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Chapter 7 - Congress
American Government Roots and Reform Ed 2011
90
Political Studies
Undergraduate 2
11/05/2011
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Term
In 2007, Senator Mary Landrieu put a hold on legislation that would allow the District of Columbia's city government to take control of its public schools.  Such holds....
 Definition
are ways to, in effect, stop further action
Term
Under the Constitution, Senators are elected to ____- year terms.
 Definition
Six
Term
Control of the budgetary process....
 Definition
has been under the authority of Congress since ratification of the Constitution.
Term
A committee that is established on a temporary basis is called a/an ______ committee.
 Definition
Select.
Term
The president pro-tempore is...
 Definition

1.) largely a ceremonial position

2.) generally the most senior person of the majority party
Term
State legislators lost their control over the selection of Senators when the ______ Amendment was ratified in 1913.
 Definition
Seventeenth.
Term
Which of the following are advantages of Incumbency?
 Definition

1.) Ease of fundraising

2.) Casework

3.) Franking Privilege

4.) Credit Claiming
Term
Members of the House often seek positions on the Judiciary Committee because?
 Definition
they are intersted in matters that come before the committee.
Term
Congressional Leaders whose majority task is to keep party members in line and track votes are called?
 Definition
party whips
Term
In the context of the legislative process, pork refers to?
 Definition
the appropriations for members pet projects that can help them be re-elected.
Term
Suppose Senator Smith asks Senator Ushkowitz to support the bill she is introducing to Congress, promising that if he supports it, she will vote in favor of the bill that he helped write.  This is an example of?
 Definition
logrolling
Term
After 2010, Democratic president Barack Obama faced republican-led House of Representatives.  This senario is an example of?
 Definition
divided government.
Term
A member of Congress will often have trouble voting on an issue such as abortion because?
 Definition
People feel passionately on both sides of the issue, so the member will always upset a large group of people, now matter how he or she votes.
Term
Congress passage of the No Child Left Behind Act- which affected public education, a realm over which Congress does not have specific constitutional authority-is an example of expanding its legislative powers through the _______ clause of the Constitution.
 Definition
Necessary and proper.
Term
The war powers act provides for all of the following EXCEPT:
 Definition
giving the president the right to declare war.
Term
The supreme court uses the power of the Judicial Review an average of:
 Definition
less than once per Supreme court term.
Term
The Speaker of the House is ____ in line of the presidential succession.
 Definition
3rd
Term
The office of Management and Budget
 Definition
was created to help the president carry out new responsibilities under the Budget and Accounting Act.
Term
The power of the House of Representatives to charge politicians with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors" is known as:
 Definition
Impeachment
Term
Which of the following people or groups influences congressional decision making?
 Definition

1.) Constituents

2.) Political parties or colleagues

3.) Political action committees

4.) Staff
Term
The Senate has no real counterpart to the House comittee on _____
 Definition
rules
Term
Of the approximately ________ of bills introduced during the 11th session of Congress, fewer than _____ percent  were made into law.
 Definition
10,000 / 5 percent
Term
______ BEST maximizes the opportunities for memebers on both sides of the aisle to air their views.
 Definition
Subcommittee meetings.
Term
The most powerful Speaker of the House was:
 Definition
Joe Cannon.
Term
Within the House of Representatives, Democratic members function as a group known as ______.
 Definition
Caucus.
Term
Overall, in terms of approval ratings of individual representatives, people....
 Definition
like their own members of Congress, but not Congress as a whole.
Term
In general Congress is ______ that the rest of the United States.
 Definition

1.) Better Educated

2.) older and whiter

3.) more male and richer
Term
In response to an outcry of environmentalist rhetoric and the green movement, eighty-one members of Congress came together to form the Congressional ____ causus.
 Definition
Coal.
Term
Committees to which proposed bills are referred and that continue from one Congress to the next are called _______ committees
 Definition
Standing
Term
The Constitution stipulates that members of the House of Representatives are elected directly by the people for _____-year terms.
 Definition
Two.
Term
In the 111th Congress, there were ____ African Americans in the Senate.
 Definition
Zero.
Term
Congress can determine the number of judges and the boundaries of Federal judicial districs and circuits because?
 Definition
the U.S. Constitution authorizes them to do so.
Term
One of the biggest reasons why members of Congress are mindful of their votes on controversal legislation is:
 Definition
Casting the "wrong" vote.
Term
The late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was known as the "Prince of Pork" was because?
 Definition
his ability to get earmarks that benefited the economy of his state.
Term
In 2011, Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives.  That made the Democratic party the ____ party within that legistlative body.
 Definition
minority.
Term
Among members of the Senate-dead or alive-who took up residence in a state for the sole purpose of running for the Senate in an upcoming election are:
 Definition

1.) Hillary Rodham Clinton

2.) Robert Kennedy, Jr.

3.) Alan Keyes.
Term
The framers of the Constitution primarily were concerned that members of Congress.
 Definition
Make Laws.
Term
As illustrated in the Chapter, the term gerrymander was so named because of bizarre geographical contortion of an electoral district in what state:
 Definition
Massachusetts.
Term
Gerrymandering is less likely to occur when:
 Definition
only one district is involved.
Term
In the end, _____ was a significant point of controversy during the debates on the Patient Protection and Affordability of Care act.
 Definition
Abortion.
Term
Committees generally reflect the partisan makeup of the House EXCEPT the ______ Committee, which has two-thirds Republican members in the 112th Congress.
 Definition
Rules.
Term
The House of Representatives and the Senate combined have _____ members with full voting privileges.
 Definition

535

House 435 Senate 100

  435

+100

----------

 535
Term
Which of the following is a true statement regarding the House rules given to each bill?
 Definition
They determine the limits on the floor debate.
Term
A proposed law is known officially as a:
 Definition
Bill.
Term
A new Congress is seated every _____ years.
 Definition
two.
Term
Committee chairs in the House are:
 Definition
Selected by leaders in the Majority Party.
Term
The franking privilege is:
 Definition
the ability of a member of Congress to send mail for free by using their signature instead of a stamp.
Term
The first president to ever be impeached was:
 Definition
Andrew Johnson.
Term
Republican members of the Senate come largely from states in the:
 Definition
South and Southwest.
Term
Every ______ years, ______ of members of the Senate are up for re-election.
 Definition
Two / one-third
Term
There is only one way to end a filibuster.  Its called:
 Definition
Cloture
Term
In general, Congress has experienced _______ in/of its authority over time.
 Definition
decline.
Term
The most powerful position in the House of Representatives is called the:
 Definition
Speaker of the House
Term
The authority for congressional oversight stems from the:
 Definition

1.) Constitution

2.) War Powers Act

3.) Congressional Review Act
Term
The main organizational vehicle in the House and Senate is:
 Definition
the two major political parties.
Term
Suppose Congress allocated funds to the Central Intelligence Agency to carry out a new, controversal method of surveillance, and President Barrack Obama refused to spend the money.  The actions would be similar to those of President:
 Definition
Richard M. Nixon
Term
The Great Compromise resulted in:
 Definition
a two-house legislature
Term
All of the following are true of reconciliation EXCEPT that it:
 Definition
allows republicans and democrats to forge closer ties.
Term
The Senate has often been referred to as the:
 Definition
Millionaires Club.
Term
In 2009, the Washington D.C. City Council passed legislation recognizing same-sex marriages from other states.  This law, however, could not go into effect for sixty days because:
 Definition
of the congressional review act of 1996
Term
The expansion of health insurance to most Americans:
 Definition
showed how important cooperation is between Congress and the President.
Term
Democratic house members come largley from states in the:
 Definition
Northeast and West.
Term
In 1921, Congress:
 Definition

1.) Passed legislation to give it more control over the budget

2.) enacted the Budget and Accounting Act.

3.) attempted to move away from the practice of piecemail budgets.
Term
Standing committees can:
 Definition

1.) Kill bills

2.) amend bills

3.) hurry bills through the process
Term
The presiding officer of the Senate who can vote only in the case of a tie is the:
 Definition
Vice President of the United States.
Term
If you vote for a candidate whom you believe thinks and acts exactly like you, then you MOST likely subscribe to which theory of representation?
 Definition
Delegate
Term
In 2000, Congress passed a law:
 Definition
Granting citizenship to children adopted by parents who are American citizens.
Term
During the cival war:
 Definition
Congress became weaker because President Abraham Lincoln assumed unprededented power.
Term
Which of the Following does not have a bicameral legislature:
 Definition
New Zealand
Term
Originally, each member of the House of Represntatives represented _____ citizens.
 Definition
30,000
Term
"congress in session is congress on exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work", wrote
 Definition
Woodrow Wilson
Term
In _____, a record number of women were elected to Congress, doubling the number of women elected to that institution in the previous decade.
 Definition
1992
Term

An earmark can be used to inconspicuously tack on appropriations to somewhat controversial measures.

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

Committee Chairs in the House of Representatives are no longer selected by senority.

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

President Richard M. Nixon was impeached for his role in the Watergate scandal

 

True/False

 Definition
False
Term

Over two-thrids of the members of Congress hold advance degrees

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

in  1995, the federal government was forced to shut down because Congress had not approved a budget

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

The Supreme Court rarely invalidates federal statutes

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

Newt Gingrich was a particularly powerful Speaker of the House

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

Members of Congress vote in conformity with prevailing public opinion in their districts about 60 percent of the time.

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

Democrats in Congress were universally supportive of the health care reform bill

 

True/False

 Definition
False
Term

A filibuster can be used in either House or the Senate

 

True/False

 Definition
False
Term

The president pro-tempore frequently yeilds more power than the majority leader

 

True/False

 Definition
False
Term

Members of Congress have two constituencies:  Those with whom they work in Washington, and their constituencies at home

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

There are no African American Senators in the 112th Congress

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

If you are the Speaker of the House and your party was attempting to garner enough votes to pass an agricultural reform bill, you would MOST likely look to the minority whip for support

 

True/False

 Definition
False
Term

The supreme court evaded questions of gerrymandering, deeming them too political, until recently.

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

The necessary and proper clause can be found in Article I, section 8 of the constitution

 

True/False

 Definition
True
Term

Members of Congress must be legal residents of the state they represent in order to ensure that they are aquainted with the issue of that state.  Many members, however, have been able to contravene that requirement:

 

True/False

 Definition
True
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