Deck 10: Congress

Question 1

Members of Congress typically engage in police patrol oversight.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Because incumbency rates are so high, members of Congress who hold a "safe" seat do not worry about the electoral connection to voters.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In early American history, Congress was the first and most important branch. Over time it has become less important than the presidency, largely because the nature of the country's problems have changed.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Conference committees are permanent by definition.

Question 5

Over the past two decades, about 66 percent of all U.S. House incumbents have been reelected.

Question 6

States can only gain seats in the House of Representatives; they can never lose seats.

Question 7

A filibuster can only be used in the House, while cloture can only be invoked in the Senate.

Question 8

Before any bill can become a law, the House and Senate must pass identical versions of the bill.

Question 9

Descriptive representation has everything to do with demographics.

Question 10

On average, House districts are more diverse than Senate districts.

Question 11

The Senate was created by the framers to check the passions of the House.

Question 12

Most of the work done in Congress happens in standing committees.

Question 13

The enumerated powers of Congress can be found in ________.

A) the Federalist Papers
B) Article I of the Constitution
C) Article II of the Constitution
D) Article III of the Constitution

Question 14

An example of logrolling occurs when a legislator votes in favor of a trade bill that the legislator would typically oppose in exchange for getting a colleague to vote in favor of an environmental bill that is of importance the legislator.

Question 15

Members of Congress often use casework to connect with people in their districts on a personal level.

Question 16

The presidency has assumed less of a national policy-making role since the New Deal.

Question 17

Party leaders help with campaign financing to give members an incentive to vote the party line
on key legislation.

Question 18

Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to

A) coin money.
B) send troops into battle.
C) make treaties with foreign nations.
D) pardon.

Question 19

Becoming a committee chair is not usually a function of seniority.

Question 20

Legislative districts are gerrymandered because politicians are trying to draw House districts in a way that gives them a political advantage.

Question 21

Congressional incumbents

A) always win reelection to another term.
B) almost always win reelection to another term.
C) are reelected about 50 percent of the time.
D) are reelected only about 33 percent of the time due to the dismal approval rating of Congress as an institution.

Question 22

Congress members' home styles

A) are consistent across the country.
B) vary across the country.
C) are consistent in the U.S. House but not in the U.S. Senate.
D) are consistent in the U.S. Senate but not in the U.S. House.

Question 23

What is it called when Congress is unable to pass important legislation because of partisan conflict?

A) gridlock
B) whipping
C) gerrymandering
D) filibustering

Question 24

What have the Supreme Court justices determined about race and the redistricting process?

A) It cannot play any role in the redistricting process.
B) It must be the top priority in the redistricting process.
C) It may be a factor but may not be the predominant factor in the redistricting process.
D) It can only be used as a factor in the redistricting process in states in the South.

Question 25

Legislators who make public statements demonstrating how they share priorities with the groups in their district are engaged in ________.

A) position taking
B) credit claiming
C) descriptive representation
D) gerrymandering

Question 26

Voting based on the trustee model-such as voting for a tax increase-can harm a Congress member's political career because

A) it can go against the national interest.
B) it can erode support for the member among party leaders.
C) it can go against the views of constituents back home.
D) it forces members to spend too much time fund-raising.

Question 27

Substantive representation focuses on ________.

A) demographics
B) appearances
C) public policy issues
D) political charisma

Question 28

Generally, Americans

A) approve of the job performance of Congress.
B) would prefer for their elected senators and representatives to stay in Washington, D.C., to get their work done.
C) would prefer for their elected senators and representatives to spend more time at home.
D) would prefer for their elected senators and representatives to do less casework.

Question 29

The elastic clause in Article I of the Constitution created a situation in which Congress

A) took a lead role in the early American constitutional system.
B) was limited in its powers.
C) had a small set of specific powers that guided its actions in early America.
D) is no longer relevant in the policy-making process.

Question 30

A member of Congress who is a delegate

A) is very attentive to public opinion.
B) votes her or his conscience every time.
C) always takes the no-new-tax pledge.
D) ignores public opinion most of the time.

Question 31

Based on previous court rulings, which of these would be an illegal gerrymander?

A) one that is solely based on the racial distribution of the state's population
B) one that takes place between the results of the federal census
C) one that results in very oddly shaped districts
D) one that gives a further advantage to the party that controls the state's government

Question 32

Which one of the following statements best characterizes public attitudes toward Congress?

A) Americans like their own legislators but not Congress.
B) Americans like Congress better than they like the president.
C) Americans look to Congress first in times of crisis.
D) Americans trust members of Congress to work together in the best interests of the nation.

Question 33

Which one of the following is an example of gerrymandering?

A) placing two incumbents of the same party into one district
B) keeping districts roughly equal in size
C) trying to keep a single municipality in a district
D) ensuring that all parts of a district are connected

Question 34

The term substantive representation refers to ________, while the term descriptive representation refers to ________.

A) representing constituents from a distance; having a mandate directly from voters
B) shared traits between members and constituents; members serving constituent interests
C) members serving constituent interests; shared traits between members and constituents
D) having a mandate directly from voters; representing constituents from a distance

Question 35

Why did the framers of the Constitution believe that the Senate would be more responsive to national interests than the House?

A) All states were equally represented.
B) Senators were indirectly elected and served longer terms.
C) Senators were popularly elected.
D) All bills would originate in the Senate.

Question 36

An example of the ________ model of representation is a situation in which a legislator acts as a delegate on issues that constituents care about and as a trustee on more complex issues.

A) descriptive
B) politico
C) balanced
D) substantive

Question 37

Which one of the following is an example of Professor David Mayhew's phenomenon of credit claiming?

A) a legislator marching in a local parade
B) a legislator releasing a position paper on an issue of interest to constituents
C) a legislator explaining her or his role in securing funds for a local highway
D) a legislator running a campaign advertisement

Question 38

The process of drawing legislative districts for political advantage is called ________.

A) representation
B) gerrymandering
C) redistricting
D) bicameralism

Question 39

What is descriptive representation?

A) legislators acting as though they have a simple mandate to carry out voter desires
B) shared demographic traits between legislators and constituents
C) legislators acting on behalf of collective national interests
D) legislators responding differently to constituents on the basis of how salient an issue is to the public

Question 40

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) Members of Congress are more popular than nurses.
B) Citizens generally approve of the job performance of Congress as a whole more so than their own specific legislators.
C) Members of Congress are more popular than military officers.
D) Congress as a whole is perceived to be dishonest and unethical by the American people.

Question 41

Effective home style helps to explain the rise of ________.

A) filibustering
B) the incumbent advantage
C) gerrymandering
D) the whip system

Question 42

There is a persistent ________ gap between approval ratings for individual members of Congress and for the institution as a whole.

A) 5 to 10 percent
B) 20 to 25 percent
C) 30 to 40 percent
D) 60 to 70 percent

Question 43

A typical U.S. representative

A) is a policy specialist.
B) knows a little about many different policy issues but is not an expert in any single policy area.
C) is likely to be appointed committee assignments based strictly on politics.
D) is a policy generalist.

Question 44

Political parties

A) fracture the legislative process.
B) provide brand recognition for their members.
C) have absolute control over how their members vote.
D) make it impossible to get anything done in the U.S. Congress.

Question 45

The manner in which members of the House relate to their districts is called ________.

A) the incumbency advantage
B) descriptive representation
C) casework
D) their home style

Question 46

Which one of the following is a power that party leaders in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate can use to influence the legislative process?

A) forcing members of the party to cast ballots in a particular way
B) the ability to control the timing of when bills come up for a vote
C) control over who can run for office under the party label
D) the ability to influence the redistricting process

Question 47

A ________ committee is created temporarily to deal with a specific policy topic, while a ________ committee is created to resolve differences between U.S. House and U.S. Senate versions of the same bill.

A) joint; standing
B) conference; select
C) standing; joint
D) select; conference

Question 48

Since the 1970s, party unity in Congress has ________.

A) fluctuated wildly
B) stayed the same
C) decreased
D) increased

Question 49

Logrolling requires

A) the trading of votes in the U.S. Congress.
B) unified party government.
C) divided party government.
D) overriding a presidential veto.

Question 50

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) The U.S. Senate leaders have more power than their counterparts in the U.S. House.
B) Individual members of the U.S. House wield more power than their counterparts in the U.S. Senate.
C) Individual members of the U.S. Senate wield more power than their counterparts in the U.S. House.
D) The president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate wields a good deal of political power compared to the majority leader.

Question 51

The committee system

A) helps members of Congress get reelected.
B) runs counter to distribution theory.
C) is likely to be terminated soon in Congress.
D) was created in the 1970s.

Question 52

The proliferation of subcommittees in Congress occurred in the ________.

A) 1890s
B) 1930s
C) 1970s
D) 2000s

Question 53

A typical U.S. senator

A) knows at least a little about many different policy issues.
B) knows a lot about one or two policy issues but not much about others.
C) is a policy specialist by definition.
D) is likely to be appointed committee assignments based strictly on politics.

Question 54

Incumbency safety has ________ in the past two decades.

A) stayed the same
B) increased
C) decreased
D) fluctuated wildly

Question 55

If a U.S. House member embraces distributive theory, she or he

A) takes a national view of public policy when considering an issue.
B) takes a local view of public policy when considering an issue.
C) in only interested in becoming a majority or minority party whip.
D) is only interested in becoming Speaker of the House.

Question 56

Which one of the following is NOT a deviation from the conventional path of the lawmaking process?

A) summit meetings
B) use of conference committees
C) major bills bypassing the committee process via discharge petitions
D) omnibus legislation

Question 57

A key part of an incumbent's success is the incumbent's home style, which is developed by

A) spending more time in their district than in Washington.
B) using the ability to send free mail to constituents to tout the incumbent's accomplishments.
C) helping constituents navigate the federal bureaucracy.
D) using campaign funds to ward off potential challengers.

Question 58

Conference committees are typically staffed by

A) members of the U.S. House of Representatives only.
B) members of the U.S. Senate only.
C) by party leaders in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
D) standing committee members that worked on the bill in question from both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Question 59

Logrolling

A) never occurs in Congress.
B) occurs when members of Congress support a bill in exchange for another member's vote on a bill that is important to them.
C) is common in the U.S. House but never occurs in the U.S. Senate.
D) was banned in Congress in 2011.

Question 60

What is the minimum amount a challenger for a House seat must be able to spend to unseat an incumbent?

A) $50,000
B) $300,000
C) $1 million
D) $50 million

Question 61

Which presidents were formally impeached by the U.S. House?

A) Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton
B) Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
C) Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover
D) John Tyler and Bill Clinton

Question 62

Conference committees

A) are always required in the legislative process.
B) always take the House version of a bill.
C) always take the Senate version of a bill.
D) are not always successful.

Question 63

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) Members of the House have more freedom to debate bills on the floor than members of the Senate.
B) All members of the House and Senate are required to be present when a bill is being debated in their respective chambers.
C) If a bill passes the House and Senate, it automatically becomes law.
D) Members of the Senate have more freedom to debate bills on the floor than members of the House.

Question 64

When a bill comes to the floor of the U.S. House under ________, it cannot be amended.

A) a unanimous consent agreement
B) open rules
C) closed rules
D) suspension of the rules

Question 65

A markup session

A) rarely happens when a bill becomes a law.
B) is a collaborative process.
C) is usually conducted by party leaders and not committee members.
D) occurs after a bill has been passed out of committee.

Question 66

Unanimous consent agreements

A) are only used in the U.S. House.
B) are only used in the U.S. Senate.
C) are used by the Speaker of the House to control the legislative process.
D) are used by the justices of the Supreme Court as they deem appropriate.

Question 67

What is the difference between redistricting and apportionment?

Question 68

Filibusters

A) are legislative talkathons.
B) occasionally occur in the House.
C) are utilized by senators in the majority of a given debate.
D) are utilized by Senate leaders exclusively.

Question 69

What are pork-barrel projects and why are they important?

Question 70

Omnibus legislation

A) is typically very brief.
B) is typically quite lengthy and challenging for party leaders.
C) covers one specific policy issue.
D) requires that the House and Senate suspend their rules.

Question 71

A vote of cloture requires approval by ________ senators.

A) 50
B) 51
C) 60
D) 67

Question 72

Which one of the following lists is correctly ordered?

A) Member introduces a bill; one chamber takes floor action; conference committee version is approved.
B) Conference committee approves a bill; member introduces bill; one chamber takes floor action.
C) Member introduces a bill; conference committee version is approved; one chamber takes floor action.
D) Member introduces a bill; president signs/vetoes bill; conference committee version is approved.

Question 73

What is a gerrymander? What are the different types?

Question 74

The ________ provides "advice and consent" on presidential appointments and approval of treaties.

A) U.S. House of Representatives
B) U.S. Senate
C) U.S. Department of Justice
D) U.S. Attorney General

Question 75

When members of Congress wait until there is a crisis such as a natural disaster before acting to address problems in the bureaucracy, they are engaged in ________.

A) fire alarm oversight
B) judicial oversight
C) advice and consent oversight
D) police patrol oversight

Question 76

Constant congressional vigilance in overseeing the executive bureaucracy is known as ________.

A) fire alarm oversight
B) police patrol oversight
C) ombudsman oversight
D) conventional oversight

Question 77

Eighty to ninety percent of all bills introduced in Congress

A) eventually become law.
B) die during the floor debate.
C) die during the committee phase.
D) die right after the bill is introduced.

Question 78

Why is the filibuster an important legislative strategy for the minority party?

A) It forces every member of the Senate to speak about the bill.
B) It gives the majority party time to change key provisions in the bill before the vote.
C) It allows the minority party to stop legislation with as few as 50 votes.
D) It allows the minority party to stop legislation with as few as 41 votes.

Question 79

What is the "permanent campaign"?

Question 80

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) The U.S. House has the power to impeach.
B) The U.S. Senate has the power of the purse.
C) The U.S. Senate is not part of the impeachment process.
D) Only one president, Bill Clinton, has been impeached to date.