PS1 Ch 11

The trading of votes between members of Congress so that each gets the legislation he or she wants is called

*logrolling. pandering. pork-barreling. cloturing. gerrymandering.

Congress typically takes presidential proposals

*only as a starting point. only if the dominant party is the same as the president's party. and tables them until they expire. and most often fast-tracks them into law. None of these answers is correct.

Senators are generally less likely to take directions from their leaders than House members because

*senators think of themselves as being equals and are only willing to be led by persuasion. senators are prohibited by their state legislatures from taking orders from others. senators are more highly paid than House members and are thus immune from financial threats. House rules mandate that all party members on major bills vote according to the directions of their leaders. All of these answers are correct.

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. congressional or presidential authority should dominate on broad issues. the House or the Senate is more responsive to the public. key decisions should be made by a small number of representatives in committee or by the whole membership in floor debate. the House or the Senate should take the lead on foreign policy issues.

There are currently ________ voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and ________ voting members of the U.S. Senate

535; 100 150; 31 *435; 100 300; 100 600; 300

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

Political parties are unimportant in the organization of the U.S. Congress. Party-line voting rarely occurs in Congress. None of these answers is correct. Partisanship makes virtually no difference in the votes cast in Congress. *Party-line voting has increased in recent years.

Campaign spending tends to be a much greater task for

Republican candidates. men than for women. *challengers than for incumbents. candidates in urban areas than for candidates in rural areas. Democratic candidates.

Bills are formally introduced in Congress by

executive agencies. the Supreme Court. *members of Congress only. All of these answers are correct. interest groups.

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

applies only to expenditure legislation. *can take effect only when the Congress is not in session. occurs when the president decides to veto a bill he had previously signed. applies only to a section of the legislation in question. occurs when the president goes before Congress to announce a veto.

The modern Congress is different from the nineteenth-century Congress in that most members

are now amateur politicians who want only to spend a short time in Congress. *are now professional politicians who want to stay in Congress. return to their respective state legislatures after their congressional service is over. are now minorities or women. have previously been governors of their home states.

Most of the work on legislation in Congress is done

by bureaucratic agencies. on the floor of the House and Senate. *by committees and their respective subcommittees. by the president. by conference committees.

Most members of Congress are

controlled by special interest groups. *concerned with national issues, but even more concerned with local ones. more interested in oversight than in making laws. opposed to the seniority system. interested only in the work of the subcommittee on which they serve.

Through a vote for cloture, the Senate

overrides a presidential pocket veto. closes its legislative session for the year. *can end a filibuster. confirms presidential appointees. accepts the House version of a bill.

The second-most powerful federal official (after the president) is often said to be the

president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Senate majority leader. *Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Most of the legislative work of Congress is performed by

the joint committees chosen to coordinate actions between the two chambers of Congress. the steering committees that decide how the party stands on particular bills. the select committees chosen to study special problems on a temporary basis. party leaders in both chambers. *the standing committees and their subcommittees with jurisdiction over particular policy areas.