Congress AP Gov Test

One must be ____ years of age to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and _____ years of age to serve in the Senate.

25; 30

The poverty line is defined as

3 times the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four

There are currently _____ voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and _____ voting members of the U.S. Senate.

435; 100

Poverty is a condition that today affects roughly one in ___ Americans

8

Committees kill more than _____ percent of the bills submitted in Congress.

90

Nearly ___ of all PAC contributions go to the incumbents.

90

Committee staffs with Congress

perform an almost entirely legislative function

Legislation whose tangible benefits are targeted solely at a particular legislator's constituency is

pork-barreling legislation

Because of the inherent tension in Congress between the need for strong leadership at the top and the individual congressional member's need to act according to local concerns,

power int eh Congress is widely dispersed

For a bill to pass in either chamber of Congress, it must

receive the support of a simple majority of its members

A major area that is affected by Congressional Oversight Hearings is

review of budgets of independent regulatory agencies

Senators are generally less likely to take directions from their leaders House members because

senators think of themselves as being equals and are only willing to be led by persuasion

Which of the following is true of social security and Medicare?

Families in the top fifth of the income population receive more in social security and Medicare benefits than the government spends in total on TANF, SSI, food stamps, and housing subsidies for the poor

Which of one of the following statements about the seniority principle in committees is most accurate?

seniority is no longer absolute in the selection of committee chairs, but it is usually followed

What step in the development of public policy comes first?

First stage is problem recognition - the emergence of issues. Second stage is policy formulation- the formulation and enactment of a policy response to the problem) Third stage is policy implementation - carrying out of policy

In the nation's first century, service in Congress:

service in Congress was not seen as a lifetime career for most of its members

Government support for agriculture in the form of price supports and income subsidies is designed primarily to

stabilize farm income, which would otherwise fluctuate greatly due to market and weather conditions

More than 90 percent of the funding for K-12 public education comes from

state and local governments

The Progressive Era of government regulation focused on

stopping the unfair business practices of the new monopolies, such as the railroads

The broad goals of the United States in the global economy include

sustaining a stable and open system of trade that will promote prosperity at home maintaining access to oil and other natural resources vital to the strength preventing the widening gap between rich and poor countries from destabilizing the world economy

Economic efficiency requires

that the output of goods and services is the highest possible given the amount of input used to produce them

Campaign spending is different for challengers than incumbents in that:

More difficult for challengers. Incumbents rarely say they have trouble raising enough money to conduct an effect campaign, while challengers complain that their fundraising fall short of their needs. Challengers lack the support of individual contributors and PACs that incumbents receive.

The Federal Reserve System

NOT created in 1933 NOT run by a congressional committee NOT regulate only national banks NOT created specifically to conduct fiscal policy (None of these answers is correct)

The oversight responsibility of Congress is

NOT relatively easy to carry out NOT becoming less and less important to the nation NOT more interesting to most legislators that policy making responsibilities NOT the most time consuming task for most legislators (None of these answers is correct)

Compared with the Senate majority leader, the Speaker of the House has more power because

the House places more limits on debate the House is the larger chamber in terms of membership the House has less of a tradition as a chamber of equals the Speaker is that chamber's presiding officer (All these answers are correct)

The scheduling of bills in the Senate is left up to whom?

the Senate majority leader

Defense spending per capita is highest in

the US

Which nation does NOT have a one-house dominant legislature?

the US

_________ has the highest child poverty rate among the major industrialized nations.

the US

Defining the conditions and scheduling a bill for floor debate in the House of Representatives is the responsibility of the ______.

Rules Committee

What House committee has the most influence in determining the fate of legislation?

Rules Committee

Which of the following was the first major government act of economic support?

Social Security Act

The second most powerful federal (after the president is often said to be the

Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Which of the following is true regarding the Kyoto agreement and greenhouse gas emissions?

the US is the largest single producer of greenhouse emissions in the world, on a per-capita basis President George W. Bush rejected the agreement it was a multinational effort to reduce carbon emissions the burden of addressing the global warming problem will fall unevenly on nations (All these answers are correct)

The era of "new social regulation," which addressed issues such as the environment and worker safety, differed from the previous two eras of regulatory reform in that

the aim was to regulate activities of firms of many types, not just those in a particular industry

Which of the following is a step that a proposed bill would not encounter on its journey through Congress?

The bill is introduced by a member of the Congress or by a member of the executive department

Which of the following is true of the federal government's role in education?

The federal government's role in education was relatively small before the 1960s

Congress's inability to consistently provide leadership on broad national issues is due to

the fragmented nature of Congress

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship today between government and the economy in the US?

the government has an important role in regulating and maintaining the US economy

Fiscal policy is a mechanism the government employs to influence the economy. Fiscal policy is based on

the government's taxing and spending decisions

A bill has been approved in the House and Senate, albeit in slightly different versions. The bill now goes to

a conference committee

By and large, partisanship is

a huge source of both cohesion and division within Congress

Compared to House incumbents, Senate incumbents are more likely to face the problem of

a strong challenger

Members of the Federal Reserve Board

are appointed by the president and are not subject to removal

In initiating broad legislative proposals, the president enjoys all the following advantages over Congress EXCEPT

the president being granted more authority by the Constitution in the area of lawmaking

Through a vote for cloture, the Senate

can end a filibuster

A pocket veto differs from a regular presidential veto in that the pocket veto

can take effect only when the Congress is not in session

Most members of Congress are

concerned with national issues, but even more concerned with local ones

When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, the differences are resolved by a

conference committee

Since the founding of the United States, the debate over the representation function of Congress has centered on whether

the primary concern of a representative should be the interests of the nation or of his or her constituency

Gerrymandering is

the process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that advantages its candidates

Reapportionment is

the reallocation of House seats among states after each census as a result of population changes

What is the biggest reason that Congress does not vigorously pursue its oversight function?

the sheer magnitude of the task

Most of the legislative work of Congress is performed by

the standing committees and their subcommittees with jurisdiction over particular policy areas

Supply-side economics, as implemented by President George W. Bush's administration, involved

the supply component of the supply-demand equation stressing the importance of tax cuts for businesses stressing the importance of tax cuts for the wealthy an increase in the size of the national debt (All these answers are correct)

Whips have which of the following functions?

they are responsible for keeping party members in line when a vote occurs

Monetary policy includes all the following assumptions EXCEPT that

too little money in circulation contributes to inflation

The term entitlement refers to a program

where any individual who meets the eligibility criteria is entitled to receive the benefit

The term means test refers to

whether an applicant's income is low enough to qualify for public assistance

Congressional staffers spend most of their time on ______ and ______.

constituency service and public relations

The U.S. social welfare system differs markedly from those of Western European democracies, a situation that is attributable in large part to America's

cultural emphasis on individualism and federal system of government

Incumbents may have some problems in reelection campaigns if

disruptive issues such as general public discontent with Congress become prominent the incumbent is tainted with charges of personal misconduct or corruption the election is a midterm election, and the incumbent is of the same party as the president through redistricting, the incumbent is placed in a disadvantageous district (All these answers are correct)

Which of the following is a major cause of the inability of Congress to pass legislation?

divided party control of Congress

The defining characteristic of a social insurance program is that

eligibility for the program's benefits is confined to those who pay the special taxes that fund the program

A ruling by the Food and Drug Administration that a drug is dangerous to use and therefore cannot be marketed is an example of regulation for the purpose of

equity

What is the strategy employed in the Senate to prevent a bill from coming to a vote?

filibuster

In the 1970s, roll-call votes

generally did not pit most Republicans against most Democrats

In John Maynard Keynes's demand-side economic theory, an economic recession can be shortened through

government spending programs

The bureaucratic costs of welfare are substantially lower in Europe because most European countries

have unitary rather than federal systems

News media coverage of Congress and the president is

heavily tilted toward presidential coverage

In John Maynard Keynes's demand-side economic theory, an economic recession can be shortened through

increase the tax rate

The term that most accurately describes the international economy today is

interdependence (economic globalization)

A standing committee in the House or Senate

is a permanent committee has jurisdiction over a particular policy area has authority to draft, amend, and recommend legislation is usually organized according to the seniority principle (All these answers are correct)

In contrast with the Speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader

is not the presiding officer of his/her chamber

The phrase that best describes the shift in America's world position from the pre- to the post-World War II eras is _______ to ________.

isolationism to internationalism

Monetary policy differs from fiscal policy in that

it can be implemented more quickly that fiscal policy

What did Congress do in 199 to reduce overregulation?

it enacted legislation that prohibits administrators in some instances from issuing a regulation unless they can show that its benefits outweigh its costs

When the Fed was created in 1913,

it had no role in the management of the nation's economy

Which of the following statements is NOT true about Medicaid?

it serves all Americans who cannot afford health insurance

Which of the following are the three major functions of Congress's policymaking role?

lawmaking, representation, oversight

The trading of votes between members of Congress so that each gets the legislation he or she wants is called

logrolling

The EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) represents a reallocation of income to

lower-income workers

The Federal Reserve controls the money supply through all of the following actions EXCEPT

lowering the tax rate on individuals.

In the US what is the largest part of the US budget?

mandatory spending

Bills are formally introduced in Congress by

members of Congress only

The U.S. spends the majority of its discretionary income on

military (Department of Defense)

Government benefits for business include all of the following EXCEPT

minimum-wage laws

The Federal Reserve plays a large part in establishing ________ policy.

monetary

The Modern Congress is different today in that:

most members are now professional politicians who want to stay in Congress

The idea that major nations should act together in response to problems and crises is called

multilateralism

If the Rules Committee applies the "closed rule" to a bill, then

no amendments will be permitted

Social insurance programs have high levels of public support because

of their self-financing feature

Congress typically takes presidential proposals

only as a starting point

Which of the following statements is true about party-line voting?

party-line voting has increased in recent years

The Social Security benefits that today's retirees receive are funded primarily by

payroll taxes on people who are currently working