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Besides the United States, which other nations have congresses?

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e. Most Latin American countries only

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In Great Britain's parliamentary system, candidates for Parliament are selected by

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d. the party.

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A basic difference between a parliament such as Great Britain's and the U.S. Congress is that

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d. party members in a parliament vote together on most issues.

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In a parliamentary system, when members of the government's party vote against the parliament, the leadership must

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c. dissolve the parliament and form a new government.

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A basic difference between a parliament such as Great Britain's and the U.S. Congress is that

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d. Congress does not select a president.

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If the Framers had created a parliament instead of a congress, it is reasonable to assume that its principal function would be

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e. debate.

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The text suggests that the importance of congressional legislators, compared with members of parliament, can best be inferred from the

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a. resources they receive while in office.

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The term bicameral used to describe the U.S. legislature means that the legislature

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a. has two chambers, or legislative bodies.

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One important effect of bicameralism is that it

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e. balances large and small states.

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Under the original U.S. Constitution, members of the Senate, unlike members of the House, were selected by

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c. state legislatures.

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Under the original U.S. Constitution, members of the House, unlike members of the Senate, were selected by

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c. state legislatures.

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Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution confers on Congress all of the following powers except

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a. the power to veto bills.

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The overriding political question throughout the evolution of Congress has been the

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b. distribution of powers within Congress.

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The main reason why the House dominated Congress in the first quarter of the nineteenth century was the

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e. influence of the party caucus.

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The Senate, not the House, became the crucial forum for debating the issue of slavery because

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d. the two sides were equally matched in the Senate.

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All of the following statements concerning the filibuster are correct except:

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e. Today, it takes 75 Senators to end debate.

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The purpose of a filibuster is to

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b. delay action in a legislative body.

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The typical member of Congress is a(n)

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d. middle-aged, white, Protestant lawyer.

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In terms of the composition of its membership, the House since 1950 has become

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a. less male and less white.

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In terms of its percentage of women and nonwhite members since 1950, the Senate, compared with the House, has

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a. been slower to change.

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The most important change that has occurred in the composition of the House in this century has been the

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d. decrease in the rate of member turnover.

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Being a Congressman was not regarded as career in the 1860s because

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e. All of the above.

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Serving in Congress had become a career by the

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a. 1950s.

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All of the following statements concerning term limits are correct except:

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e. The Supreme Court has struck down a state law limiting terms of members of state legislatures.

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The 1992 and 1994 elections brought scores of new members to the House because

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d. All of the above.

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e. the winner in an election gets less than 55 percent of the vote.

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A marginal district is one in which

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One proposed explanation for why congressional seats have become less marginal is that

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B

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In the last thirty congressional elections, the gap between votes and seats in the House is illustrated by the fact that the

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a. Republican percentage of vote has been higher than the Republican percentage of House seats.

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Since the 1980s, the conservative coalition has become less important because

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d. many southern Democrats in Congress have been replaced by southern Republicans.

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Recent changes in the composition of members in Congress has resulted in

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c. a more ideological and partisan House.

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The anti-incumbent mood directed toward members of Congress by voters in recent years has worked to the disadvantage of

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a. Democrats.

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The explanation for congressional voting behavior that assumes members vote to please their constituents is referred to as

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a. representational.

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The explanation for congressional voting behavior that assumes members vote to please their colleagues is referred to as

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c. organizational.

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The explanation for congressional voting behavior that assumes members vote on the basis of their beliefs is referred to as

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d. attitudinal.

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One study reported in the text showed that the strongest correlation between congressional voting and constituency opinion was in the

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e. civil rights.

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A problem with the representational interpretation of congressional voting behavior is that

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b. on many key issues, public opinion is weak or vague.

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In the 1960s, the decentralization of the Senate was encouraged by the fact that

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a. it became easier for junior senators to obtain chairmanships.

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Over the past two decades, senators, compared with the average voter, were consistently more

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d. liberal in the 1970s, conservative in the 1980s.

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In recent years, American voters have political beliefs that are

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c. close to the center of the political spectrum.

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In recent years, the political beliefs of members of Congress have become

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a. more polarized than voters.

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The best way to understand how Congress carries out its business is to think of it as

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c. a collection of different kinds of organizations.

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The British House of Commons differs most obviously from Congress in the role played in it by

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c. party organization.

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If you wished to study the real leadership office in the Senate, you would most likely focus on the

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b. majority leader.

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A member of the Senate has just been elected to a position that requires him to keep the majority leader informed about the opinions of other party members. He has just been elected

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a. majority party whip.

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From the standpoint of the ambitions of a newly elected Democratic senator, the most important element in party organization is the

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a. Steering Committee.

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From the standpoint of the ambitions of a newly elected Republican senator, the most important element in party organization is the

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d. president pro tempore.

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The most important aspect of the process of selecting Senate members for key leadership and committee positions is

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d. achieving ideological and regional balance.

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The numerical superiority of House representatives over senators

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d. House leadership has more control than the Senate leadership.

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Among the many powers of the House Speaker is that he or she

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a. determines the committee assignment of bills.

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Compared to the Senate of the 1950s and 1960s, today's Senate can best be described as

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a. less party centered, less leader oriented, more hospitable to freshmen, more heavily staffed, and more subcommittee oriented.

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Votes in Congress that evoked party splits during the 1990s were most likely to be reflective of

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c. sharp ideological differences between parties.

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________ caucuses are formed by groups whose members share a similar ideology.

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a. Intra-party

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________ caucuses form around common interests in an issue.

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b. Personal

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________ caucuses are perceived by their members as representing certain groups nationwide.

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c. Constituency

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The Congressional Black Caucus is one of the best known

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a. national constituency caucuses.

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A coalition of House members who support price supports for peanuts would be most likely to label themselves a(n)

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d. constituency caucus.

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Most of the power in Congress is found

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a. the committees.

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Because they are usually the only ones that can report out bills, the most important committees are the

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c. standing committees.

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A member of Congress who is interested in increasing support for the aged would be best advised to a. make a speech about the difficulties of the aged. b. send a newsletter to constituents describing the difficulties of the aged. c. get her or his party to state its concern about the aged. d. get the House or Senate to create a select committee on the aged. e. print a pamphlet or handbill on the topic.

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d

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Where is the real work of Congress done?

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e. In the committees in both houses

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The type of committee most likely to deal with a bill near the end of its legislative process is the

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c. conference committee.

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Since the 1970s, the chairpersons of House committees have been chosen by

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e. secret ballot.

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The changes brought about by the committee bill of rights in the early 1970s included the right to have subcommittee jurisdiction determined by the

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e. majority party members on the committee.

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The maximum number of committees that can be chaired by one senator is

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a. one.

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The text argues that the effects of congressional measures to ensure openness are

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b. not yet clear.

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A recent trend in Congress has been for the number of amendments to proposed laws to

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c. increase, along with the number of individuals offering them.

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In the Senate, committees such as Rules and Administration, Small Business, and Veterans' Affairs are examples of

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b. minor committees.

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If you were a newly elected member of Congress interested in becoming an expert on a particular policy and influencing your colleagues on this policy, you would probably ask to be assigned to the

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b. Ways and Means Committee.

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Until the 1990s the most rapidly growing bureaucracy in Washington was that of

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d. staff members of Congress.

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One effect of the growth in congressional staff has been to

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c. generate more legislative work.

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Increased reliance on staff has made Congress more

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e. individualistic.

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If you are a committee staff member and want to know the status of a bill, you can get the information most quickly from the

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c. Congressional Research Service (CRS).

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The original purpose of the General Accounting Office (GAO) was to perform

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b. audits of financial records.

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The staff agency that advises Congress on the probable economic effect of different spending programs and the cost of proposed policies is the

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a. Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

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Which of the following statements about the speed with which bills move through Congress is correct?

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e. It can vary enormously.

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