Congress AP Gov Test
One must be ____ years of age to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and _____ years of age to serve in the Senate.
25; 30
The poverty line is defined as
3 times the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four
There are currently _____ voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and _____ voting members of the U.S. Senate.
435; 100
Poverty is a condition that today affects roughly one in ___ Americans
8
Committees kill more than _____ percent of the bills submitted in Congress.
90
Nearly ___ of all PAC contributions go to the incumbents.
90
Committee staffs with Congress
perform an almost entirely legislative function
Legislation whose tangible benefits are targeted solely at a particular legislator's constituency is
pork-barreling legislation
Because of the inherent tension in Congress between the need for strong leadership at the top and the individual congressional member's need to act according to local concerns,
power int eh Congress is widely dispersed
For a bill to pass in either chamber of Congress, it must
receive the support of a simple majority of its members
A major area that is affected by Congressional Oversight Hearings is
review of budgets of independent regulatory agencies
Senators are generally less likely to take directions from their leaders House members because
senators think of themselves as being equals and are only willing to be led by persuasion
Which of the following is true of social security and Medicare?
Families in the top fifth of the income population receive more in social security and Medicare benefits than the government spends in total on TANF, SSI, food stamps, and housing subsidies for the poor
Which of one of the following statements about the seniority principle in committees is most accurate?
seniority is no longer absolute in the selection of committee chairs, but it is usually followed
What step in the development of public policy comes first?
First stage is problem recognition - the emergence of issues. Second stage is policy formulation- the formulation and enactment of a policy response to the problem) Third stage is policy implementation - carrying out of policy
In the nation's first century, service in Congress:
service in Congress was not seen as a lifetime career for most of its members
Government support for agriculture in the form of price supports and income subsidies is designed primarily to
stabilize farm income, which would otherwise fluctuate greatly due to market and weather conditions
More than 90 percent of the funding for K-12 public education comes from
state and local governments
The Progressive Era of government regulation focused on
stopping the unfair business practices of the new monopolies, such as the railroads
The broad goals of the United States in the global economy include
sustaining a stable and open system of trade that will promote prosperity at home maintaining access to oil and other natural resources vital to the strength preventing the widening gap between rich and poor countries from destabilizing the world economy
Economic efficiency requires
that the output of goods and services is the highest possible given the amount of input used to produce them
Campaign spending is different for challengers than incumbents in that:
More difficult for challengers. Incumbents rarely say they have trouble raising enough money to conduct an effect campaign, while challengers complain that their fundraising fall short of their needs. Challengers lack the support of individual contributors and PACs that incumbents receive.
The Federal Reserve System
NOT created in 1933 NOT run by a congressional committee NOT regulate only national banks NOT created specifically to conduct fiscal policy (None of these answers is correct)
The oversight responsibility of Congress is
NOT relatively easy to carry out NOT becoming less and less important to the nation NOT more interesting to most legislators that policy making responsibilities NOT the most time consuming task for most legislators (None of these answers is correct)
Compared with the Senate majority leader, the Speaker of the House has more power because
the House places more limits on debate the House is the larger chamber in terms of membership the House has less of a tradition as a chamber of equals the Speaker is that chamber's presiding officer (All these answers are correct)
The scheduling of bills in the Senate is left up to whom?
the Senate majority leader
Defense spending per capita is highest in
the US
Which nation does NOT have a one-house dominant legislature?
the US
_________ has the highest child poverty rate among the major industrialized nations.
the US
Defining the conditions and scheduling a bill for floor debate in the House of Representatives is the responsibility of the ______.
Rules Committee
What House committee has the most influence in determining the fate of legislation?
Rules Committee
Which of the following was the first major government act of economic support?
Social Security Act
The second most powerful federal (after the president is often said to be the
Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Which of the following is true regarding the Kyoto agreement and greenhouse gas emissions?
the US is the largest single producer of greenhouse emissions in the world, on a per-capita basis President George W. Bush rejected the agreement it was a multinational effort to reduce carbon emissions the burden of addressing the global warming problem will fall unevenly on nations (All these answers are correct)
The era of "new social regulation," which addressed issues such as the environment and worker safety, differed from the previous two eras of regulatory reform in that
the aim was to regulate activities of firms of many types, not just those in a particular industry
Which of the following is a step that a proposed bill would not encounter on its journey through Congress?
The bill is introduced by a member of the Congress or by a member of the executive department
Which of the following is true of the federal government's role in education?
The federal government's role in education was relatively small before the 1960s
Congress's inability to consistently provide leadership on broad national issues is due to
the fragmented nature of Congress
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship today between government and the economy in the US?
the government has an important role in regulating and maintaining the US economy
Fiscal policy is a mechanism the government employs to influence the economy. Fiscal policy is based on
the government's taxing and spending decisions
A bill has been approved in the House and Senate, albeit in slightly different versions. The bill now goes to
a conference committee
By and large, partisanship is
a huge source of both cohesion and division within Congress
Compared to House incumbents, Senate incumbents are more likely to face the problem of
a strong challenger
Members of the Federal Reserve Board
are appointed by the president and are not subject to removal
In initiating broad legislative proposals, the president enjoys all the following advantages over Congress EXCEPT
the president being granted more authority by the Constitution in the area of lawmaking
Through a vote for cloture, the Senate
can end a filibuster
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
Most members of Congress are
concerned with national issues, but even more concerned with local ones
When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, the differences are resolved by a
conference committee
Since the founding of the United States, the debate over the representation function of Congress has centered on whether
the primary concern of a representative should be the interests of the nation or of his or her constituency
Gerrymandering is
the process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that advantages its candidates
Reapportionment is
the reallocation of House seats among states after each census as a result of population changes
What is the biggest reason that Congress does not vigorously pursue its oversight function?
the sheer magnitude of the task
Most of the legislative work of Congress is performed by
the standing committees and their subcommittees with jurisdiction over particular policy areas
Supply-side economics, as implemented by President George W. Bush's administration, involved
the supply component of the supply-demand equation stressing the importance of tax cuts for businesses stressing the importance of tax cuts for the wealthy an increase in the size of the national debt (All these answers are correct)
Whips have which of the following functions?
they are responsible for keeping party members in line when a vote occurs
Monetary policy includes all the following assumptions EXCEPT that
too little money in circulation contributes to inflation
The term entitlement refers to a program
where any individual who meets the eligibility criteria is entitled to receive the benefit
The term means test refers to
whether an applicant's income is low enough to qualify for public assistance
Congressional staffers spend most of their time on ______ and ______.
constituency service and public relations
The U.S. social welfare system differs markedly from those of Western European democracies, a situation that is attributable in large part to America's
cultural emphasis on individualism and federal system of government
Incumbents may have some problems in reelection campaigns if
disruptive issues such as general public discontent with Congress become prominent the incumbent is tainted with charges of personal misconduct or corruption the election is a midterm election, and the incumbent is of the same party as the president through redistricting, the incumbent is placed in a disadvantageous district (All these answers are correct)
Which of the following is a major cause of the inability of Congress to pass legislation?
divided party control of Congress
The defining characteristic of a social insurance program is that
eligibility for the program's benefits is confined to those who pay the special taxes that fund the program
A ruling by the Food and Drug Administration that a drug is dangerous to use and therefore cannot be marketed is an example of regulation for the purpose of
equity
What is the strategy employed in the Senate to prevent a bill from coming to a vote?
filibuster
In the 1970s, roll-call votes
generally did not pit most Republicans against most Democrats
In John Maynard Keynes's demand-side economic theory, an economic recession can be shortened through
government spending programs
The bureaucratic costs of welfare are substantially lower in Europe because most European countries
have unitary rather than federal systems
News media coverage of Congress and the president is
heavily tilted toward presidential coverage
In John Maynard Keynes's demand-side economic theory, an economic recession can be shortened through
increase the tax rate
The term that most accurately describes the international economy today is
interdependence (economic globalization)
A standing committee in the House or Senate
is a permanent committee has jurisdiction over a particular policy area has authority to draft, amend, and recommend legislation is usually organized according to the seniority principle (All these answers are correct)
In contrast with the Speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader
is not the presiding officer of his/her chamber
The phrase that best describes the shift in America's world position from the pre- to the post-World War II eras is _______ to ________.
isolationism to internationalism
Monetary policy differs from fiscal policy in that
it can be implemented more quickly that fiscal policy
What did Congress do in 199 to reduce overregulation?
it enacted legislation that prohibits administrators in some instances from issuing a regulation unless they can show that its benefits outweigh its costs
When the Fed was created in 1913,
it had no role in the management of the nation's economy
Which of the following statements is NOT true about Medicaid?
it serves all Americans who cannot afford health insurance
Which of the following are the three major functions of Congress's policymaking role?
lawmaking, representation, oversight
The trading of votes between members of Congress so that each gets the legislation he or she wants is called
logrolling
The EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) represents a reallocation of income to
lower-income workers
The Federal Reserve controls the money supply through all of the following actions EXCEPT
lowering the tax rate on individuals.
In the US what is the largest part of the US budget?
mandatory spending
Bills are formally introduced in Congress by
members of Congress only
The U.S. spends the majority of its discretionary income on
military (Department of Defense)
Government benefits for business include all of the following EXCEPT
minimum-wage laws
The Federal Reserve plays a large part in establishing ________ policy.
monetary
The Modern Congress is different today in that:
most members are now professional politicians who want to stay in Congress
The idea that major nations should act together in response to problems and crises is called
multilateralism
If the Rules Committee applies the "closed rule" to a bill, then
no amendments will be permitted
Social insurance programs have high levels of public support because
of their self-financing feature
Congress typically takes presidential proposals
only as a starting point
Which of the following statements is true about party-line voting?
party-line voting has increased in recent years
The Social Security benefits that today's retirees receive are funded primarily by
payroll taxes on people who are currently working
