Congress (AP Gov)

Which of the following types of committee deals with broad areas of public policy and can be found in both houses of Congress?

• Conference
• Select
• Joint
• Standing

Establishing the boundaries of United States Congressional districts to give one party an advantage over another party is referred to as

• raiding.
• reapportionment.
• gerrymandering.
• filibustering.

Congress is most likely to exert oversight of the executive bureaucracy in which of the following ways?

• Directly selecting the head of an executive agency
• Impeaching the head of an executive agency
• Controlling an executive agency’s annual budget
• Changing the term length of heads of independent regulatory commissions

The term “bicameralism” refers to the

• establishment of two legislative chambers that have different structures and rules.
• members of the House of Representatives having two-year terms.
• president having veto power over both chambers of Congress.
• members of the House and Senate having to appease their mutual constituencies.

Which of the following identifies the formal procedure for ending a filibuster?

• Oversight
• Logrolling
• Cloture
• Discharge Petition

If Congress wanted to effect a change in the Social Security payroll tax, to what congressional committee would the task initially be assigned?

• House Appropriations Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee
• House Rules Committee
• Senate Finance Committee

The practice in Congress whereby Representative A promises to vote for Representative B’s legislation, provided that Representative B will support Representative A’s legislation, is referred to as

• personal casework and services.
• partisan discipline.
• logrolling.
• pork barrel legislation.

If legislation is passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate but each version is slightly different the conflicting bills are sent to

• a standing committee of each house for a vote.
• an ad hoc committee for judicial review.
• the Rules Committee of each house for reconciliation and compromise.
• a conference committee for review and compromise.

Which of the following is true of the relationship between Congress and executive agencies?

• The agencies were created by and work under the direction of Congress.
• Agencies, once created, work totally independent of Congress.
• Because the agencies have bureaucratic expertise, Congress delegates “rulemaking” authority to them.
• Congress creates, staffs, and supervises all executive agencies.

A difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate is that in the House

• legislative activity on the floor is more concentrated by rules.
• committees are less important in the decision-making process.
• unior members have more influence over legislative decisions.
• party leaders are less powerful.