit and most bills are introduced simultaneously in each chamber
C) originate outside of Congress to allow the general public the opportunity to influence the policymaking agenda
D) are easier to pass than to kill because once a bill is introduced, it has momentum that is difficult to derail

Question 61

Congress is not perfectly representative of the American people in terms of demographics.

Question 62

The levels of partisanship and ideological homogeneity within each of the parties have declined in recent years.

Question 63

Much of the coalition building that produces successful legislation takes place as subcommittees and committees work out the details of bills.

Question 64

Gerrymandering is the process by which congressional districts are redistributed between the states based on changes in population.

Question 65

The basic powers of Congress are outlined in Article I, Section 2.

Question 66

To reduce transaction costs and encourage political cooperation, the Framers decided that the President and Congress should not be elected separately.

Question 67

Explain the importance of the power of the purse and attempts to impose budget reform.

Question 68

A party's committee members are, like party leaders, the party's agents, and party majorities use their ultimate control over committee assignments to keep their agents responsive to the party's desires.

Question 69

The process for spending money involves two steps in each chamber: Committees of Jurisdiction authorize spending for specific programs and the Appropriations Committee appropriates money for those programs.

Question 70

When members pursue individual goals, it may undermine the reputation of their party or of Congress as a whole.

Question 71

Describe the changes that have influenced the power of committees in Congress.

Question 72

Does Congress have exclusive authority over legislation?

Question 73

Describe the practice of drawing congressional districts and the influence of gerrymandering.

Question 74

How does Congress handle transaction costs?

Question 75

After bills have been referred to committee, the most common outcome is that nothing happens.

Question 76

The minimum age for House members is 25 years and the minimum age for senators is 30 years.

Question 77

A majority of Americans approves of congressional performance and its members are well appreciated.

Question 78

Congress tried to cope with its growing workload by adding staff and specialized research agencies.

Question 79

Why do Senate incumbents win less consistently and by narrower margins than House incumbents?

Question 80

Describe the evolution of the responsibilities of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.