Congress (AP Gov)

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

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.

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.