GOVT 2305: UNIT 1 Smartbook CH 11

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

20

In terms of the budget to hire office staff,

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

The difference between amendments that can be offered in the House and Senate to a bill under consideration is that in the

House, amendments must directly relate to a bill's contents.

Which of the following is a major reason why incumbents are reelected?

Many congressional districts and some states are lopsidedly Democratic or Republican.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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 a procedural move in the Senate that can end a filibuster?

cloture

Which of the following are common threats to incumbency?

disruptive issues personal misconduct strong challengers

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

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.

When major disruptive issues occur, incumbents are

more likely to lose

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

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

party leaders

In the 2018 midterm elections, how many House and Senate races received money from super PACs?

several dozen

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

six years

Who is more likely to vote in a primary election?

strong partisans

Incumbents have ______ over challengers.

substantial advantages

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

the seniority system

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

the type of policy at issue.

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.

Before 1900, service in Congress

was not usually a career for most of its members.

When does a bill become a law?

when congress overrides a presidential veto when the president signs it

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

False

True or false: It is more common for House incumbents than Senate incumbents to face challengers in the form of prominent local politicians.

False

______ 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.

______ 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

The most powerful leader in the House of Representatives is the

Speaker of the House.

What occurs after a conference committee reconciles differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill?

The bill goes back to both chambers for a vote.

Which of the following are true concerning women and minorities who run for congressional office?

There are more women than there are minorities in Congress. Women and minorities are less likely to run for Congress than white males.

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

They allow more members to hold leadership positions.

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.

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.

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

a moderate Washington insider.

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

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 is not a direct power of the committee chair?

changes party affiliation at will

A constituency is comprised of

citizens from the incumbent's state or district.

Select committees are

designed to address a specific issue or problem.

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

domestic policy

Hearings are an effective way for committees to

gather information.

The redrawing of congressional boundaries to benefit a political party is called

gerrymandering.

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.

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

In the large majority of cases, the winner of a congressional campaign is the

incumbent.

The purpose of pork barrel projects is to show constituents that their representative

is actively working for them in Congress.

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

jurisdiction.

Which of the following are the functions of Congress?

lawmaking representation oversight

Which of the following is the most powerful party leadership position in the Senate?

majority leader

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

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

midterm

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

no

An open-seat election is one in which

no incumbent is running.

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.

The process of determining how many House seats each state is allowed as a result of population change since the last census is known as

reapportionment.

When congressional district boundaries are redrawn within a state, it is known as

redistricting

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

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

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

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

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

mark up

Donors are more willing to make campaign contributions to

incumbents.

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

party leaders

What are conference committees?

temporary joint committees that are formed to work out differences

Compared with their percentage of the overall population of the United States, women and minorities are ______ in Congress.

underrepresented