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10
Congress
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. The Constitution gives __________ the power to draw House district lines.
a. the Senate
b. the House
c. the Supreme Court
d. the states
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 297
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Which statement is true of the House of Representatives?
a. Members are elected every four years and apportioned to states based on
geographic size.
b. Members are elected every four years and apportioned to states based on
population.
c. Members are elected every two years and apportioned to states based on
geographic size.
d. Members are elected every two years and apportioned to states based on
population.
Topic: Congressional Elections
311
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 296 – 297
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. What best explains the overwhelming advantage incumbents possess in seeking
reelection?
a. additional financial support from constituent taxes
b. additional financial support from the federal government campaign fund
c. name recognition, access to media, and useful connections
d. name recognition, free postage, and access to district taxes
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 298 – 299
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
4. __________ is the process of allotting congressional seats to each state according
to its proportion of the population.
a. Reapportionment
b. Delegation
c. Gerrymandering
d. Redistricting
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 297
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
5. Which of the following is a classic form of gerrymandering?
a. markup
b. overriding
c. packing
d. reapportionment
312
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 297
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Earmarks aid the district of a member of Congress by __________.
a. diverting unallocated funds to the service sector
b. increasing jobs and revenue with federally funded projects
c. increasing revenue through private market investment
d. taxing corporations less so they provide health insurance for employees
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 299
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
7. The Constitutional Convention settled on what form of legislature?
a. bicameral
b. direct
c. unicameral
d. unified
Topic: The Structure and Powers of Congress
Learning Objective: LO 10.2: Differentiate the powers of Congress, and
compare and contrast the structure and powers of the House and Senate.
Page Reference: 302
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. The only way to stop a Senate filibuster is with __________.
a. a cloture vote
b. a party caucus
313
c. a pocket veto
d. the closed rule
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 307
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. In the House of Representatives, who is second in authority to the Speaker of the
House?
a. majority leader
b. majority whip
c. party caucus leader
d. president pro tempore (or pro tem)
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 305
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. How are member caucuses different from party caucuses?
a. Member caucuses are more informal than party caucuses.
b. Unlike party caucuses, member caucuses determine leadership positions.
c. Member caucuses meet more frequently than party caucuses.
d. Unlike party caucuses, member caucuses have the authority to review
legislation.
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 309
314
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
11. The Framers designed the leadership systems in the House and the Senate so that
__________.
a. passing a bill would be much more difficult in the Senate than in the House
b. the Senate majority leader would be the most powerful person in Congress
c. the Senate would have control of the nation’s purse strings
d. the Senate would have tighter control of its members than the House
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 303
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
12. Democrats who created the Blue Dog Coalition to work for budget cuts and
increased defense spending were primarily responding to which influence?
a. constituent
b. ideological
c. interest group
d. presidential
Topic: The Job of the Legislator
Learning Objective: LO 10.5: Characterize the two ways legislators represent
their constituents, and identify the various influences on their votes.
Page Reference: 316
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
13. When are bills introduced in Congress most likely to meet their demise?
a. after being read into the congressional record
b. after the final floor debate
c. after they arrive on the president’s desk
d. upon referral to a committee or subcommittee
Topic: How a Bill Becomes a Law
Learning Objective: LO 10.4: Identify the steps by which a bill becomes a law
and the ways a bill can be stopped at each step.
Page Reference: 311
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. At any one time, __________ of senators are up for reelection.
a. 10 percent
b. 25 percent
c. one-third
d. half
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 296
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Members of Congress differ from the larger American population in that they are
disproportionately__________.
a. socially conservative and fiscally liberal
b. socially liberal and fiscally conservative
c. socially and fiscally moderate
d. white, upper middle class, and male
Topic: The Job of the Legislator
Learning Objective: LO 10.5: Characterize the two ways legislators represent
their constituents, and identify the various influences on their votes.
Page Reference: 315
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Easy
16. Members of Congress who vote based on the preferences of their constituents are
acting as __________.
a. delegates
b. logrollers
316
c. politicos
d. trustees
Topic: The Job of the Legislator
Learning Objective: LO 10.5: Characterize the two ways legislators represent
their constituents, and identify the various influences on their votes.
Page Reference: 315
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
17. How do senators short-circuit formalities in introducing bills?
a. by sending bills directly to the Rules Committee
b. by introducing bills during filibusters
c. by offering bills as amendments to pending legislation
d. by placing bills in the hopper
Topic: How a Bill Becomes a Law
Learning Objective: LO 10.4: Identify the steps by which a bill becomes a law
and the ways a bill can be stopped at each step.
Page Reference: 311
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
18. Why are senators more vulnerable to defeat than their colleagues in the House?
a. because Senate races are influenced by gerrymandering
b. because Senate candidates are more evenly matched in spending
c. because citizens are more aware of senators’ voting patterns
d. because voter turnout is higher in Senate races
Topic: Congressional Elections
Learning Objective: LO 10.1: Describe the congressional election process and
the advantages it gives incumbents.
Page Reference: 298
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
19. Impeachment of the president is one of the checks on government set out by the
Constitution that __________.
317
a. allows the House or Senate to charge the president with “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
b. is so rare, it has only been used three times in history of the United States
c. requires a majority vote in the Senate to convict
d. requires a trial of the accused in the Senate to determine guilt or innocence
Topic: The Structure and Powers of Congress
Learning Objective: LO 10.2: Differentiate the powers of Congress, and
compare and contrast the structure and powers of the House and Senate.
Page Reference: 302
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
20. The true leader of the Senate is the __________, elected by the majority party.
a. majority leader
b. president pro tempore
c. Senate chair
d. Speaker
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 306
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
21. The president pro tempore __________.
a. has the power to nullify legislation with a pocket veto
b. has the power to select the majority leader
c. is an honorific office awarded to the senior senator of the majority party
d. personally presides over the Senate floor when it is in session
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
318
Page Reference: 306
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
22. The role of Senate minority leader is to __________.
a. represent the opposition in negotiations with the majority leader
b. serve as chief assistant to the majority leader
c. serve as the national spokesperson for the party
d. act as a liaison between the majority leader and the rank-and-file members
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 305
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
23. In the House of Representatives, the __________ decides who will speak on the
floor and rules on points of order.
a. majority leader
b. majority whip
c. president pro tempore
d. Speaker
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 304
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
24. What power gives the Senate the ability to shape the federal judiciary far into the
future?
a. advice and consent
b. oversight
c. rescission
d. unanimous consent
319
Topic: The Structure and Powers of Congress
Learning Objective: LO 10.2: Differentiate the powers of Congress, and
compare and contrast the structure and powers of the House and Senate.
Page Reference: 302 – 303
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
25. What factor limited Speaker of the House John Boehner’s influence in Congress
following the 2010 election?
a. divisions within the Republican Party
b. divisions within the Democratic Party
c. new limitations on the use of the filibuster
d. new limitations on congressional authority to raise the debt ceiling
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 304
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
26. __________ committees pass the laws that set policy, whereas __________
committees determine funding levels.
a. Authorizing; appropriations
b. Authorizing; oversight
c. Budget; appropriations
d. Budget; revenue
Topic: Congressional Leadership and Committees
Learning Objective: LO 10.3: Compare and contrast the leadership systems used
in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional
committees.
Page Reference: 307 – 308
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
320
