GOVT: Chapter 11

Which of the following correctly describes protocol for committee membership?

Most newly elected members of Congress request committee assignments Most vacancies occur after elections, either from retirements or incumbent defeats

Which of the following describes the power of Congress relative to the other branches of government?

No executive agency or lower court can exist without congressional authorization

What is it that holds party lawmakers together?

They have far more in common with each other than they do with lawmakers of the other party.

Which of the following statements about congressional committees are true?

They make it possible for Congress to consider a high volume of bills They each specialize in a certain area of legislation

Which of the following are duties of the Speaker of the House?

Recognizing members who will be allowed to speak on the floor Choosing leadership of the House Rules Committee

True or False: The Senate majority leader's position is more powerful than that of the House Speaker.

false

True or false: Most congressional bills survive committee scrutiny and are voted upon by the House and Senate.

false

If the majority of the members of the House of Representatives are Republican, then every committee and subcommittee in the House will

have a majority of Republican members

A committee that is composed of members of both chambers of Congress is known as a ______ committee.

joint

The practice in which members of Congress agree to vote for a bill in exchange for their colleague's vote on another bill is called

logrolling

Which of the following positions in the Senate schedules debates on legislation?

majority leader

The framers of the Constitution granted Congress the power to ______ ____, the greatest of all powers of government.

make laws

If the Rules Committee places a "closed rule" on a piece of legislation, ______ amendments are permitted.

no

Why do Republican and Democratic lawmakers generally have different perspectives on national issues?

Their parties differ politically Their parties differ philosophically

Which of the following is true of bills that emerge from committee with the full support of the committee members?

They are typically passed by an overwhelming majority.

A procedural move in which a member or members of the Senate speak(s) for an unlimited amount of time on the Senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill is known as

a filibuster

Most of the bills Congress passes are ____________ in nature, which means they provide benefits to a particular group in society while spreading the costs across the taxpaying public as a whole.

distributive

Donors are more willing to make campaign contributions to

incumbents

When a bill falls into the area in which a committee is authorized to act, that committee is said to have

jurisdiction

Which function is the main responsibility of Congress, to which all other functions of Congress are related?

lawmaking

Going into the 2018 election, the Democratic Party was able to field an unusually strong set of candidates because

polls showed that voters were trending toward the Democrats.

Redistricting consists of

redrawing congressional district boundaries within a state

Political scientist John Hibbing advises that the "first thing to being reelected is to stay away from ______."

scandal

Which of the following terms describes a permanent committee in Congress that has a defined legislative jurisdiction?

standing committee

What are conference committees?

temporary joint committees that are formed to work out differences

True or false: After clearing the committee stage, floor debate on a bill is usually led by the majority party's leadership in the House.

true

True or false: Congress is an institution in which many interests are represented, which is a strength in a diverse nation; yet Congress is also a place in which narrow interests can block Congress from acting even when there's an important national need, which is a weakness.

true

In order to become a member of the Senate, a person must be at least __ years of age and have been a citizen for at least __ years.

30, 9

In the 1980s, before partisan deadlock, congressional approval ratings were about ______ percent.

60

If the president chooses to veto a bill,

Congress can override the veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber.

Congress's structure makes it easier to

block legislation then enact it

At present there are ______ standing committees in the House of Representatives.

20

In order to be a member of the House of Representatives, a person must be ______ years of age.

25

______ typically benefit from gerrymandering because the majority party ensures that there are enough of the party's voters in the district to ensure reelection.

Incumbents

What is one reason that incumbents have a fundraising advantage over challengers?

Incumbents have a ready list of potential contributors from past campaigns

What shift brought the president to a more central role in the legislative process?

National and international forces combined to place greater policy demands on the federal government.

Who established the standard for the proper approach to Congress's representative function?

No one; it has been debated since the founding

Why is the president usually better suited than Congress to taking the lead on broad national issues?

The president has sole executive authority and thus can decide a course of action without needing the consent of other top executives.

The text uses the immigration issue as an example of a national issue on which Republican and Democratic lawmakers cannot agree. What is the sticking point?

The two parties have different solutions to the same problem

How do committees and subcommittees serve to decentralize power in Congress?

They allow more members to hold leadership positions.

Polls indicate that voters' opinions of Donald Trump's performance had what effect in the 2018 midterms?

Those who were discontented with Trump helped Democrats retake control of the House.

Partisan divisions have become more ______ as a result of party polarization.

acute

In Congress, disagreement over national policy usually occurs

along partisan divisions

If congressional representatives finds themselves having to choose between angering voters and donors or angering party leadership by refusing to go along with a vote, which will they likely choose?

angering leadership by voting the way their donors and voters want them to

Why is the Rules Committee considered one of the most important committees in the House?

because it decides the length of debate that will occur on a bill and whether amendments will be allowed

In the House, both the full committee and a subcommittee may ______, or propose changes to a bill.

mark up

The U.S. Congress is a(n) ____________ legislature with two chambers, the House and the Senate.

bicameral

Most members of Congress are

career politicians who want to stay in Congress and put themselves in position for reelection

How does the public generally feel about Congress?

dissatisfied

Partisan voting is most apparent when members are voting on major ______ issues.

domestic policy

The privilege of incumbents sending mail to their constituencies at the government's expense is known as the ________ privilege

franking

Which of the following problems is most likely to jeopardize an incumbent's chances of reelection?

getting caught in a scandal

Which of the following makes a challenger to a Senate incumbent more likely to be successful?

having access to large sums of money to fund the campaign having an existing campaign organization having strong public recognition

As a result of the increased level of party polarization in the United States, which candidates face greater risk of losing the primary election?

incumbent moderates

Congressional elections usually favor

incumbents

One reason why standing committees are powerful is that they have by law

jurisdiction over bills in their designated policy area

The party that controls the rules and has the most powerful leadership position in the House is the _______ party.

majority

Elections held in the years between presidential elections are called ______ elections.

midterm

As political scientist James Sundquist noted, "Congress [is] organized to deal with _____ problems but not with _____ ones."

narrow; broad

What term describes the situation in which Republican and Democratic lawmakers vote in the same way as their fellow partisans, regardless of constituency differences?

nationalization

A(n) _____ rule allows members to propose amendments that are relevant to any section of the bill.

open

Which of the following are the functions of Congress?

oversight lawmaking representation

The House and the Senate each elect ______ to lead their party's efforts in the chamber.

party leaders

Which of the following are common threats to incumbency?

personal misconduct strong challengers disruptive issues

The increase in party polarization in Congress has led to increased

policy deadlock

The president is usually better suited to take the lead on national issues because

presidents tend to have a national perspective

Members of Congress give various interests a voice in the legislative process as part of Congress's ______ function.

representative

The trend toward party unity in Congress can clearly be seen in voting records of members of Congress when their votes are officially recorded during a _____ _____ vote.

roll call

In terms of the budget to hire office staff,

senators receive varying amounts of money, depending on the population of their state House members receive identical amounts of money

Today, Congress and the president

share legislative power

Who is more likely to vote in a primary election?

strong partisans

The emergence of _______ ____, groups that can pour money into a political campaign with few limits, has given challengers a better opportunity to unseat congressional incumbents.

super PAC

In the House of Representatives, debate is limited on the congressional floor by

the Rules Committee

Who helps the Speaker set the party's legislative agenda in the House?

the majority leader

Which of the following methods is most often used to select committee chairs?

the seniority system

When an incumbent personally helps constituents solve problems with the federal bureaucracy, it is known as

the service strategy

Whether or not Congress takes the lead in the making of laws usually depends on

the type of policy at issue

Members of Congress are most indebted to which of the following?

the wealthy donors who fund their campaigns hardcore partisan voters in their state or district

Members of the House of Representatives typically serve on ______ committees, while members of the Senate serve on ______.

two, four

The 2014 North Carolina Senate race (Hagan vs. Tillis) was one of the most extensive campaigns in Senate history, with more than $75 million spent. What portion of that money came from super PACs?

two-thirds

Gerrymandering is

usually legal

Positive aspects of party polarization include the fact that

voters can more clearly see and understand party differences

Before 1900, service in Congress

was not usually a career for most of its members

When is congressional oversight exercised vigorously?

when members are intending to modify an agency program. when members are annoyed with an agency

When does a bill become a law?

when the president signs it when Congress overrides a presidential veto

The partisan divide in Congress has grown in recent years and each party engages in ______, which is when party members band together on legislation and oppose the other party.

party unity

Which of the following are activities that typically take place in a party caucus?

adopting a single policy message developing issues

Members of Congress are attentive to the concerns of constituents because constituents

determine whether or not they stay in office

Every bill must be approved by both the House and the Senate in ________ form before it can be sent to the president.

identical

What is a distributive policy?

one that confers a benefit on a particular group while spreading the cost across the taxpaying public

Which function describes the process by which the legislature checks on the executive branch to make sure it is carrying out the laws in the way Congress intended?

oversight

Choosing committee chairs based on which member has the longest continuous tenure on a standing committee is an example of the _________ system.

seniority

A limit of ______ exists for how long a Republican member can chair a particular committee.

six years

Both political parties in the House have a ______, who acts as a go-between with the leadership and the party members in the House.

whip

The framers of the Constitution intended that lawmakers ______, something that has become increasingly difficult in today's partisan Congress.

act in the spirit of compromise

Which of the following strongly and positively affects a congressional candidate's ability to raise money and win an election?

being an incumbent

To plan strategy and resolve policy issues, party members in Congress typically meet behind closed doors in a session called a party _________.

caucus

To end a filibuster, sixty senators must agree to invoke _______ and end the debate.

cloture

Ensuring that laws are being administered by the executive branch in the way intended by Congress is an important function of Congress and is known as

oversight function

A vote where most members of one political party vote one way while most members of the other party vote the other way is categorized as a ______ unity vote.

party

Which of the following oversight tools help Congress to ensure that the executive branch is administering the laws properly?

budgetary appropriations congressional hearings

Incumbents have ______ over challengers.

substantial advantages