Government Final Exam Review
After the president and vice president, which office is next in the line of succession?
Speaker of the House
Approximately ________ people work for the various agencies within the Executive Office of the President.
1,500 to 2,000
Approximately ________ percent of the nation's employed workforce is an employee of a state or local government.
14
At its peak in ________, the federal bureaucracy had ________ million employees, not including military personnel.
1968; 3
By the 1980s, the average length of time it took to develop and implement an administrative rule was approximately
35 months.
About ________ million Americans have lost their voting rights as a result of felony convictions.
5
A majority system, which is used on a limited basis in the United States, requires that a candidate must win ________ to win an election.
50 percent plus one of all votes cast
"Dark money" comes from
501(c)(4)s.
Approximately ________ percent of the ________ bills introduced in a typical congressional session die in committee.
85; 10,000
Approximately ________ percent of members of Congress have university degrees.
90
After the Civil War, why was it considered inappropriate for President Andrew Johnson to make a series of speeches seeking public support for his policies?
During the nineteenth century, it was perceived to be undignified for a president to campaign on his own behalf.
A candidate who received 20 percent of the overall vote could
win the election only if the election were held in a plurality system.
A bill's supporters in the House of Representatives generally prefer ________, while opponents generally prefer a(n) ________.
a closed rule; open rule
A runoff election is MOST likely to occur in which kind of electoral system?
a majority system
527 committees are an important part of the American political system because they
are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate their activities with a political party.
A proposed law or policy change that is placed on the ballot by citizens or interest groups for a popular vote is called a
ballot initiative
A state with a roughly equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the population is often referred to as a ________ state.
battleground
Cabinet members must
be approved by the Senate but are not responsible to the Senate or to Congress at large.
A ________ is an effort by political candidates and their staffs to win backing and support by voters in the quest for political office.
campaign
A member of the House of Representatives who helps a constituent apply for Social Security benefits is engaging in
casework.
A federal government program that gives money to state and local governments to spend on educational and nutritional assistance for low-income families would be an example of a(n)
categorical grant.
A ________ is a meeting of a political group's members who gather to determine strategy and select candidates.
caucus
A(n) ________ occurs when a voter must be registered with a party prior to voting in that party's election.
closed primary
By 2000, the National Performance Review had succeeded in ________ the federal workforce by approximately ________ jobs.
cutting; 425,000
ARPANET was a(n)
decentralized, highly redundant communications network created by the federal government in the 1950s and 1960s.
A member of Congress who votes for a bill with which he or she disagrees because a majority of his or her constituents favor it is acting as a
delegate.
All of the following are responsibilities of a party's national committee EXCEPT
determining committee assignments for members of Congress.
All executive agreements differ from formal treaties in that they
do not have to be approved by the Senate.
A major benefit of ranked-choice voting is that it
eliminates the "spoiler" effect that occurs when votes for a third-party or minor candidate are discarded.
An emergency declaration relating to foreign threats allows the president to
embargo trade, seize foreign assets, and prohibit transactions with whatever foreign nations are involved.
A key power of the Fed is to
expand and contract the amount of credit available in the United States.
A closed or an open rule refers to congressional provisions regarding
floor debate on a bill.
A presidential emergency declaration remains in force
for only one year unless it is renewed by the president.
A major cause of political polarization in Congress is
gerrymandering
"Right to work" laws
guarantee that a worker does not have to belong to a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment.
According to political scientist John Aldrich, which of the following problems found in democratic governments do political parties help solve?
how to regulate the number of people seeking public office, how to mobilize voters, and how to achieve the majorities needed to accomplish legislative goals once in office
A serious candidate for a U.S. House of Representatives race must raise at least several ________ dollars, while a serious candidate for a U.S. Senate race must raise at least several ________ dollars.
hundred thousand; million
An individual's psychological attachment to one party or another is called a party
identification
Between 1995 and 2006, the number of congressional earmarks
increased by a factor of 10.
A senator or representative running for re-election is called the
incumbent.
Accidental mobilization occurs when
individuals are exposed to political information they did not explicitly seek out.
An independent agency is an executive branch organization that
is not part of a cabinet-level department.
"Packing" occurs when
legislative districts are redrawn in a way that concentrates members of a particular party in as few districts as possible, thereby limiting the overall number of seats that party might win.
"Cracking" occurs when
legislative districts are redrawn in a way that disperses members of a particular party across multiple districts, thereby reducing that party's chances of winning any seats.
A senator who agrees to vote for a tax-cut bill with which he or she disagrees in order to receive another senator's vote on a climate change bill that he or she has proposed is engaged in
logrolling
A ________ is an incentive in the tax code for individuals and corporations to invest their money in ways that government officials desire in exchange for a reduction in tax liabilities.
loophole
A 501(c)(4)
may not spend more than half its revenue for political purposes.
A(n) ________ benefit is one where potential recipients must document their genuine need.
means-tested
An advertisement emailed only to evangelical Christian voters about a Democratic candidate's support for abortion would be an example of
micro-targeting.
African Americans represented by a black member of Congress are
more likely to vote than African Americans not represented by a black member of Congress.
A party's platform is best understood as a
negotiated agreement among the various factions in the party.
A party activist is an individual who
not only votes but also contributes time, energy, effort, and financial resources to party affairs.
A(n) ________ occurs when a voter can wait until the day of the primary to choose which party to enroll in to select candidates for the general election.
open primary
A party's ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.
platform
An election where the winner is the person who receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage of votes received, is called a ________ system.
plurality
A ________ veto occurs when Congress adjourns during a 10-day period after presenting the president with a bill and he or she takes no action.
An individual who identifies a problem as a political issue and brings a policy proposal into the political agenda is referred to as a(n)
policy entrepreneur.
A tax designed to reduce the disparities in wealth between the rich and poor is called a(n)
policy of redistribution.
A referendum is the
practice of referring a proposed law passed by a legislature to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection.
A pocket veto is a
presidential veto that is automatically triggered if the president does not act on a given piece of legislation passed during the final 10 days of a legislative session.
A filibuster allows members of the Senate to
prevent a vote on a bill by speaking continuously on the floor.
A bill proposed in Congress that grants citizenship to a specifically named individual from a foreign country would be an example of a(n)
private bill.
A ________ specifies general rules and categories of behavior, people, and institutions, while a ________ bill grants a relief, special privilege, or exemption to a particular individual.
public bill; private
A system that allows voters to rank candidates from the most preferred to the least preferred on the ballot is called
ranked-choice voting.
A cost-of-living adjustment is based on the
rate of inflation
A $0.25 per gallon tax on gasoline is an example of a ________ tax.
regressive
A ________ nation is one with unstable leadership, whose policies are driven by ideology rather than by economic or human costs and benefits.
rogue
A "second-round" election in which voters choose between the top two candidates from the first round is called a
runoff election.
Civil servants were given legal protection against being fired without a show of cause in order to
safeguard the bureaucracy from political interference while upgrading performance.
An executive-congressional agreement is a contract between two countries that can be approved with a
simple majority vote in both houses.
A sole executive agreement is a
simple understanding between the president and a foreign state that is not submitted to Congress for approval.
A U.S. senator has a ________-year term.
six
An iron triangle is the
stable relationship between a bureaucratic agency, a clientele group, and a legislative committee.
A legislative "hold" is a
stalling tactic used in the U.S. Senate to delay debate on a bill.
A number of states have responded to concerns about partisan gerrymandering by
taking redistricting power away from their state legislature and giving it to independent commissions.
A tax of $30 levied on every pound of cheese imported from France would be an example of a
tariff.
"Self-sorting" refers to the
tendency of individuals to segregate themselves by choosing to live in liberal or conservative geographic areas.
A policy of deterrence may fail against terrorist groups because
terrorist groups are nonstate actors who may believe that their lack of a fixed geographic location prevents their targets from retaliating militarily.
A major factor in John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential victory over Richard Nixon was
that Kennedy had a much stronger performance than Nixon during televised debates.
A political party is an organization
that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.
A signing statement is an announcement
the president makes about his or her interpretation of a congressional enactment he or she is signing into law.
"Me too" Republicanism refers to
the tendency of Republican politicians during the New Deal to support popular programs such as Social Security rather than advocate alternative policies.
"King Caucus" refers to
the use of each party's congressional caucus to nominate presidential candidates during the early nineteenth century.
A major risk of the delegate model of representation is that
the voices of only a few active and informed constituents will be heard because most people do not pay close attention to every issue.
Before the Civil Service Act of 1883, government appointments were made
to political supporters as part of a spoils system.
A member of Congress who feels only loosely constrained by the policy preferences of his or her constituents and empowered to make the decisions he or she thinks best is acting as a
trustee.
America's ________ developed during the early eighteenth century.
two-party system
A congressional caucus is a(n)
unofficial group of representatives or senators sharing similar interests or opinions.
A homeowner who owes more on his or her mortgage than the mortgaged property is worth is referred to as owning a home that is
"underwater."
Approximately ________ is needed for a candidate to have a reasonable chance of winning a seat in the House of Representatives.
$1 million
A citizen can currently give no more than ________ per candidate for federal office per election in a given two-year election cycle.
$2,700
After more than four decades, President ________ restored the American diplomatic ties with Cuba that were severed by President ________.
Obama; Eisenhower