Fiscal Policy & Congress Quiz

Which of the following is NOT an example of how we fund our federal government..

• Income taxes

• Corporate taxes

• Tariffs

• Lottery

When a government it spending more money than it is making, it is operating in a...

• deficit

• surplus

• IOU

• interest

Which is considered discretionary spending (select all which may apply)

• national parks

• Medicare

• nuclear energy

• Interest on the debt

• education

A plan for how much will be spent on various things is called a

• surplus.

• budget.

• deficit

• securities

Spending required by law is known as

• discretionary spending

• mandatory spending

• federal spending

• surplus spending

Social Security is the largest portion of which type of spending?

• Mandatory/Entitlements
• Discretionary 

Accumulation of deficits year after year is called

• entitlements

• debt

• mandatory spending

• discretionary spending

Which of the following describes pork barrel spending and earmark?

• When funds are directed to a very specific purpose, such as building a senior citizen center in a legislator’s district.

• When a bill grows to mammoth size and takes care of several facets of law or addresses multiple programs.

• The difference between spending and revenue.

• Reshaping of congressional districts to reflect population changes determined by the U.S. Census.

Which of the following statements is true based on the bar graph?

• In 1981, 25 percent of stand-alone appropriations bills were passed on time.

• From 1989 to 1991, 100 percent of stand-alone appropriations bills were passed on time.

• From 2011 to 2016, no stand-alone appropriations bills were passed on time.

• In 2017, 50 percent of stand-alone appropriations bills were passed on time.

In which year did Congress pass all stand-alone appropriations (spending) bills on time?

• 1977

• 1980

• 1993

• 2012