Congress
Descriptive Representation -Bob, a conservative White male who previously served in the military, is primarily interested in supporting Tucker because he believes that Tucker can identify with his experiences. -Mia feels that government does not really work for her as an African American woman, so she intends to support Sarah Stewart because of their shared experience as women of color. Substantive Representation -Beth, a constituent of Rep. Stewart, is pleased with her representative's voting record, which is closely aligned to Beth's political views. -Theresa, a constituent of Rep. Stewart, is very unhappy with her performance in office, citing her support of Medicare-for-All, and plans to vote against her.
A congressional race features incumbent Sarah Stewart, a progressive African American female who previously worked as a nurse, and John Tucker, a conservative White male who previously was in the marine corps. Identify whether the examples describe descriptive representation or substantive representation.
Picture Correct Answer(s) The Speaker and majority leader of the U.S. House need the support of a majority of his or her caucus. The Speaker has appointment power over the Policy Committee, which appoints the Campaign Committee. Incorrect Answer(s) Members of the majority party have little control over committee membership and chairpersons. The House Speaker has very little control over the Rules Committee because it is elected by the majority party caucus.
Based on the diagram, which statements are correct?
Picture older voters (age 65+)-Smith White voters-Smith younger voters (ages 18-29)-Jones high-income voters (over $100,000 income)-Smith low-income voters (under $30,000 income)-Jones Latino voters-Jones
Candidates Jones and Smith are competitors in the 2020 election. They have developed very different playbooks for targeting voters. Candidate Jones intends to focus primarily on the least-likely voter groups (i.e., those that were a low proportion of the electorate given their proportion of the population). Candidate Smith has adopted a much more conventional strategy, targeting those groups that had high turnout in the previous election. Based on their campaign playbooks, identify the groups that each candidate would most likely target their campaign messages.
The Senate alone has the right to approve or deny the president's appointments of federal judges. Approval for these nominees requires a simple majority.
Complete the following statement to accurately describe aspects of congressional oversight.
The bicameral structure of the U.S. Congress produces many distinguishing features, including the constituencies to whom these members are accountable. Whereas all senators are elected statewide, most representatives are selected from small congressional districts.
Complete the following statement.
convicts or acquits the individual charged-senate involves a vote requiring a simple majority-House initiates the impeachment process-House involves a vote requiring a two-thirds majority-senate charges an individual with "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors"-House
Contrast the roles that the House and Senate play in the impeachment and conviction process by matching each chamber to its correct roles.
the process occurring after the census that allocates congressional seats among the 50 states - apportionment the apportionment of voters into districts in a manner that provides an unfair advantage to one group over another-gerrymandering the process of redrawing congressional or state legislative districts in a state to account for population shifts within the state.-redistricting
Drag each item on the left to its matching item on the right.
Correct Answer(s) by providing sample legislation to members of Congress by keeping "scorecards" to rate how faithfully members of Congress vote on particular issues by placing former congressional staffers in important lobbying positions Incorrect Answer(s) by encouraging members of Congress to retire and begin working for an interest group
How can interest groups influence Congress?
The House minority leader on a committee could decide to grant a member only 30 minutes to speak on the bill. In the Senate, the leadership could not limit the speaker's time to 30 minutes.
How does the leadership's control of floor debate in the House differ from the leadership's control of floor debate in the Senate?
Correct Answer(s) Members of Congress are less likely to pass bills the president objects to. Members of Congress may adjust the bill to suit the president's preferences. Incorrect Answer(s) Members of Congress can easily override a president's veto. Members of Congress cannot pass any bill if the president objects to it.
How does the presidential veto influence legislation?
Correct Answer(s) Party leaders make less use of conference committees, instead "ping-ponging" bills back and forth between the House and Senate. Large omnibus appropriations bills are more common. Incorrect Answer(s) Open rules are more common in the House. Multiple referral is less common in the House.
How has the legislative process changed over time?
6 (Because the two Independents (Senators Angus King and Bernie Sanders) caucused with the Democrats, Democrats generally had 47 votes, whereas Republicans held 53 seats of the 100. This produced a six-seat advantage for Republicans (or 6 percent).The majority party accrues important advantages in the U.S. House and Senate, not only in terms of voting but also setting the agenda. In 2019, the Democrat-controlled House passed several measures that were not taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate.)
How many percentage points advantage did the Republicans hold over the Democrats in the U.S. Senate? Hint: The two Independents caucused with the Democrats.
67-overturn presidential veto 60-invoke cloture 1-submit a hold 51- Pass a Bill
How many senators are needed to carry out each of the following actions?
Correct Answer(s) Women were underrepresented in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate when compared to the percentage of women in the U.S. population. Incorrect Answer(s) Women were represented in the U.S. Senate in proportion to their percentage of the U.S. population. Women were represented in the U.S. House in proportion to their percentage of the U.S. population.
Identify the correct and incorrect statements about women's representation in Congress.
Correct Answer(s) Both have chairpersons usually chosen based on seniority. They are both permanent committees. Incorrect Answer(s) They each contain members from both chambers. They both have the power to report legislation.
In which ways is the House Ways and Means Committee (a standing committee) comparable to the joint committee that deals with taxation?
A representative pays fairly little attention to polling or to the requests of constituents and votes in accordance to his own personal preferences on most bills.- Trustee A representative is aware that most of his constituents support rules allowing school vouchers; he votes for those rules despite his own reservations.-Delegate Although she knows it will be very unpopular at home, a representative votes to close a defense industry factory in her district.-Trustee A representative is petitioned by a vocal minority of her constituents to vote in a certain way; though the majority opinion in the district is unknown, the representative votes as that minority wants. -Delegate
Label each action as an example of either the trustee or delegate model of representation.
typically match the issue focus of an executive branch agency-standing committee source of the most important congressional policy making-standing committee members appointed by the Speaker of the House and the presiding officer of the Senate-conference committee contains four permanent committees that cannot report legislation-joint committee
Match each committee type to the appropriate description(s).
House -more likely to encourage specialization -gives leadership more control over process -more organized body Senate -more deliberative body (House leaders are considerably more influential than their counterparts in the Senate, who must often grapple with autonomous senators.)
Match each congressional chamber to its correct feature(s).
private bill pork barrel Several representatives earmark money in an economic stimulus bill for projects in their district.-pork barrel A representative introduces a bill that grants citizenship to an immigrant so she can attend a state university.-private bill A congressman inserts language into a bill that builds a bridge with federal money.-pork barrel A member of Congress writes a bill that exempts a constituent from Medicaid limits for one year.-private bill
Match the appropriate category to each hypothetical instance of patronage.
foreign policy (Because most constituents do not take a strong position on foreign policy issues, representatives are free to act as trustees, voting their personal preferences.)
On which of the following issues is the average senator or representative most likely to operate as a trustee rather than as a delegate?
Picture Protestant Catholic Jewish Mormon
Place the religions in order from those that held the highest percentage of seats in the House to those that held the lowest percentage.
House bill proposed bill is referred to committee bill receives a committee markup bill goes to the Rules Committee bill receives a vote on the floor of the House bill goes to the Senate floor president signs into law
Place these actions in order from the earliest to the latest in the life of a House bill (assuming all actions occur).
Picture A bill that is reported out of a House committee sometimes goes to the Rules Committee before being considered on the House floor. A bill that is reported out of a Senate committee goes to the Senate majority leader.
Review the process of passing a bill, and then complete the following statement.
Picture Party unity votes reached a 60-year high in 2010 in the Senate. The years after 1990 were characterized by a much greater degree of partisan polarization than were the years prior to 1970.
Study the graph, and then complete the following statements.
Picture Overrepresented Groups Whites Underrepresented Groups Asians Hispanics Blacks
Which racial groups were overrepresented in the U.S. Senate relative to their population, and which were underrepresented?
Picture Correct Answer(s) Lawyers were overrepresented in the U.S. House and Senate relative to their percentage in the population. Members of the U.S. House and Senate were on average significantly older than the population. Incorrect Answer(s) Those with military service were underrepresented relative to their numbers in the U.S. population. Foreign-born individuals were represented in the U.S. Senate in proportions similar to their percentage of the population.
The Who Are Americans? infographic presents data on demographics and occupations of members of the House and Senate and total U.S. population during 2019. Study the infographic, and then answer the question. Identify the correct and incorrect statements.
Picture The 2018 midterm election experienced relatively high turnout compared to previous midterm elections. However, some groups participated more than others. The gender breakdown of the electorate was fairly even, with women comprising a slightly higher proportion of the electorate. Older voters, particularly those over the age of 45, voted at a high level, comprising 65 percent of the electorate. Higher income voters were overrepresented in the electorate relative to their composition in the population by 26 percent. Finally, there were also significant differences across racial and ethnic groups. White voters had the largest gap between their portion in the population and representation in the electorate.
The following passage analyzes patterns from the 2018 midterm election data. Read the passage and correct any mistakes.
House 25 years old at least 7 years 2 years 1-53 per state (depends on population) Local Senate 30 years old at least 9 years 6 years 2 per state statewide
The table presents key differences between the House and Senate. Drag the labels to the appropriate place on the table. Minimum age of members U.S. citizenship Length of term Number representing each state Constituency
Correct Answer(s) Omnibus appropriation bills allow the party leaders to establish their own priorities. Omnibus appropriation bills combine small appropriations bills into a single large package, which is often easier to pass. Incorrect Answer(s) Omnibus appropriation bills always allow the minority party members greater success in getting their programs funded. The funding passed through an omnibus appropriations bill will be available for six years rather than two years.
What advantages do omnibus appropriations bills provide?
Correct Answer(s) The Rules Committee does not process proposed legislation into official bills. There is no counterpart committee in the Senate. The Rules Committee focuses on procedural, rather than substantive, matters. Incorrect Answer(s) It only meets once a year. It sanctions representatives who have ethical violations.
What makes the House Rules Committee so unique?
Picture Black -underrepresented Latino -underrepresented Asian -underrepresented White -overrepresented
Which groups were overrepresented in the electorate given their percentages in the population, and which were underrepresented relative to their proportion of the population?
Correct Answer(s) drafting legislation developing policy proposals negotiating with lobbyists organizing hearings
Which of the following activities are performed by congressional staff?
Correct Answer(s) interest-group coalitions constituency concerns Incorrect Answer(s) Supreme Court review leadership PAC proposals
Which of the following are external sources of influence on congressional policy making?
Correct Answer(s) mobilization of conservative interest groups population clustering Incorrect Answer(s) mobilization of liberal interest groups presidential intervention strengthening of party leadership in Congress
Which of the following are major reasons for why Congress has become more politically polarized in recent years?
Correct Answer(s) House leadership has more power over its members than does the Senate leadership. Local interest groups have greater influence with House members. House members are more likely to specialize in specific legislative fields. Incorrect Answer(s) The House is more deliberative, giving air to a wider variety of discussions. New ideas or the goals of new interests are more likely to thrive in the House. House members are more capable of taking the long view and developing legislation or policies over years at a time.
Which of the following are ways in which the operation of the House differs from the operation of the Senate?
Correct Answer(s) Party unity has been higher in the twenty-first century than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Party unity is generally based on members sharing ideological preferences. Incorrect Answer(s) Party unity reached an all-time high in the 1960s. The capacity for party unity is generally higher in the Senate than in the House.
Which of the following statements about the nature of party unity in voting are accurate?
Correct Answer(s) Committees no longer are as central and important to the legislative process as they once were due in part to partisan divisions. Committee leaders are generally selected based on seniority, though recently chairs have also been selected based on loyalty to the party. Incorrect Answer(s) Minority party members have been given very few seats on congressional committees. Committees are now required to report all legislation with a recommendation, eliminating their gatekeeping ability.
Which of these statements about the organization and authority of congressional committees are true?
the power to approve treaties (The Constitution gives only the Senate the power to approve treaties negotiated by the president.)
Which power is granted to the Senate but not to the House?
Congressional committees may investigate a program and choose to change or eliminate it. (Changing or eliminating a program is among the possible results of oversight by congressional committees.)
Which statement about Congress's oversight capacity is accurate?
Full committees may use the recommendations resulting from subcommittee hearings or hold their own hearings. (Subcommittee recommendations are not automatically accepted by the full committee, which may hold separate hearings on the same legislation.)
Which statement about the committee deliberation of a bill is accurate?
Successful conference committee reports are generally true compromises. (When a committee successfully negotiates a report, it is usually the result of a real compromise rather than of one side steamrolling the other.)
Which statement regarding conference committees is accurate?
Correct Answer(s) The minority party leader in the Senate generally has more power than the minority party leader in the House. The House has more party leadership positions than does the Senate. The majority leader in the Senate holds a higher position of power than does the majority leader in the House. Incorrect Answer(s) The Speaker of the House's counterpart in the Senate is the president pro tempore. The House elects its leadership every two years, and the Senate every six.
Which statements are accurate regarding the leadership positions in the Senate and House?
Correct Answer(s) Multiple referral increases the power of the leadership. Multiple referral is more common in the U.S. House than the U.S. Senate. Complex bills that concern many different issues may be assigned to different standing committees. Incorrect Answer(s) Multiple referral gives each individual legislator a veto over legislation and therefore produces more bipartisan legislation. Multiple referral reduces the leaders' power and increases committee power.
Which statements regarding multiple referral are true?
Correct Answer(s) They often support legitimate district projects. They help promote compromise among members of Congress. Incorrect Answer(s) Earmarks help prevent scandals in Congress. They help reduce government spending.
Why might pork barrel spending be a useful thing for Congress?
Roll-Call Party unity (Party unity votes have been increasingly common in Congress over the past 50 years as the parties have grown more internally cohesive, causing polarization between the parties to grow.)
____________- votes provide a record of individual members' support or opposition to a proposal. If at least 50 percent of one party takes a position and at least 50 percent of the other party takes the opposite position, then it is considered a ______ Vote
