11. Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local Interests

Reapportionment takes place every ________ years following a census.

10 years

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

30 , 9

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

60%

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

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

Adopting a single policy message; developing issues

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

Budgetary appropriations; congressional hearings

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

Cloture

Among the reasons why Congress has difficulty taking the lead on broad issues are the facts that

Congress has two chambers, they are not always in agreement on policy issues; Members of Congress come from different districts and often have conflicting views on national policy.

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

Majority Leader

Which of the following correctly describes protocol for committee membership?

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

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

Open

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

Party leaders.

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

Presidents tend to have a national perspective.

The Speaker of the House has rights to

Select the chairperson of the House Rules of Committee; speak first during House debate on legislation; choose who may speak on the House floor.

Which of the following statements about midterm elections are generally true?

The president's party usually loses seats; Voter turnout is lower than for presidential elections; there is less media coverage of candidates and issues than in a presidential election.

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

Their parties differ philosophically; their parties differ politically

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

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

In 2012, Senator Richard Lugar, a six-term incumbent, was beaten in the GOP primary Richard Mourdock, who was portrayed Lugar as

a moderate Washington inside

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

acute

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

being an incumbent

Which of the following could be considered personal misconduct that might lead to a congressional incumbent losing a bid for reelection.

being involved in a sex scandal; engaging in bribery.

A(n) ________ is a proposed legislative act if passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president become law.

bill

Congress's structure makes it easier to

block legislation than enact it.

Most members of Congress are

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

Which of the following is not a direct power of the committee chair?

changes party affiliation at will

Select committees are

designed to address a specific issue or problem.

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

When members of the Senate wish to halt or delay the passage of a bill, a ________ may take place.

filibuster

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

identical

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

lawmaking

In Insecure Majorities, Frances Lee noted that, in the currently closely matched parties, members of Congress engaged in "________" rather than "governing."

messaging

As political scientist James Sundquist noted "Congress [is] organized to deal with ________ problems and not with ________ ones."

narrow; broad

When there is no incumbent running in an election it is called a(n)________ ________ election and usually sparks heavier spending by the two political parties.

open seat

If a "turf war" erupts as different committees vie for jurisdiction over a bill, who or what decided the committee assignment?

party leaders

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

polls showed that voters were trending toward the Democrats.

Which of the following are the functions of Congress?

representation; oversight; lawmaking

Members of Congress give various interests a voice in the legislative process as a 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

________ refers to a practice whereby members of Congress respond to constituents' individual requests for information or help with a federal benefit or service.

service strategy

On major bills, it is increasingly typical for the majority party's leaders to

shape the bill's broad content; direct the floor debate after the bill leaves the committee.

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

six years.

A permanent committee in Congress is known as a(n)________ committee.

standing

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 PACs

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.

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 are common threats to incumbency?

personal misconduct; strong challengers; disruptive issues