Chapter 11

The Constitution specifies that members of the House must be at least __________ years old and American citizens for _________ years.

25; 7

The Constitution specifies that members of the Senate must be at least __________ years old and American citizens for _________ years.

30; 9

Which example best demonstrates a legislator acting as a trustee of his or her constituency?

A legislator uses his or her best judgment.

a group members of Congress who share some interest or characterisics and common goals are called?

Caucus

__________ is the only formal method for ending a filibuster and requires the approval of __________ senators.

Cloture, sixty

According to the Constitution, how can a bill become a law without the president's signature?

Congress can override the veto with a 2/3 vote in both houses.

Which of the following makes economic projections about the performance of the economy, the costs of proposed policies, and the economic effects of taxing and spending alternatives?

Congressional Budget Office

What best represents the trend of party polarization over the last three decades?

Each congressional party has become more homogeneous, and the distance between parties has increased.

What is a good example of congressional casework?

Helping a constituent with the Veterans Administration

which of the following statements might be made by a critic of term limits?

Legislators with limited time in office won't seek to gain institutional knowledge.

How does Article I, Section 7 exemplify the concept of checks and balances?

No one branch is single handedly in control of making laws for the country.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the relationship between Congress and the President?

Presidents are most successful as facilitators, rather than directors, in lawmaking.

Which committees exist in both the House and Senate, may be temporary or permanent, and usually have a specific focus?

Select

Who is the only House official mandated by the Constitution?

Speaker of the House

Why might incumbents want to deemphasize their policy positions during a reelection campaign?

Stressing policy positions can make enemies as well as friends.

Why are there currently 435 members in the House of Representatives?

The number is fixed at this limit by a statute.

How are Senate committee chairs generally selected?

according to seniority

When does a bill go to the Rules Committee in the House of Representatives?

after it is approved by its full committee

What type of legislature did the Constitutional Convention create?

bicameral

How can a filibuster can be ended?

cloture approved by sixty senators

Which committee is created to reconcile differences in versions of a bill passed by the House and Senate?

conference

Where does most of Congress's work happen?

conferences

Which incumbency advantage involves efforts to highlight an incumbent's service to individuals and to the district?

credit claiming

Charged with the responsibility to __________, the __________ is almost certainly the most powerful committee in either chamber of Congress.

grant and set procedural rules, House Rules Committee

How might the pork barrel aid a congressional member's district?

increasing jobs and revenue with federally funded projects

What is the typical process followed by a bill in the House of Representatives?

introduction, committee referral, subcommittee, full committee report, rules committee, full House vote, conference committee, send to president

Who is second in authority to the Speaker of the House in the House of Representative?

majority leader

What best explains the overwhelming advantage incumbents possess in seeking reelection over opposition candidates?

name recognition, access to media, and advertising i.e., franking privilege

What type of legislation do party leaders from the two chambers of Congress sometimes use to address numerous and perhaps unrelated issues to create winning coalitions and force members to support the entire bill to obtain the individual parts?

omnibus

Each state has a minimum of __________ representative in the House elected every __________ years

one, two

Fundamental flaws in the operations and management of FEMA became evident in its response to four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004; yet by 2005, when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Congress had not yet held hearings to pinpoint and resolve FEMA's problems. Similarly, Congress missed the fact that various agencies with responsibility for supervising the banking industry were negligent in identifying looming financial problems that led to the recession of 2008-2009. These incidents represent failures of __________.

oversight

Partisan __________ occurs when members of both parties move away from the moderate middle and share increasingly less common ground.

polarization

What is substantive representation?

representing the interests of groups of which they themselves are not members

What have reformers proposed to increase turnover in the membership of Congress?

term limits

What function do whips serve?

to persuade party members to support the party's priorities

What is the vice president's only constitutionally defined job?

to serve as president of the Senate

As advocated by English politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, which concept describes legislators as people who use their best judgment to make policy in the interests of the people?

trustees

Each state has __________ senators elected every __________ years.

two, six

Members of Congress differ from the larger American population in they are disproportionately__________.

white, upper-middle-class, middle-aged, and male

A lobbyist for the NRA would be most effective when targeting a legislator ___________.

whose voting behavior opposes gun control