Deck 9: Congress: Partisanship, Polarization, and Gridlock

Question 1

The idea that all legitimate governments derive their power from their citizens is called ___.

A) legitimate supremacy
B) civil rights
C) popular Sovereignty
D) state Sovereignty

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If a Congresswoman is known for listening to her constituents but using her own judgment and experience to inform her votes, she probably believes in following the model of _______representation.

A) delegate
B) trustee
C) politico
D) executive

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Name the two notions _______served as guiding principles in how the Founding Fathers viewed legislatures.

A) popular sovereignty and legislative supremacy
B) popular sovereignty and executive supremacy
C) representational sovereignty and legislative supremacy
D) democracy and republicanism

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Who suggested that the power of lawmaking is supreme?

A) Montesquieu
B) Locke
C) Rousseau
D) Hobbes

Question 5

Did the Founding generation have extensive experience with legislative government?

Question 6

What was the first American Congress?

A) The U.S. Congress
B) The Confederate Congress
C) The Continental Congress
D) The Stamp Act Congress

Question 7

According to the Let's Compare section, what is the main point of differentiation between parliamentary and separation of powers systems?

A) The fusion versus the separation of executive and legislative branches of government
B) The division of structure into unicameral and bicameral forms of the legislature
C) The representation of different "classes" of societies with aristocratic and democratic chambers
D) The instantiation of divisional powers between levels of government

Question 8

According to the Let's Compare section, one of the differences between parliaments and the U.S. Congress is that members of Congress are constitutionally prohibited from holding offices in the executive branch. What are two other differences?

A) Parties are stronger in the U.S. and unified government is always guaranteed
B) Parties are weaker in the U.S. and divided government is always guaranteed
C) Parties are weaker in the U.S. and divided government is not only possible but common
D) Parties are stronger in the U.S. and divided government is possible but not common

Question 9

What role did the U.S. Constitution give to the Congress?

A) The least important institution of the national government because it only had the legislative power
B) The most important institution of the national government because it had the legislative power
C) As an equal proactive institution of national government with its legislative power being offset by the presidency's executive power
D) As an equal institution of national government with its legislative power offset in a larger system of checks and balances as well as separation of powers

Question 10

The Constitution gives only to the _______the power of origination overall revenue bills.

A) House of Representatives
B) Senate
C) Both of the above
D) Neither of the above, since the Constitution makes no such provision

Question 11

In comparison to the rest of the country, from what class of society do the members of Congress come?

A) The social, economic, and educated elite
B) The social, economic, and educated masses
C) The educated and economic but not social elite
D) The social elite exclusively

Question 12

What is legislative sovereignty?

A) The idea that lawmaking authority in government should be supreme over the executive and judicial powers
B) The idea that lawmaking authority in government should be held by the people
C) The idea that lawmaking authority in domestic affairs is the exclusive purview of the legislative branch
D) The idea that lawmaking authority held by the executive is subject to legislative review by the parliament

Question 13

What does the notion of popular sovereignty imply regarding the peoples' rights when a government is seen to be abusive or neglectful?

A) Nothing
B) That the people must endure by acquiescence because they have chosen this government
C) That the people have the right to reclaim governmental authority for themselves; in other words, they have the right of revolution
D) That the people have the right to reclaim for themselves some governmental authority by protesting the actions of the existing government, but they have no right to engage in violent insurrection

Question 14

What does turnover mean in regard to the U.S. Congress?

A) Turnover does not apply to the Congress, it applies to the presidency
B) Turnover as it applies to the Congress means the number of seats in the Congress which change hands from one party to another
C) Turnover as it applies to the Congress means the number of seats in the Congress which change hands from one person to another
D) Turnover as it applies to the Congress means the number of seats in the Congress which change hands from some demographic indicator like race, religion, gender, etc., to another

Question 15

Define tenure as it applies to the Congress.

A) Tenure is an award given to members of Congress after extensive and systematic review of their records by peers and other relevant members of the governmental community
B) Tenure is the measure of length of service, usually defined in years that members of Congress serve in the institution of the Congress itself
C) Tenure is the measure of length of service, usually defined in years that members of Congress serve in their home districts doing constituency service
D) Tenure is the measure of length of service, usually defined in years that members of Congress serve in the legislative branches across all levels of government in the federal system

Question 16

Which chamber of Congress is more rigid in its usage of rules?

A) The House of Representatives
B) The Senate
C) Both of the above are rigid regarding their adherence and usage of rules, so there is no difference between them
D) Neither, since both are best seen as structured in a loose manner as far as rules are concerned

Question 17

In which chamber of the Congress do filibusters and unanimous consent agreements play a role?

A) The House of Representatives
B) The Senate
C) Neither
D) Both

Question 18

Which two norms governing chamber and institutional behavior within the Congress work together?

A) Reciprocity and specialization
B) No two norms work together
C) Seniority and closed committees
D) Open committees and conference committees

Question 19

Is a select committee a temporary committee?

Question 20

What is the primary difference between authorizing and appropriations committees?

A) Appropriations committees offer their recommendations regarding which policies or measures are most appropriate, while authorizing committees actually decide whether or not to authorize such recommendations
B) Authorizing committees allocate the money for policies while appropriations committees develop the policies themselves
C) Appropriations committees allocate the money for policies while authorizing committees develop the policies themselves
D) None of the above

Question 21

What was central to the development of the committee system in the Congress?

A) The division of labor
B) Fixed jurisdictions
C) Seniority, specialization, and reciprocity norms
D) All of the above

Question 22

What role do political parties have in a separation of powers system?

A) They further divide the government
B) They serve as a vehicle for integrating the disparate institutions and actors of the political system
C) They serve to further fragment power by dividing actors into a multiplicity of sub-groups
D) They serve no role regarding the separation of powers

Question 23

How is the Speaker of the House of Representatives chosen according to the Constitution?

A) By party line voting in the House
B) By appointment by the President
C) By a majority vote of the members of the House of Representatives
D) By a majority vote of the members of the Congress

Question 24

In the Senate, who is its leader in practice?

A) The President of the Senate
B) The Vice-President of the United States
C) The Majority Leader of the Senate
D) The Majority Leader of the House

Question 25

When did the House and Senate first develop a fully constituted system of permanent committees?

A) They never did
B) By the 1820s
C) By the 1920s
D) By the 1880s

Question 26

The division of labor amongst committees in the Congress was originally instituted for what purpose?

A) Nothing
B) Provide access to pressure groups
C) To distribute the workload of the Congress to stable groups of subject matter experts
D) To distribute the electoral rewards of the victors in the last congressional election and by implication punish the congressional party losers

Question 27

Does the Speaker of the House of Representatives have more or less power than her counterpart in the Senate?

A) More
B) Less
C) The same

Question 28

What are two "power committees" found in both the House and Senate today?

A) Appropriations and Budget
B) Finance and Ways and Means
C) Rules and Budget
D) None of the above

Question 29

Below the respective institutional and party leaders, who are the next group of leaders within the congressional leadership system?

A) The conference and joint committee chairs
B) The committee and sub-committee chairs
C) The conference and caucus leaders
D) All of the above

Question 30

Who were the "barons" from a congressionalist perspective?

A) The powerful committee chairs of the 1940s to 1960s
B) The weakened mostly symbolic committee chairs of the 1940s to 1960s
C) The party leadership of the 1940s to 1960s in the Congress
D) The congressional lobbyists of the 1940s to 1960s

Question 31

Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate are described as what kind of committees?

A) Select committees
B) Authorizing committees
C) Power committees
D) All of the above

Question 32

Modern "teledemocracy" consists of which one of the following techniques employed by members of Congress?

A) Televised town hall meetings
B) Cable news appearances posted to YouTube
C) Satellite press conferences
D) All of the above

Question 33

Other than in election years, members of Congress have averaged approximately _______days in session each year since 2010.

A) 110
B) 120
C) 130
D) None of the above, because members of Congress serve full-time

Question 34

The congressional offices' communication management systems try to distinguish constituent phone and email communications from interest group and non-constituent communications to give most attention to ___.

A) interest groups
B) non-constituents
C) party officials
D) bureau managers

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a "veto point" in the legislative process?

A) floor consideration
B) judicial review
C) presidential veto
D) leadership opposition

Question 36

The legislative process where a bill faces numerous possible rejections in Congress may be described as a series of ___.

A) lobbyist interactions
B) donor preferences
C) veto points
D) voter denials

Question 37

S. Senate allows the filibuster to be used for consideration of and debate on proposed ___.

A) legislation only
B) executive and judicial nominees only
C) Supreme Court nominees only
D) None of the above, since the filibuster has been completely banned in all cases

Question 38

In 2019 the Supreme Court declared that redistricting was an inherently political exercise in which courts should defer to ___.

A) legislatures
B) citizens
C) Both of the above
D) None of the above, since the court made no such declaration.

Question 39

In the 116th Congress (2019-2021), more than _______women are members of the House of Representatives.

A) 100
B) 200
C) 300
D) 400

Question 40

During the past four decades, the ideological distance between the parties in Congress has ___.

A) diminished
B) stayed the same
C) grown
D) None of the above, inasmuch as no members of Congress hold ideological points of view

Question 41

In 2019, members of the House and Senate introduced more than _______bills and joint resolutions for consideration.

A) 8000
B) 9000
C) 10000
D) 11000

Question 42

The Committee of the Whole is simply the _______and all of its members operating under a set of rules that is less restrictive than the formal rules.

A) House
B) Senate
C) Congress
D) None of the above, since there is no such thing as a "Committee of the Whole"

Question 43

Pork barrel politics usually refers to ___.

A) spending specifically for agricultural projects, acquired by a congressman or senator outside the regular appropriations process
B) spending for specially targeted, local manufacturing equipment, acquired by a congressman or senator outside the regular appropriations process
C) spending for specially targeted local projects, acquired by a congressman or senator outside the regular appropriations process
D) spending specifically for designated farm price supports, acquired by a congressman or senator outside the regular appropriations process

Question 44

To stop a filibuster, _______votes in favor of cloture are required.

A) 40
B) 50
C) 60
D) 70

Question 45

A vote of cloture in both houses of Congress stops debate and moves to a vote ___.

A) on final passage of a proposed bill
B) to override a presidential veto
C) Both of the above
D) None of the above, since both houses of Congress do not have a cloture rule

Question 46

The two of the following committees are examples of power committees in the House?

A) Agriculture
B) Ways and Means
C) Judiciary
D) Rules

Question 47

The two of the following committees are examples of power committees in the Senate?

A) Appropriations
B) Select Ethics
C) Armed Services
D) Finance

Question 48

As early as the mid-1790s, the House approved a _______as a counterweight to ___.

A) Hamilton's expertise at the Department of Treasury
B) Rules Committee
C) Jefferson's acumen at the Department of State
D) Committee on Ways and Means

Question 49

The experience of Senate majority leader _______suggests that a masterful politician can conjure influence out of ___.

A) Lyndon Johnson
B) the right to speak first and control the agenda
C) Mitch McConnell
D) the use of patronage and the power to discipline

Question 50

The power committees of the Congress are those that _______and ___.

A) set taxing and spending levels
B) oversee the president's application of military forces abroad
C) determine when and if substantive financial measures come to the floor
D) coordinate with the president to develop military policies

Question 51

Nancy Pelosi was the first female speaker of the House.

Question 52

Representatives who rely on their personal judgment are using the delegate model.

Question 53

Incumbents have a re-election advantage.

Question 54

All forms of gerrymandering are illegal.

Question 55

By 1880, the Congress set fixed committee jurisdiction because it required that legislation had to be considered first by appropriate committees before floor consideration.

Question 56

Party leaders in the Congress have exclusively partisan roles.

Question 57

As early as the mid-1790s, the House approved a Committee on Ways and Means as a counterweight to Hamilton's expertise at Treasury.

Question 58

The longstanding procedural right of Senators to engage in a filibuster has finally been retired as a legitimate procedure in the U.S. Senate.

Question 59

In the 116th Congress (2019-2021), some members of the House of Representatives members identify themselves as Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.

Question 60

The vast majority of bills introduced by members of the House and Senate die in committee.

Question 61

Joint and Conference committees are two names for the same thing.

Question 62

A vote of cloture in the Senate stops debate and moves to a vote on final passage of a proposed bill.

Question 63

Is Popular Sovereignty a practical reality or only an idea with no real-world weight? Defends your answer.

Question 64

Is a parliamentary or congressional system better? Support your answer.

Question 65

Can a Congressperson accurately and effectively represent a demographic community that they do not belong to? Why or why not?

Question 66

Should terms for House members be lengthened? What would be the advantages and disadvantages?

Question 67

Discuss the process of how a bill becomes a law in the traditional manner within the U.S. Congress.

Question 68

Discuss the development of the committee system in Congress.

Question 69

Discuss the role of the Congress as the center of our national political system. Is this true in practice? If it isn't, should it be?

Question 70

Differentiate the House from the Senate in as many nuanced ways as possible.

Question 71

List and discuss the three great reform eras in the Congress that attempted to address public disaffection with the institution.

Question 72

Contrast the trustee and delegate models of representation as they are discussed in the Pro and Con section, "What Is a Representative Supposed to Represent?"

Question 73

Contrast authorization processes from appropriations processes in the House and Senate.

Question 74

What, if anything, is the relationship between the institutional and leadership structures of the Congress?

Question 75

Discuss the staff structure of the Congress, including its differences between the chambers and historical trends.

Question 76

Describe the various "veto points" and their effect of the legislative process in Congress.

Question 77

What purposes were the Founders trying to serve by constructing and empowering the Congress as they did?

Question 78

How does the committee system in Congress work to promote specialized knowledge and expertise among members?

Question 79

What are the stages of consideration through which most legislation must pass to become a law?

Question 80

What pressures operate on a member of Congress as he or she prepares to make an important legislative decision?