Chapter 11. Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local Interests

Put in order the following steps that a bill must pass through in order to become law.

1. a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate formally proposes the bill. 2. the bill is submitted to a committee for consideration. 3. a majority of members in the House and Senate approve the bill. 4. the president signs the bill.

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.

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.

Which of the following are duties of the Speaker of the House?

Recognizing members who will be allowed to speak on the floor. Scheduling legislation for floor consideration.

Which of the following about midterm elections are true?

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

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

They all more members to hold leadership positions.

True or False: Congress is an institution where many interests are represented, which is a strength in a diverse nation, yet Congress is also a place where narrow interests can block Congress from acting even when there's an important national need, which is weakness.

True

When does a bill become a law?

When congress overrides a presidential veto. When the president signs it.

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. engaging in bribery.

The U.S. Congress is a _______________ legislature with two chambers, the House and the Senate.

bicameral

Most members of Congress are

career politicians who want to stay in Congress and put themselves in position for reelection

to end a filibuster, sixty senators must agree to invoke ____________ and end the debate.

cloture

Which of the following are activities that typically take place in a party caucus?

developing issues. adopting a single policy message.

On major bills, it is increasingly typical for the majority party's leaders to

direct the floor debate after the bill leaves the committee. shape the bill's broad content.

Which of the following are common threats to incumbency?

disruptive issues strong challengers personal misconduct

How does the public generally feel about Congress?

dissatisfied

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.

Which of the following makes a Senate challenger more likely to be successful?

having strong public recognition. having access to large sums of money to fund the campaign. having an existing campaign organization.

When a committee or subcommittee holds a ________________, they are trying to gather information about a proposed bill.

hearing

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

A committee that is composed of members of both chambers of Congress is known as a ____________ committee.

joint

One reason why standing committees are powerful is that they have by law

jurisdiction over bills in their designated policy area.

An example of Congress's ____________ is when Congress passes legislation that creates incentives for the development of alternative energy sources.

lawmaking function

The party that controls the rules and has the most powerful leadership position in the House is the ___________ party

majority

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

majority leader

The Speaker of the House is effectively chosen by the

majority party

Among the reasons why Congress has difficulty taking the lead on broad issues are the facts that

members of Congress come from different districts and often ave conflicting views on national policy. Congress has two chambers, and they are not always in agreement on policy issues.

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

midterm

When major disruptive issues occur incumbents are

more likely to lose.

When there is no incumbent running in an election it is called an _______________ - _______________ election and usually sparks heavier spending by the two political parties.

open-seat

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

The sole purpose of a conference committee is to

reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill.

Members of Congress give various interests a voice in the legislative process as a part of Congress's ______________ function.

representative

The trend toward party unity in Congress can clearly be seen in voting records of members Congress when their votes are officially recorded during a _________________ - ______________ vote.

roll-call

Today, Congress and the president

share legislative power

A permanent committee in Congress is known as a _____________ committee.

standing

Incumbents have ____________ over challengers.

substantial advantages

The emergence of ______________ ______________, groups that can pour money into a political campaign with few limits, has given challengers a better opportunity to unseat congressional incumbents

super PACs

In the House of Representatives, debate is limited on the congressional floor by

the Rules Committees.

The incumbent personally helps constituents solve problems with the federal bureaucracy, it is known as

the service strategy

Who has the power to preside over the Senate and vote in case of a tie but otherwise has little real authority in the Senate?

the vice president of the United States

Which of the following is a right of the president pro tempore?

to preside over the Senate in the absence of the vice president.

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

underrepresented

Gerrymandering is

usually legal

When is congressional oversight exercised vigorously?

when members are intending to modify an agency program. when members are annoyed with an agency.

If the president chooses to veto a bill,

Congress can override the veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber.

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 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. Some bills are not supported by the members who introduced them. Most are poorly conceived or of little interest to anyone.

Which of the following statements about congressional committees are true?

They each specialize in a certain area of legislation. They make it possible for Congress to consider a high volume of bills.

Which of the following are true of joint committees?

They perform advisory functions. they are composed of members of both houses.

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. Women and minorities have a winning percentage that is roughly the same as nonincumbent white males.

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 oversight tools help Congress to ensure that the executive branch is administering the laws properly?

budgetary appropriations. congressional hearings.

A constituency is comprised of

citizens from the incumbent's state or district.

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.

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 occurs more often when members are voting on ___________ issues that involve intense partisan differences.

domestic policy

When members of the Senate wish to halt or delay the passage of a bill, a _____________ may take place.

filibuster

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

gerrymandering

Every bill must be approved by both the House and the Senate in ______________ form before it can be sent to the president.

identical

Redistricting can diminish the advantages of being an ___________ because the candidate will have a lower name recognition among the district's voters than before the redistricting.

incumbent

What is one reason why incumbents have a fundraising advantage over challengers?

incumbents have a ready list of potential contributors from past campaigns.

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

The increase in party polarization in Congress has led to increased

legislative gridlock

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 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

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

mark up

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.

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

The Speaker of the House has the right to

select the chairperson of the House Rules Committee. speak first during House debate on legislation. choose who may speak on the House floor.

Choosing committee chairs based on which member has the longest continuous tenure on a standing committee is an example of the ____________ ___________.

seniority system

Both political parties in the House have a ____________, who acts as a go-between with the leadership and the party members of the House.

whip

Which of the following best explain why a member of Congress is chosen to a party leadership position?

ability to work with the other party. demonstrated leadership ability. ability to successfully promote the party's goals within Congress.