AP Government: Unit 11 (Congress) - Multiple Choice

In which of the following scenarios would the president's veto likely be upheld?

2/3rd of reps. and senators are members of the same party as the president

Which of the following powers is NOT given to speaker of the House?

Appointing chairmen of standing committees

Congress determines the actual amount available for government agencies to spend in a fiscal year when it sets?

Appropriations

Which of the following is empowered to create new federal courts and specify the number of judges who will sit on them?

Congress

A "cloture motion" passed in the Senate does which of the following?

Cuts off debate on a bill

to which of the following congressional committees would a proposal to reform the national-income tax system initially be sent?

House Ways and Means committee

The data displayed in the table above best supports which of the following statements?

House members serve more terms than do Senators

Suppose that a senator from Kansas supports a highway bill that will grant millions of dollars to his state to repair interstate highways. He hopes that this bill will ensure his reelection, so he sets up a meeting with a senator from NY, who supports a bill that will preserve historic buildings in NYC. The two senators agree over lunch that they will both vote for both bills. What kinds of practices does their agreement demonstrate? I. pork-barrel legislating II. logrolling III. gerrymandering IV. filibustering

I and II

Which of the following are major influences on the decisions that members of Congress make in the policymaking process? I. constituents' views II. Their party views III. Their personal views

I, II, III

Which of the following are differences between the legislative process in the House vs the Senate ? I. Debate is more restricted on the House floor than on the Senate floor II. The amendment process is more restricted in the House than the Senate III. Bills are more likely to bypass committee consideration in the House than in the Senate IV. A rules committee sets the guidelines for floor debate in the House but not the Senate

I, II, IV

The advantages of incumbency in congressional elections include which of the following? I. Incumbents receive more campaign contribution than do challengers II. Incumbents are able to provide important services for individual voters III. The gov provides campaign funds for incumbents IV. The President usually endorses incumbents for reelection V. Most American voters believe Congress does a good job

I, and II

In general, Congress is more likely to defer to the President

In the area of foreign policy

Which of the following is the best explanation for why only 25 members of the 109th Congress are under the age of 40?

Incumbency has become an established pattern in congress

Which of the following statements about incumbent senators running for reelection is correct?

Incumbent senators are less likely to be reelected than incumbent House members

Which of the following is most often cited as a strength of the legislative process in the U.S.?

It allows for input from many people

Which of the following is true of the gerrymandering of congressional districts?

It creates districts that favor one political party over another

Which of the following is true about divided party control of the presidency and the Congress

It reflects a frequent election pattern over the past three decades

What does a closed rule in the House of Representatives do?

It sets strict time limits on debates and forbids amendments to bills from the floor

Which of the following is the BEST description of the influence of political party affiliation on a member's vote in Congress?

Party (partisan) affiliation is very important, with representatives and senators voting along party lines about 3/4 of the time

All of the following powers are granted to Congress in Article I, section 8, Except?

Regulate intrastate commerce

All of the following are characteristics of the House of Representatives Except?

Representatives must be native-born Americans

Which of the following is NOT a correct comparison of the House/Senate

Senators must be native-born citizens but House reps may be naturalized citizens

The mot powerful position in Congress is generally the?

Speaker of the House

In what stage of lawmaking do most bills die?

Standing committees and subcomittees

Which of the following is an accurate statement about committees in Congress?

Standing committees oversee the bureaucracy's implementation of legislation

The boundary lines of congressional districts are drawn by?

State legislatures

The committee system is more important in the House than the Senate because?

The House is so large that more work can be done in the committees than on the floor

Which of the following statements about tules of procedure in the House/Senate is correct?

The House operates by more formal rules, while the Senate operates by more informal understandings

Which of the following statements about Congress is true?

The legislative process is frequently lengthy, decentralized, and characterized by compromise and bargaining

Which of the following most accurately compares the majority leader in the House to majority leader in the Senate

The majority leader is usually not the most powerful leader in the House; the Senate majority leader has top leadership in that house

If in a general election the minority party in Congress wins the majority in the new Congress, who from the old congress would most likely fill the Speaker of the House's position in the new Congress?

The minority leader would most likely become Speaker

Which of the following positions would NOT be affected if the majority party lost its majority in Congress?

The president of the Senate

Which of the following usually has little power in determining Congressional proceedings?

The president of the Senate

What special power does the Constitution give to the House that it does not give to the Senate?

The requirement that all bills of revenue originate in the House

The boundaries of the U.S. congressional districts are usually determined by?

The state legislatures

All of the following are powers of Congress enumerated in the constitution EXCEPT:

To select the commander in chief of the armed services

Which of the following has the most influence on the outcome of a congressional election?

a candidate's incumbency status

A new rep from rural Kansas who narrowly won his election would most likely seek to be placed on the ?

agricultural committee

Elections for the House provide

approximently equal representation for every voter

One of the formal tools used by Congress for oversight of the bureaucracy is?

authorization of spending

The legislative process at the national level reflects the intent of the framers of the Constitution to create a legislature that would

be cautious and deliberate

Informal groupings of members of Congress that share the same interests, characteristics, or points of view are called?

caucuses

Which of the following types of committees is set up to hammer out differences between House/Senate versions of similar bills?

conference committees

An electoral system based on a single-member district is usually characterized by?

domination of legislature by 2 political parties

The congressional system of standing committees is significant because it

fosters the development of expertise by members

All of the following are reasons incumbents in the House enjoy an electoral advantage over challengers EXCEPT that incumbents

get substantial financial support from their party's national committee

In which of the following settlings is a bill most likely to be changed/rewritten?

in sub-committee

a pocket veto is a technique that allows the president to?

kill legislation presented to him within ten days of the adjournment of Congress

Wesberry Vs. Sanders the "one-man-vote" Supreme Court decision addressed the problem of ?

malapportionment

Congressional standing committees are best described as?

permanent subject-matter committees

The role of the conference committee in congress is to?

reconcile differences in bills passed by the House/Senate

The franklin privilege refers to the?

right of Congress to send mail to their constituents at the gov.'s expense

Which of the following committees of the House sets the conditions for debate and amendment of most legislation?

rules

Committees that are formed for specific purposes, usually are temporary, and consist of new members only one house are called?

select committees

Cloture is a technique used in the senate to?

stop a filibuster

A committee chair in the House is always?

the member with the longest service in the House

Communication between congressional representatives and constituents occurs mainly through?

the personal staff's of representatives

a major difference between House/Senate is?

there is unlimited debate allowed in senate, but not house

How do most committee chairmen get their jobs?

through the seniority system