AP Gov Chapter 11: Congress

In the 2007-2008 campaign cycle, the average winner in the House spent about ___, while the average Senate winner spent ___.

$1.4 million; $8.5 million

The United Staes Senate has ___ members.

100

Women occupied approximately ___ percent of the seats in the 111th Congress.

17

Members of the House of Representatives must be ___ years old.

25

House members serve ___ -year terms; Senators serve ___-year terms.

2;6

There are ___ members of Congress.

535

The fact that incumbents usually win reelection

All of the above are true.

Which of the following is a consequence of the fact that members of Congress feel "unsafe at any margin"?

All of the above are true.

A proposed law, drafted in legal language, is called a

Bill.

Which of the following statements regarding party politics and Congress is FALSE?

Bipartisan compromise has grown more frequent over the last three decades.

What are the dominant prior occupations of members of Congress?

Business and Law

Which of the following statements about the role of money in congressional elections is FALSE?

Challengers usually outspend incumbents.

Which of the following summarizes the quintessential dilemma for Congress?

Combining faithful representation while also making effective public policy.

Which of the following offices is responsible for making 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

The ___ is administered by the Library of Congress to provide nonpartisan studies and information to members of Congress.

Congressional Research Service

A unanimous vote is necessary to halt a filibuster.

False

According to the Constitution, members of the House must be 35 years of age.

False

As part of the congressional reforms of the 1970s, Congress substantially decreased its oversight activities.

False

Committees have little substantive power in Congress.

False

Congress is descriptively representative of the U.S. population.

False

Individual members of the House of Representatives have substantial opportunities for influence on policymaking as individuals.

False

Members of Congress earn an annual salary of $1 million.q

False

Representing the interest of groups is called descriptive representation.

False

The Congress is a unicameral legislature.

False

The Framers of the Constitution conceived of Congress as secondary in significance and importance to policymaking compared to the executive branch.

False

The House is less centralized than the Senate.

False

The House still strictly follows the seniority system, wherein the majority party member of the committee who has served the longest automatically serves as chair.

False

The first woman to serve as Speaker of the House was Hilary Clinton.

False

The term for a member of the House is six years.

False

Why are so many Senators reluctant to use cloture?

For fear of setting a precedent to be used against them when they want to filibuster.

The ___ helps congress perform its oversight functions by reviewing the activities of the executive branch to see if it is following the congressional intent of the laws.

Government Accountability Office

According to the Constitution, revenue bills must originate in the

House.

___ committees draw their membership from both the Senate and the House.

Joint

Which of the following statements about incumbency is FALSE?

Most incumbents forgo the opportunity to run for reelection.

Which of the following is TRUE about the minimum age requirements for members of Congress set forth in the Constitution?

One must be at least 30 years of age to serve in the Senate.

Which of the following statements about the policymaking process if FALSE?

Presidents play no role in crafting the congressional agenda.

In terms of religion, most members of Congress are

Protestant.

Which of the following is NOT a role of responsibility of the Speaker of the House?

Recommending which members should be expelled from the House for failure to support the party's positions on bills.

What is descriptive representation?

Representing constituents by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics

The House ___ Committee reviews most bills coming from other committees before they go on to the full House, thus performing a traffic cop function.

Rules

According to the Constitution, once impeached, federal officials are then tried in the

Senate.

___ members present and voting can halt a filibuster by voting for cloture.

Sixty

Which of the following congressional offices is mandates by the Constitution?

Speaker of the House

Which of the following is TRUE of the Senate as compared to the House?

The Senate is more influential in foreign affairs.

Which of the following is unique to the Senate?

The filibuster

Which of the following about the filibuster is FALSE?

The filibuster is used in both houses.

Which of the following is NOT true about incumbents?

They usually face very tough challengers, especially in races for the House.

A 1995 law requires lobbyists to report legislative issues they seek to influence, the amount they spent on that effort, and the identities of their clients.

True

Anyone can draft a bill; only a member of the House or Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration.

True

Business and law are top occupations for members of Congress.

True

Fewer than 10% of all members of Congress are African American.

True

Filibusters occur in the Senate but not the House.

True

Incumbents usually win.

True

Joint committees exist in a few policy areas, such a taxation and the economy, and draw members from both the House and the Senate.

True

Legislative oversight is congressional monitoring of the bureaucracy and its administration of policy.

True

More than 90% of incumbents in the House of Representatives seeking reelection win.

True

Most members of Congress are better at substantive representation than descriptive representation.

True

Most of the turnover in Congress results in vacated seats.

True

Party leaders who work to count voters and lean on waverers are called whips.

True

Political parties in Congress have become more polarized over the last three decades.

True

Senate rules provide for unlimited debate.

True

Temporary or permanent committees that have focused responsibility, such as the House and Senate committees on intelligence, are called select committees.

True

The House Rules Committee reviews most bills coming from a House committee before the bills go to the full House.

True

The average House member has 17 assistants and the average Senator has 40.

True

The distance between congressional parties has been growing steadily over the past three decades, making bipartisan compromise more difficult.

True

The filibuster allows a minority to defeat a majority.

True

The goal of advertising for members of Congress is visibility.

True

The role of the Speaker of the House is to preside over the House when it is in session, to make committee assignments, to appoint legislative leaders, and to exercise control over assigning bills to committees.

True

The structure of the House allows for greater leadership than does the structure of the Senate.

True

There are 435 members of the House and 100 Senators.

True

There is a greater likelihood of competition in open seat elections.

True

Voters have little direct influence on which members of Congress chair key committees or lead congressional parties.

True

Women compromised approximately 17% of the 111th Congress.

True

How many senators are elected from each state?

Two

When the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill,

a conference committee is appointed to resolve differences.

Comparison between members of the House and Senate concerning the impact of incumbency on their reelection chances shows that one of the reasons that senators have a smaller advantage is because they

are more likely to be held accountable on controversial issues.

Presidential leadership of Congress "at the margins" refers to a notion of presidential leadership in which presidents

attempt to build coalitions and create a political climate favorable to the president's policy agenda.

The single most important advantage to someone trying to get elected to Congress is

being an incumbent

A legislature divided into two houses is called a ___ legislature.

bicameral.

Nebraska's legislature is the only one in the United States that is NOT

bicameral.

Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals are known as

casework.

Members of Congress who informally band together in groups to promote and protect mutual interests (e.g., mushroom growers) form what are called

caucuses.

The procedure used to cut off debate and end a filibuster is known as

cloture.

Committees composed of members of both the House and the Senate, the purpose of which is to meet and iron out differences between bills, are called ___ committees.

conference

Within the last few years, power in Congress has become more

decentralized with the proliferation of subcommittees and caucuses.

One of the key differences between the House and the Senate is that the House

has more policy specialization.

An example of casework by a member of Congress is

helping a constituent gain citizenship.

Most of the business of Congress takes place

in committees and subcommittees.

Individuals already holding office are called

incumbents.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to

initiate all revenue bills.

In contrasts to the trustee model of representation, the ___ model of representation is based on legislators mirroring the preferences of their constituents.

instructed-delegates

One of the key differences between the House and Senate is that the Senate

is less dependent on seniority for determining power.

The filibuster

is unique to the Senate.

The minority whip

keeps a close head count on key votes, and attempts to keep party members in line.

The most common prior occupation for members of Congress is

law.

When members of Congress hold a hearing to questions a cabinet member on how a law is being carried out, they are engaging in

legislative oversight.

The most powerful person in the Senate is the

majority leader.

The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House, responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes, is the

majority leader.

According to your textbook, the stronger constituency interests are on issues and the weaker partisan ideology is, the

more likely members are to deviate from their own positions and adopt those of their constituencies.

Compared to members of the House, Senators are

more likely to face difficult reelection opponents.

The pork barrel and casework are examples of

opportunities for credit-claiming by members of Congress.

Legislative ___ is the process of monitoring the bureaucracy and its administration of policy.

oversight

Substantive representation refers to

representing the interests of groups

The House Rules Committee

reviews most bills coming from committee before they go to the full House

A ___ committee is one appointed for a limited, specific purpose, such as that set up to investigate the Watergate scandal.

select

If the full House votes on a conference committee version of a bill it is then

sent to the president.

A Senate seat is up for election every

six years.

The late senator Edward Kennedy, who had a background of wealth and privilege and was a champion of the interests of the poor, is an example of

substantive representation.

Nominees to the United States Supreme Court must be confirmed by

the Senate.

House seats are up for election every

two years.

Reasons that incumbent senators have greater competition than incumbent members of the House include all of the following EXCEPT

voters are less likely to know the issue positions of their senators than their representatives.

Party leaders who work with the majority or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on wavers whose votes are cucial to a bill favored by the party are called

whips.

A bicameral legislature is a legislature

with two houses, providing checks and balances on policymaking.

The income and occupations of members of Congress

would, for the most part, make them members of the elite in American society.