Deck 7: The Congress

Question 1

Members of the House of Representatives serve ______________-year terms, and the House currently has ______________ members.

A) 2 . . . 235
B) 2 . . . 335
C) 2 . . . 435
D) 4 . . . 335
E) 4 . . . 435

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which institution of the federal government has the power to impeach a public official?

A) U.S. Supreme Court
B) House of Representatives
C) U.S. Senate
D) the President
E) the Attorney General

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to the text

A) voters in large states are more represented in the Senate than are voters in small states.
B) voters in small states are more represented in the Senate than are voters in the large states.
C) voters in small and large states are equally represented in the Senate.
D) racial and ethnic minorities are the ones who most benefit from whatever malapportionment exists in the Senate.
E) voters in small and large states are equally represented in the House of Representatives.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to the text:

A) Senators are generally more centrist than House members because they are older.
B) Senators are generally more centrist than House members because they represent broader constituencies.
C) House members are more centrist because they stand for election more frequently.
D) House members are more centrist because they have longer careers than senators.
E) Senators are more extreme because they are older and in general have more money than House members.

Question 5

The trial of impeachment takes place in ______________.

A) U.S. Supreme Court
B) Federal District Court
C) the House of Representatives
D) the U.S. Senate
E) the Office of the Executive

Question 6

According to the text, the public often lacks respect for Congress mainly because

A) members of Congress are seen as spending too much time arguing with one another.
B) Congress is seen as focusing too much on foreign policy at the expense of domestic issues.
C) Congress is seen as failing to follow the agenda set for it by the president.
D) the House of Representatives is seen as having more influence than the Senate.
E) special interests are seen as having more influence than the people.

Question 7

What constituency does a member of the House of Representatives represent?

A) congressional district within a state
B) county
C) state
D) city
E) the United States as a whole

Question 8

John Locke was

A) a political philosopher who said the executive branch was the supreme power in any government.
B) a political philosopher who said the legislature was the supreme power in any government.
C) a political philosopher who said the judiciary was the supreme power in any government.
D) the author of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
E) the first Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Question 9

Employed in the U.S. Senate, a(n) ______________ is a technique to stop the progress of a piece of legislation by continuing debate and thus not permitting a vote.

A) filibuster
B) cloture
C) discharge petition
D) committee system
E) reconciliation

Question 10

The Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

A) dealt with the election of senators.
B) dealt with the election of members of the House of Representatives.
C) changed the constitutional authority of the Speaker of the House.
D) legalized filibusters.
E) made the Senate less malapportioned than the House.

Question 11

What constituency does a Senator represent?

A) congressional district within a state
B) county
C) state
D) city
E) the United States as a whole

Question 12

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress shall have all of the following powers except the power to

A) declare war.
B) collect taxes.
C) make treaties.
D) borrow money.
E) establish post offices.

Question 13

According to the text, the most open and accessible branch of government is the

A) presidency.
B) Supreme Court.
C) Federal Reserve.
D) Congress.
E) Federal Elections Commission.

Question 14

Senators serve ______________ -year terms, and each state has ______________ senator(s).

A) two . . . one
B) four . . . one
C) four . . . two
D) six . . . two
E) eight . . . two

Question 15

According to the text

A) the Founders expected members of Congress to represent a national constituency.
B) the Founders had no expectations about what kind of constituency members of Congress would represent.
C) all members of Congress represent a national constituency.
D) no members of Congress represent a national constituency.
E) the Founders expected members of Congress to represent a local constituency.

Question 16

The Constitution as initially ratified said that senators would be ______________, and members of the House of Representatives would be ______________ .

A) elected by the people . . . elected by the people
B) elected by the people . . . appointed by the state legislatures
C) elected by the people . . . appointed by the president and the state legislatures working together
D) appointed by the state legislatures . . . elected by the people
E) appointed by the state legislatures . . . appointed by the state legislatures

Question 17

According to the text, the Founders

A) were not worried about an excess of democracy.
B) were worried about an excess of democracy but thought nothing could be done to prevent it.
C) viewed the House as providing more protection against excess of democracy than would the Senate.
D) viewed the Senate as providing more protection against excess of democracy than would the House.
E) viewed the House and the Senate as providing equal protection against excess of democracy.

Question 18

The House of Representatives is composed of ______________ members.

A) 50
B) 100
C) 270
D) 435
E) 535

Question 19

When political scientists use the term divided government, they are referring mainly to

A) the inability of Republicans and Democrats to agree with one another.
B) the fact that the president is not a member of Congress.
C) situations in which the divisions within the parties are as large as the differences between them.
D) situations in which one party controls the House and the other party controls the Senate.
E) situations in which one party controls the presidency and the other party controls one or both houses of Congress.

Question 20

The approval of presidential appointments and foreign treaties requires

A) approval and confirmation by the House of Representatives.
B) approval and confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
C) approval and confirmation by the states.
D) approval and confirmation by the U.S. Supreme Court.
E) no approval or confirmation is necessary by other branches of government.

Question 21

All of the following statements regarding congressional committees are true except

A) committees are legislative gatekeepers.
B) the Speaker of the House is a member of all of the House of Representatives' committees.
C) committees perform the bulk of the legislative work in Congress.
D) more than 90 percent of all bills submitted to Congress do not make it out of committee.
E) conference committees are composed of members of the House and the Senate that meet to reconcile differences in a bill passed by the two chambers.

Question 22

A supermajority of ______________ votes is needed to end a filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

A) 50
B) 51
C) 60
D) 75
E) 100

Question 23

The incentive to get reelected powerfully shapes the preferences and decisions of legislators. This incentive is often referred to as the ______________.

A) policy position
B) constituents
C) electoral connection
D) political action committee
E) earmark

Question 24

All of the following statements are true about Congress except

A) Congress is the most democratic institution in the federal government.
B) Congress is less male and less white than it used to be.
C) a large number of members are from working-class occupations.
D) Congress contains a much higher proportion of whites than the population as a whole.
E) Congress contains a much higher proportion of males than the population as a whole.

Question 25

Incumbents generally enjoy an advantage in elections for all of the following reasons except

A) they have experience at their jobs.
B) seniority makes them more likely to influence legislation that advantage their constituents.
C) generally incumbents have a fund-raising advantage.
D) they run as political outsiders.
E) they have mailing privileges that others do not.

Question 26

Generally, Senate races are more competitive than House of Representatives races for all of the following reasons except

A) Senate incumbents face more experienced challengers.
B) Senate incumbents face better-financed challengers.
C) statewide constituencies are large enough that one party does not dominate them.
D) the two-year term of office for Senators does not allow them sufficient time to raise enough campaign money to discourage challengers.
E) Senate incumbents tend to ride the president's electoral "coattails" much more effectively than incumbents in the House of Representatives.

Question 27

Congress may override a presidential veto ______________.

A) never. Presidential vetoes are final
B) by majority vote in the U.S. Senate
C) by a two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives
D) by majority vote in both Houses of Congress
E) by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress

Question 28

The campaign money that a congressional candidate raises

A) comes exclusively from donors within the candidate's district.
B) comes exclusively from donors outside the candidate's district.
C) comes from donors inside and outside the candidate's district.
D) comes exclusively from government funds earmarked for congressional elections.
E) always comes exclusively from their own private wealth.

Question 29

According to the text, between the years 1998-2012, labor unions spent $528 million on lobbying. In the same period, the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors alone spent ______________ on lobbying.

A) $300 million
B) $492 million
C) $1 billion
D) $3.6 billion
E) $5.2 billion

Question 30

The text cites Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia to illustrate its point that

A) senators' reelection depends heavily on their taking consistent ideological stands.
B) money determines who wins almost all senatorial elections.
C) there are some Republican members of Congress who are leading advocates of social programs for the poor.
D) there are some wealthy members of Congress who lose elections no matter how much money they spend.
E) there are some wealthy members of Congress who are leading advocates of social programs for the poor.

Question 31

In the House of Representatives over the past fifty years, the number of Republicans from the South has ______________, and the number of Republicans from the Northeast has ______________.

A) increased . . . increased
B) increased . . . decreased
C) decreased . . . increased
D) decreased . . . decreased
E) stayed approximately the same . . . stayed approximately the same

Question 32

As of 2013, women accounted for approximately 52 percent of the electorate, occupied approximately ______________ percent of the seats in the House, and occupied approximately ______________ percent of the seats in the Senate.

A) 52 . . . 52
B) 48 . . . 48
C) 38 . . . 38
D) 28 . . . 28
E) 18 . . . 20

Question 33

Although the text notes that some legislators do a good job of representing constituents whose demographic characteristics are different from those of the legislators, the book states that the social background of legislators is important because

A) the Constitution says it is.
B) it's necessary to remedy the sexism of the Declaration of Independence's statement that all men are created equal.
C) some men may be able to represent women effectively (or vice versa), but racial divisions in this country are so deep that it's impossible for most whites to represent blacks effectively (or vice versa).
D) legislators bring assumptions to their work based on their life experiences, and variations in life experience are likely to affect legislators' sensitivity to and awareness of certain issues.
E) it is impossible for a legislator to represent constituents who do not share his or her religion.

Question 34

Which of the following statements about political polarization is true?

A) Political differences within parties have increased.
B) Political differences between the parties have decreased.
C) The average Democrat has become more conservative on social issues and more liberal on economic issues.
D) The average Republican has become more conservative on both social and economic issues.
E) The average Republican has become more conservative on social issues but more liberal on economic issues.

Question 35

Congress' responsibility to monitor, supervise, and review how the executive agencies of the federal government conduct their affairs is called ______________.

A) casework
B) the electoral connection
C) confirmation
D) oversight
E) earmark

Question 36

In the 2008 Congressional elections, the candidate who raised the most money won ______________ of the time.

A) approximately 50 percent
B) approximately 60 percent
C) approximately 70 percent
D) approximately 80 percent
E) approximately 90 percent

Question 37

As of 2013, African Americans comprised approximately 12 percent of the electorate, occupied approximately ______________ percent of the seats in the House, and occupied approximately ______________ percent of the seats in the Senate.

A) 12 . . . 5
B) 12 . . . 1
C) 9 . . . 1
D) 12 . . . 12
E) 1 . . . 1

Question 38

Who/what is an incumbent?

A) a person running for political office
B) a person that currently holds a political office
C) the most senior member in the House of Representatives
D) the most junior member in the House of Representatives
E) the president of the Senate

Question 39

According to the text, earmarks are

A) all money appropriated by Congress.
B) the practice of inserting authorizations for a specific project in a bill.
C) the practice of inserting signing statements into a bill.
D) the practice of specifying that a bill won't be subject to a filibuster.
E) the practice of letting lobbyists write provisions of important legislation.

Question 40

The text quotes a study by political scientist Larry Bartels comparing the preferences of constituents who are wealthy, middle class, and poor with the voting of senators on government spending, abortion, civil rights, and the minimum wage. The study found that

A) senators were equally responsive to the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor.
B) senators were more responsive to the opinions of the middle class than to those of the wealthy or the poor.
C) senators were more responsive to the opinions of the wealthy than to those of the middle class, and weren't at all responsive to the poor.
D) senators were most responsive to the poor.
E) senators weren't responsive to the rich, the middle class, or the poor.

Question 41

According to the text, the legislative process is "not politically neutral, but broadly serves to protect the status quo." Summarize the authors' arguments and evaluate their claim. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.

Question 42

What is "the electoral connection" and what is its relation to congressional careers?

Question 43

What, according to the text, are the consequences of Congress's "openness to the social forces outside it"?

Question 44

Summarize the past half-century's changes in patterns of partisanship in the South and Northeast and what the consequences of these changes have been.

Question 45

Describe at least six powers given to Congress by the Constitution.

Question 46

Explain why, according to the text, the presidency and Congress are often attuned to different voices.

Question 47

Summarize the consequences of the high cost of running for election to Congress in the United States.

Question 48

What are the main steps in the legislative process by which a bill becomes a law? Why did that process lead John
F. Kennedy to say that it's much harder to pass a bill than to defeat one?

Question 49

Summarize the reasons why, according to the text, the social backgrounds of members of Congress are important, and indicate some of the important disparities between the demographic characteristics of members of Congress and members of the electorate.

Question 50

Summarize the role the Founders envisaged for the Senate, and the Constitutional provisions aimed at allowing the Senate to fulfill this role.