Chunk 4

PAC contributions account for about ________ percent of total contributions to congressional campaigns.

25

In an average election, about 1 in ________ House seats is a truly competitive election.

6

The framers of the Constitution saw the ________ as the preeminent component of the federal government.

Congress

Congressional oversight is MOST likely to occur when it involves

White House activities with the opposition party in control of one or both chambers of Congress.

A bill has been approved in the House and Senate, albeit in slightly different versions. The bill now goes to

a conference committee.

The term iron triangle refers to

a small and informal but relatively stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and lobbyists who are concerned with promoting a particular interest.

An informal grouping of officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists who come together temporarily around a policy problem is

an issue network.

Most of the work on legislation in Congress is done

by committees and their respective subcommittees.

A pocket veto differs from a regular presidential veto, in that the pocket veto

can take effect only when the Congress is not in session.

James Madison argued

for regulation of interests through a governing system of checks and balances.

The situation in which individuals are tempted not to contribute to a cause because they will get the benefits even if they do not participate is called the

free-rider problem

A main difference between iron triangles and issue networks is that

issue networks are generally less stable than iron triangles, in that the members of an issue network may change as the issue develops.

Which of the following is one of the three major functions of Congress's policymaking role?

lawmaking

In the dynamics of an iron triangle, what benefit do interest groups provide to friendly government agencies?

lobbying support for agency programs

Bills are formally introduced in Congress by

members of Congress only.

The most powerful person from the minority party in the House is the

minority leader.

What percentage of state legislators are women?

more than 20 percent

Congress typically takes presidential proposals

only as a starting point.

"Agency capture" occurs when

regulatory agencies side with the industries they are supposed to regulate rather than with the public.

James Madison's solution to the problem of factions (special interests) has, in the modern policy process, actually contributed to the problem by

resulting in a fragmentation of authority among policymakers, thereby providing groups more opportunities to get their way.

The citizens of ________ are MOST actively involved in interest groups and community causes.

the United States

A flaw in pluralism theory is the fact that

the interest group system is unrepresentative, because some interests are far better organized and more powerful than others.

Most of the legislative work of Congress is performed by

the standing committees and their subcommittees with jurisdiction over particular policy areas.

Political scientist Theodore Lowi has questioned pluralist theory by suggesting that

there is no concept of the public interest in a system that gives special interests the ability to determine the policies affecting them.

Economic groups have an advantage over noneconomic groups because

they have greater access to financial resources.