Ch 11 DC gov
Reapportionment takes place every ____ years following a census.
10
At present there are ______ standing committees in the House of Representatives.
20
Today, in the grips of partisan deadlock, congressional approval ratings are about ______ percent.
20
In order to become a member of the Senate, a person must be at least ______ years of age and have been a citizen for at least ______ years.
30; 9
In the 1980s, before partisan deadlock, congressional approval ratings were about ______ percent.
60
Which of the following are activities that typically take place in a party caucus?
Adopting a single policy message and developing issues
Among the reasons why Congress has difficulty taking the lead on broad issues are the facts that...
Congress has two chambers, and they are not always in agreement on policy issues, and members of Congress come from different districts and often have conflicting views on national policy.
True or false: It is more common for House incumbents than Senate incumbents to face challengers in the form of prominent local politicians.
False
The privilege of incumbents sending mail to their constituencies at the government's expense is known as the _______ privilege.
Franking
In terms of the budget to hire office staff...
House members receive identical amounts of money, and 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.
______ 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.
How has the importance of local issues changed in Congress as party polarization has taken hold?
Local issues are less important.
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.
Who established the standard for the proper approach to Congress's representative function?
No one; it has been debated since the founding.
When there is no incumbent running in an election it is called a(n) _____-_______ election and usually sparks heavier spending by the two political parties.
Open Seat
The trend toward party unity in Congress can clearly be seen in voting records of members of Congress when their votes are officially recorded during a ______-______ vote.
Roll Call
The Speaker of the House has the right to...
Select the chairperson of the House Rules Committee, speak first during House debate on legislation, and choose who may speak on the House floor.
Why is the president usually better suited than Congress to taking the lead on broad national issues?
The president has sole executive authority and thus can decide a course of action without needing the consent of other top executives.
The text uses the immigration issue as an example of a national issue on which Republican and Democratic lawmakers cannot agree. What is the sticking point?
The two parties have different solutions to the same problem.
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, and voter turnout is lower than for presidential elections.
How do committees and subcommittees serve to decentralize power in Congress?
They allow more members to hold leadership positions.
Which of the following are true of joint committees?
They are composed of members of both houses and perform advisory functions.
Which of the following statements are true of bills that are killed in committee?
They can be brought back to life by a vote of the full House or Senate, most are poorly conceived or of little interest to anyone, and some bills are not supported by the members who introduced them.
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.
Which of the following statements about congressional committees are true?
They make it possible for Congress to consider a high volume of bills, and they each specialize in a certain area of legislation.
Why are incumbents at risk when elections are being waged in the context of disruptive issues?
Voters are more likely to believe those in power should be removed from office.
Which of the following methods is most often used to select committee chairs?
Which of the following methods is most often used to select committee chairs?
Which of the following are true concerning women and minorities who run for congressional office?
Women and minorities are less likely to run for Congress than white males, and there are more women than there are minorities in Congress.
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.
Members of Congress may experience conflict between their lawmaking responsibility and their responsibility to represent their constituency when...
a policy that is good for the nation as a whole does not coincide with the needs of their constituency.
The framers of the Constitution intended that lawmakers ______, something that has become increasingly difficult in today's partisan Congress.
act in the spirit of compromise
Partisan divisions have become more ______ as a result of party polarization.
acute
In Congress, disagreement over national policy usually occurs...
along partisan divisions.
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
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
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 could be considered personal misconduct that might lead to a congressional incumbent losing a bid for reelection?
being involved in a sex scandal, and engaging in bribery
Congress's structure makes it easier to...
block legislation than enact it.
Most members of Congress are...
career politicians who want to stay in Congress and put themselves in position for reelection.
To plan strategy and resolve policy issues, party members in Congress typically meet behind closed doors in a session called a party ______.
caucus
Which of the following is not a direct power of the committee chair?
changes party affiliation at will
Which of the following is a procedural move in the Senate that can end a filibuster?
cloture
Members of Congress usually serve on congressional committees that concentrate on policy areas that affect the members'...
constituency.
Select committees are...
designed to address a specific issue or problem.
How does the public generally feel about Congress?
dissatisfied
Most of the bills Congress passes are ______ in nature, which means they provide benefits to a particular group in society while spreading the costs across the taxpaying public as a whole.
distributive
Partisan voting is most apparent when members are voting on major ______ issues.
domestic policy
When members of the Senate wish to halt or delay the passage of a bill, a(n)_____ may take place.
filibuster
The redrawing of congressional boundaries to benefit a political party is called...
gerrymandering.
Which of the following problems is most likely to jeopardize an incumbent's chances of reelection?
getting caught in a scandal
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.
When a committee or subcommittee holds a(n) _______, they are trying to gather information about a proposed bill.
hearing
In the large majority of cases, the winner of a congressional campaign is the...
incumbent
Congressional elections usually favor...
incumbents.
Donors are more willing to make campaign contributions to...
incumbents.
A committee that is composed of members of both chambers of Congress is known as a ______ committee.
joint
When a bill falls into the area in which a committee is authorized to act, that committee is said to have....
jurisdiction
Which function is the main responsibility of Congress, to which all other functions of Congress are related?
lawmaking
An example of Congress's ______ is when Congress passes legislation that creates incentives for the development of alternative energy sources.
lawmaking function
The practice in which members of Congress agree to vote for a bill in exchange for their colleague's vote on another bill is called _____.
logrolling
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
What term describes the situation in which Republican and Democratic lawmakers vote in the same way as their fellow partisans, regardless of constituency differences?
nationalization
An open-seat election is one in which...
no incumbent is running.
What is a distributive policy?
one that confers a benefit on a particular group while spreading the cost across the taxpaying public
Ensuring that laws are being administered by the executive branch in the way intended by Congress is an important function of Congress and is known as ______.
oversight
Which function describes the process by which the legislature checks on the executive branch to make sure it is carrying out the laws in the way Congress intended?
oversight
If a "turf war" erupts as different committees vie for jurisdiction over a bill, who or what decides the committee assignment?
party leaders
The increase in party polarization in Congress has led to increased...
policy deadlock.
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 president is usually better suited to take the lead on national issues because...
presidents tend to have a national perspective.
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.
The sole purpose of a conference committee is to...
reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill.
Redistricting consists of...
redrawing congressional district boundaries within a state.
Which of the following are the functions of Congress?
representation, lawmaking, and oversight
Members of Congress give various interests a voice in the legislative process as part of Congress's ______ function.
representative
In the 2018 midterm elections, how many House and Senate races received money from super PACs?
several dozen
On major bills, it is increasingly typical for the majority party's leaders to...
shape the bill's broad content, and direct the floor debate after the bill leaves the committee.
Today, Congress and the president...
share legislative power.
A limit of ______ exists for how long a Republican member can chair a particular committee.
six years
Which of the following terms describes a permanent committee in Congress that has a defined legislative jurisdiction?
standing committee
Which of the following are common threats to incumbency?
strong challengers, personal misconduct, and disruptive issues
Who is more likely to vote in a primary election?
strong partisans
What are conference committees?
temporary joint committees that are formed to work out differences
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
True or false: Congress is an institution in which many interests are represented, which is a strength in a diverse nation; yet Congress is also a place in which narrow interests can block Congress from acting even when there's an important national need, which is a weakness.
true
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
Compared with their percentage of the overall population of the United States, women and minorities are ______ in Congress.
underrepresented
Gerrymandering is
usually legal.
Positive aspects of party polarization include the fact that...
voters can more clearly see and understand party differences.
When does a bill become a law?
when the president signs it, and when Congress overrides a presidential veto
