Legislative Branch

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

Congress has...

• Veto Power

• Power of the Sword

• Power of the Purse

• Discretionary Authority

Which of the following statements about motions for cloture is true?

• They are applied only to budget appropriation bills.

• They are applied to bills that failed in the previous session of Congress.

• They force a bill out of committee so that the full House can vote on it.

• They are used by senators to end a filibuster and bring a bill to a vote.

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

Which of the following is a unique power held by members of the Senate?

• Control of the veto

• The ability to filibuster

• Control of the appropriations process

• The ability to impeach the president

Nominations to the Supreme Court must be approved by a...

• simple majority vote in the Senate only

• simple majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate

• two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives only

• two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate and a majority of the sitting justices on the Supreme Court

The power of the Rules Committee in the House of Representatives rests on its authority to...

• place a bill on the legislative calendar, limit time for debate and determine the type of amendments allowed

• initiate all spending legislation and hold budget hearings

• Choose the President if no candidate wins a majority in the electoral college

• choose the chairs of other standing committees and issue rules for the selection of subcommittee chairs

Which of the following scenarios is an example of the trustee model of representation?

• Congress passes a bill allocating money to clean up nuclear waste sites after a wave of large-scale peaceful protests.

• The NAACP leadership sends representatives to Washington to lobby for changes to the Voting Rights Act.

• A presidential candidate advocates using an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors.

• A member of Congress votes to close a popular tax loophole based on the belief that the money would be better spent paying down the national debt.

Which of the following is generally true of the gerrymandering of congressional districts?

• It results in more Democrats being elected to the House.

• It guarantees that all minority parties will be equally represented.

• It creates districts that favor one political party over another.

• It illegally violates the principle of one-person, one-vote.

Which of the following describes the ruling in Shaw v. Reno (1993)?

• The Voting Rights Act was ruled unconstitutional.

• Racial gerrymandering was ruled unconstitutional.

• The poll tax was eliminated.

• It was decided that congressional districts needed to be equal in size.