Chapter 12 Study Guide
This will not be taken up for a grade, but will help to prepare for the exam on Tuesday.
The topic for the Free Response question is located in the synopsis below.
The Representatives and Senators – A Synopsis
Despite public perceptions to the contrary, hard work is perhaps the most prominent characteristic of a
member of Congress’ job. The typical representative is a member of about six committees and subcommittees; a
senator is a member of about ten. There are also attractions to the job. Most important is power: members of
Congress make key decisions about important matters of public policy. They also receive a substantial salary
and “perks.”
The Constitution specifies only that members of the House must be at least 25 years old, American
citizens for seven years, and must be residents of the states from which they are elected. Senators must be at
least 30 years old, American citizens for nine years, and must be residents of the states from which they are
elected.
Members come mostly from occupations with high status and usually have substantial incomes. Law is
the dominant prior occupation, with other elite occupations also well represented. Women and other minorities
are substantially underrepresented. Although members of Congress obviously cannot claim descriptive
representation (representing their constituents by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics),
they may engage in substantive representation (representing the interests of groups).
Although women have proven themselves able to compete with men for seats in Congress, women are
underrepresented. Fewer women than men become major party nominees for office as women report they are
less ambitious to run for office and more sensitive than men to their perceptions of the odds of winning.
Congressional Elections
The most important fact about congressional elections is that incumbents usually win. Not only do more
than 90 percent of the incumbents seeking reelection to the House of Representatives win, but most of them win
with more than 60 percent of the vote. Even when challengers’ positions on the issues are closer to the voters’
positions, incumbents still tend to win. Voters are not very aware of how their senators and representatives
actually vote.
Even though senators have a better-than-equal chance of reelection, senators typically win by narrower
margins than House members. One reason for the greater competition in the Senate is that an entire state is
almost always more diverse than a congressional district and thus provides more of a base for opposition to an
incumbent.
Despite their success at reelection, incumbents have a strong feeling of vulnerability. They have been
raising and spending more campaign funds, sending more mail to their constituents, traveling more to their
states and districts, and staffing more local offices than ever before.
Members of Congress engage in three primary activities that increase the probability of their reelections:
advertising, credit claiming, and position taking. Most congressional advertising takes place between elections
and takes the form of contact with constituents. New technologies are supplementing traditional contacts with
sophisticated database management, e-mails, automated phone calls, etc. Credit claiming involves personal
and district service, notably through casework and pork barrel spending. Members of Congress must also
engage in position taking on matters of public policy when they vote on issues and when they respond to
constituents’ questions about where they stand on issues.
When incumbents do face challengers, they are likely to be weak opponents. Seeing the advantages of
incumbency, potentially effective opponents often do not want to risk challenging members of the House.
Candidates spend enormous sums on campaigns for Congress. In the 2005–2006 election cycle, congressional
candidates spent nearly $2 billion dollars to win the election. In the House races in 2006, the typical incumbent
outspent the typical challenger by a ratio of 2 to 1. Spending is greatest when there is no incumbent and each
party feels it has a chance to win. In open seats, the candidate who spends the most usually wins.
Although most of the money spent in congressional elections comes from individuals, about one-fourth
of the funds raised by candidates for Congress come from Political Action Committees (PACs). PACs seek
access to policymakers. Thus, they give most of their money to incumbents, who are already heavily favored to
win. Critics of PACs are convinced that PACs are not trying to elect but to buy influence.
Prolific spending in a campaign is no guarantee of success. Money is important for challengers,
however. The more they spend, the more votes they receive. Money buys them name recognition and a chance
to be heard. At the base of every electoral coalition are the members of the candidate’s party in the
constituency. Most members of Congress represent constituencies in which their party is in the majority. It is
reasonable to ask why anyone challenges incumbents at all.
However, an incumbent tarnished by scandal or corruption becomes vulnerable. Voters do take out their
anger at the polls. Redistricting can also have an impact. Congressional membership is reapportioned after each
federal census, and incumbents may be redistricted out of their familiar base of support. When an incumbent is
not running for reelection and the seat is open, there is greater likelihood of competition. Most of the turnover
of the membership of Congress is the result of vacated seats, particularly in the House. Finally, major political
tidal waves occasionally roll across the country, leaving defeated incumbents in their wake. This is especially
likely when national issues dominate the elections, as occurred in 1994 and 2006. The high reelection rate of
incumbents brings stability and policy expertise to Congress. At the same time, it also may insulate them from
the winds of political change.
How Congress is Organized to Make Policy
A bicameral legislature is a legislature divided into two houses. The U.S. Congress is bicameral, as is
every American state legislature except Nebraska’s, which has one house (unicameral).
Making policy is the toughest of all the legislative roles. Congress is a collection of generalists trying to
make policy on specialized topics. The complexity of today’s issues requires more specialization. Congress tries
to cope with these demands through its elaborate committee system.
The House and Senate each set their own agenda. Both use committees to narrow down the thousands of
bills introduced. The House is much larger and more institutionalized than the Senate. Party loyalty to
leadership and party-line voting are more common than in the Senate. One institution unique to the House is the
House Rules Committee, which reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full
House. Each bill is given a “rule,” which schedules the bill on the calendar, allots time for debate, and
sometimes even specifies what kind of amendments may be offered. The Senate is less disciplined and less
centralized than the House. Today’s senators are more equal in power than representatives are. Party leaders do
for Senate scheduling what the Rules Committee does in the House. One activity unique to the Senate is the
filibuster. This is a tactic by which opponents of a bill use their right to unlimited debate as a way to prevent
the Senate from ever voting on a bill.
Much of the leadership in Congress is really party leadership. Those who have the real power in the
congressional hierarchy are those whose party put them there. Power is no longer in the hands of a few key
members of Congress who are insulated from the public. Instead, power is widely dispersed, requiring leaders
to appeal broadly for support.
Chief among leadership positions in the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House. This is
the only legislative office mandated by the Constitution. Today the Speaker presides over the House when it is
in session; plays a major role in making committee assignments, which are coveted by all members to ensure
their electoral advantage; appoints or plays a key role in appointing the party’s legislative leaders and the party
leadership staff; and exercises substantial control over which bills get assigned to which committees. The
Speaker’s principal partisan ally is the majority leader—a job that has been the main stepping stone to the
Speaker’s role. The majority leader is responsible for scheduling bills in the House. Working with the majority
leader are the party’s whips, who carry the word to party troops, counting votes before they are cast and leaning
on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill. The Constitution makes the vice president of the United States the
president of the Senate; this is the vice president’s only constitutionally defined job. The Senate majority leader,
aided by the majority whips, is the party’s workhorse, corralling votes, scheduling the floor action, and
influencing committee assignments. The majority leader’s counterpart in the opposition, the minority leader, has
similar responsibilities.
The minority party, led by the minority leader, is also organized, poised to take over the Speakership and
other key posts if it should win a majority in the House. The structure of Congress is so complex that it seems
remarkable that legislation gets passed at all. Its bicameral division means that bills have two sets of committee
hurdles to clear. Recent reforms have decentralized power, and so the job of leading Congress is more difficult
than ever. Congressional leaders are not in the strong positions they occupied in the past. Leaders are elected by
their fellow party members and must remain responsive to them.
Most of the real work of Congress goes on in committees and subcommittees. Committees dominate
congressional policymaking at all stages. They regularly hold hearings to investigate problems and possible
wrongdoing, and to investigate the executive branch. Committees can be grouped into four types: standing
committees (by far the most important), joint committees, conference committees, and select committees.
More than 9,000 bills are submitted by members every two years, all of which must be sifted through and
narrowed down by the committee process. Every bill goes to a standing committee; usually only bills receiving
a favorable committee report are considered by the whole House or Senate. New bills sent to a committee
typically go directly to subcommittee, which can hold hearings on the bill. The most important output of
committees and subcommittees is the “marked-up” (revised and rewritten) bill, submitted to the full House or
Senate for consideration. Members of the committee will usually serve as “floor managers” of the bill when the
bill leaves committee, helping party leaders secure votes for the legislation. They will also be cue-givers to
whom other members turn for advice. When the two chambers pass different versions of the same bill, some
committee members will be appointed to the conference committee.
Legislative oversight—the process of monitoring the bureaucracy and its administration of policy—is
one of the checks Congress can exercise on the executive branch. Oversight is handled primarily through
hearings. Members of committees constantly monitor how a bill is implemented. Although every committee
includes members from both parties, a majority of each committee’s members—as well as its chair—comes
from the majority party. Committee chairs are the most important influence on the committee agenda. They
play dominant—though no longer monopolistic—roles in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing
subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full House. Until the 1970s,
committee chairs were always selected through the seniority system; under this system, the member of the
majority party with the longest tenure on the committee would automatically be selected. In the 1970s,
Congress faced a revolt of its younger members, and both parties in each house permitted members to vote on
committee chairs. Today, seniority remains the general rule for selecting chairs, but there have been notable
exceptions.
The explosion of informal groups in Congress has made the representation of interests in Congress a
more direct process (cutting out the middleman, the lobbyist). In recent years, a growing number of caucuses
have dominated these informal groups. Also increasing in recent years is the size of, and reliance of members of
Congress on, their personal and committee staffs, along with staff agencies such as the Congressional Research
Service, the General Accounting Office, and the Congressional Budget Office.
The Congressional Process
Approximately 9,000 bills are introduced in each two-year session of Congress. Most bills are quietly
killed off early in the legislative process. In both chambers, party leaders involve themselves in the legislative
process on major legislation earlier and more deeply, using special procedures to aid the passage of legislation.
In the House, special rules from the Rules Committee have become powerful tools for controlling floor
consideration of bills and sometimes for shaping the outcomes of votes. Often party leaders from each chamber
negotiate among themselves instead of creating conference committees. Party leaders also use omnibus
legislation that addresses numerous and perhaps unrelated subjects, issues, and programs to create winning
coalitions. In the Senate, leaders have less leverage and individual senators have retained great opportunities for
influence. As a result, it is often more difficult to pass legislation in the Senate.
Presidents are partners with Congress in the legislative process, but all presidents are also Congress’
adversaries in the struggle to control legislative outcomes. Presidents have their own legislative agenda, based
in part on their party’s platform and their electoral coalition. The president’s task is to persuade Congress that
his agenda should also be Congress’ agenda. Presidential success rates for influencing congressional votes vary
widely among presidents and within a president’s tenure in office. Presidents are usually most successful early
in their tenures and when their party has a majority in one or both houses of Congress. Regardless, in almost
any year, the president will lose on many issues.
Parties are most cohesive when Congress is electing its official leaders. For example, a vote for the
Speaker of the House is a straight party-line vote. On other issues, the party coalition may not stick together.
Votes on issues like civil rights have shown deep divisions within each party. Differences between the parties
are sharpest on questions of social welfare and economic policy. In the last few decades, Congress has become
more ideologically polarized (FREE RESPONSE QUESTION TOPIC, POLARIZATION OF PARTIES
AND ITS EFFECT ON CONGRESS AND POLICYMAKING) and more likely to vote according to the two
party lines. As the parties pulled apart ideologically, they also became more homogeneous internally. This has
resulted in an increased difficulty in reaching a compromise. The increased ideological distance between the
parties is primarily due to the increasingly divergent electoral coalitions. As supporters of each party have
matched their partisan and ideological views, they made the difference between the parties more distinctive.
There are a variety of views concerning how members of Congress should fulfill their function of
representation. The 18th-century English legislator Sir Edmund Burke favored the concept of legislators as
trustees, using their best judgment to make policy in the interests of the people. The concept of representatives
as instructed delegates calls for representatives to mirror the preferences of their constituents. Members of
Congress are actually politicos, combining the trustee and instructed delegate roles as they attempt to be both
representatives and policymakers. The most effective way for constituents to influence congressional voting is
to elect candidates who match their policy positions, since winners of congressional elections tend to vote on
roll calls pretty much as they said they would. On some controversial issues, it is perilous for a legislator to
ignore constituent opinion.
Lobbyists—some of them former members of Congress—represent the interests of their organizations.
They also can provide legislators with crucial information, and often can give assurances of financial aid in the
next campaign. There are more than 35,000 individuals in Washington, representing 12,000 organizations. The
bigger the issue, the more lobbyists are involved in it. A 1995 law passed by Congress requires anyone hired to
lobby members of Congress, congressional staff members, White House officials, and federal agencies to report
what issues they were seeking to influence, how much they were spending on the effort, and the identities of
their clients. Congress also placed severe restrictions on the gifts, meals, and expense-paid travel that public
officials may accept from lobbyists.
Understanding Congress
The central legislative dilemma for Congress is combining the faithful representation of constituents
with the making of effective public policy. Supporters see Congress as a forum in which many interests compete
for a spot on the policy agenda and over the form of a particular policy. Critics wonder if Congress is so
responsive to so many interests that policy is too uncoordinated, fragmented, and decentralized. Some observers
feel that Congress is so representative that it is incapable of taking decisive action to deal with difficult
problems.
In a large democracy, the success of democratic government depends on the quality of representation.
Congress clearly has some undemocratic and unrepresentative features: its members are an American elite; its
leadership is chosen by its own members; voters have little direct influence over the people who chair key
committees or lead congressional parties. There is also evidence to support the view that Congress is
representative: Congress does try to listen to the American people; the election does make a difference in how
votes turn out; which party is in power affects policies; linkage institutions do link voters to policymakers.
If Congress is responsive to a multitude of interests and those interests desire government policies to aid
them in some way, does the nature of Congress predispose it to continually increase the scope of the public
sector? Members of Congress vigorously protect the interests of their constituents. At the same time, there are
many members who agree with Ronald Reagan that government is not the answer to problems but rather is the
problem. These individuals make careers out of fighting against government programs (although these same
senators and representatives typically support programs aimed at aiding their constituents). Congress does not
impose programs on a reluctant public; instead, it responds to the public’s demands for them.
CHAPTER 12 REVIEW QUESTIONS
-Answers to the following questions will be available at 6:00PM, Monday, February 9th.
1. The United States Senate has ________ members.
a. 50
b. 100
c. 435
d. 438
e. 535
2. How many senators are elected from each state?
a. One
b. Two
c. Four
d. It depends on a state’s population.
e. The same number as the state’s electors in the Electoral College
3. Which of the following is TRUE about the minimum age requirements for members of Congress set
forth in the Constitution?
a. One must be at least 21 years of age to serve in the House of Representatives.
b. One must be at least 30 years of age to serve in the Senate.
c. One must be at least 35 years of age to serve in either the House or the Senate.
d. There are no age requirements for members of Congress.
e. The age requirements are the same for the House and the Senate.
4. The income and occupations of members of Congress
a. typically reflect the pluralistic nature of American society.
b. are very close to the average found among their constituency.
c. would, for the most part, make them members of the elite in American society.
d. have no real impact on public policymaking.
e. places over 90 percent of them in the millionaire businessperson class.
5. In terms of religion, most members of Congress are
a. Catholic.
b. Jewish.
c. Protestant.
d. born-again Christians.
e. atheists.
6. The most common prior occupation for members of Congress is
a. business.
b. law.
c. education.
d. public service.
e. state legislator.
7. What is descriptive representation?
a. Representing constituents by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics
b. Representing the interests of groups
c. Representing issues affecting the poor when the representative is extremely wealthy
d. When members of Congress serve on committees
e. When members of Congress have not lived in their home district very long
8. Substantive representation refers to
a. descriptive representation.
b. representing the interests of groups.
c. serving constituents through pork barrel projects.
d. representing constituents by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics.
e. representing the poor.
9. The late senator Edward Kennedy, who had a background of wealth and privilege and was a champion
of the interests of the poor, is an example of
a. descriptive representation.
b. substantive representation.
c. elite representation.
d. constituent representation.
e. franking privileges.
10. Women occupied approximately _____ percent of the seats in the 111th Congress.
a. 5
b. 10
c. 17
d. 20
e. 40
11. Individuals already holding office are called
a. incumbents.
b. challengers.
c. chairmen.
d. consulates.
e. secretaries.
12. Which of the following statements about incumbency is FALSE?
a. Most incumbents forgo the opportunity to run for reelection.
b. Most incumbents decide to run for reelection.
c. Most incumbents running for reelection are victorious.
d. Not only do more than 90 percent of incumbents seeking reelection win, but most win more than
60 percent of the vote.
e. Incumbents tend to win even when challengers’ positions are closer to voters’ positions.
13. The single most important advantage to someone trying to get elected to Congress is
a. being an incumbent.
b. having more money to spend on campaigning.
c. being charismatic and photogenic.
d. having a clean record.
e. winning the endorsement of the top leaders of his or her party.
14. Comparison between members of the House and Senate concerning the impact of incumbency on their
reelection chances shows that one of the reasons that senators have a smaller advantage is because they
a. have become overspecialized as policymakers.
b. are more likely to be held accountable on controversial issues.
c. are less visible.
d. have longer terms that increase the chance of scandal.
e. represent more homogenous constituencies.
15. Reasons that incumbent senators have greater competition than incumbent members of the House
include all of the following EXCEPT
a. an entire state is more diverse than a congressional district, providing more of a base for
opposition.
b. senators have less personal contact with their constituencies.
c. voters are less likely to know the issue positions of their senators than their representatives.
d. senators tend to draw more visible challengers.
e. Senate challengers are better funded than House challengers.
16. Which of the following is a consequence of the fact that members of Congress feel “unsafe at any
margin”?
a. Members of Congress spend more time raising campaign funds.
b. Members of Congress spend more time at home in their states and districts.
c. Members of Congress send more mail to their constituents.
d. Members of Congress staff more local offices.
e. All of the above are true.
17. Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals are known as
a. pork barrel politics.
b. casework.
c. franking.
d. advertising.
e. credit claiming.
18. The pork barrel and casework are examples of
a. opportunities for credit claiming by members of Congress.
b. advertising techniques.
c. descriptive representation.
d. position taking.
e. congressional continuity.
19. In the 2007–2008 campaign cycle, the average winner in the House spent about _____, while the
average Senate winner spent ______ .
a. $50,000; $100,000
b. $100,000; $500,000
c. $1.4 million; $8.5 million
d. $500,000; $100,000
e. $8.5 million; $1.4 million
20. Party loyalty at the voting booth is
a. stronger than it was a generation ago.
b. no longer a good indication of voting behavior.
c. still a good predictor of voting behavior.
d. almost nonexistent today.
e. greater among Democrats than among Republicans.
21. Which of the following statements about the role of money in congressional elections is FALSE?
a. Outspending your opponent by a large margin is no guarantee of success.
b. The more challengers spend, the more votes they receive.
c. Challengers usually outspend incumbents.
d. In open seats, the candidate who spends the most usually wins.
e. Incumbents benefit less from campaign spending than challengers.
22. The fact that incumbents usually win reelection
a. creates stability in the membership of Congress.
b. allows representatives and senators to gain some expertise in dealing with public policy.
c. insulates members of Congress from political change.
d. makes it more difficult for citizens to “send a message to Washington” with their votes.
e. All of the above are true.
23. After each federal census,
a. the office of the Speaker of the House changes hands.
b. the size of Congress increases.
c. the membership of the House is reapportioned.
d. the Senate reapportions its membership.
e. All of the above are true.
24. Occasionally, a major political tidal wave rolls across the country and throws large numbers of
incumbents of a given party out of office. Other than the election of 2010, when did this last occur?
a. 1994
b. 1980
c. 1974
d. 1964
e. 1954
25. A legislature divided into two houses is called a ________ legislature.
a. dual
b. double
c. bicameral
d. unicameral
e. divided
26. Nebraska’s legislature is the only one in the United States that is NOT
a. elected by the voters.
b. unicameral.
c. bicameral.
d. tricameral.
e. under term limits.
27. The House ________ Committee reviews most bills coming from other committees before they go on to
the full House, thus performing a traffic cop function.
a. Appropriations
b. Ways and Means
c. Rules
d. Authorization
e. Review
28. House seats are up for election every
a. two years.
b. four years.
c. six years.
d. eight years.
e. five years.
29. A Senate seat is up for election every
a. two years.
b. four years.
c. six years.
d. eight years.
e. five years.
30. Which of the following is TRUE of the Senate as compared to the House?
a. The Senate is more centralized and is characterized by stronger leadership.
b. In the Senate, seniority is important in determining power.
c. The Senate is more influential on the budget.
d. The Senate is more influential in foreign affairs.
e. The Senate is smaller in number and less powerful and prestigious.
31. According to the Constitution, revenue bills must originate in the
a. Internal Revenue Service.
b. Federal Reserve System.
c. House.
d. Senate.
e. Treasury Department.
32. Nominees to the United States Supreme Court must be confirmed by
a. the Senate.
b. the House.
c. either the House or the Senate.
d. both the House and the Senate.
e. the president.
33. According to the Constitution, once impeached, federal officials are then tried in the
a. Supreme Court.
b. House.
c. Senate.
d. Department of Justice.
e. United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
34. One of the key differences between the House and Senate is that the House
a. has weaker leadership.
b. is more influential on foreign affairs.
c. has more policy specialization.
d. is less centralized.
e. is less institutionalized.
35. The filibuster
a. is unique to the Senate.
b. is unique to the House.
c. is allowed in both the House and the Senate.
d. has been ruled unconstitutional.
e. has been prohibited in both the House and Senate.
36. Why are so many senators reluctant to use cloture?
a. For fear of setting a precedent to be used against them when they want to filibuster
b. Because it has always been used as a stepping stone to the Speaker’s job, and once used, they
may not get a second chance at the job
c. Because, in most cases, the House or Senate usually considers only the bills that obtain a
favorable committee report
d. Because they have to stay in their positions to monitor the bureaucracy, otherwise there would be
no congressional oversight
e. Because the size and complexity of today’s government make it impossible for any one person to
understand all the issues before the Senate
37. ________ members present and voting can halt a filibuster by voting for cloture.
a. Sixty
b. Seventy
c. Eighty
d. Fifty-one
e. Seventy-five
38. The procedure used to cut off debate and end a filibuster is known as
a. franking.
b. coattails.
c. cloture.
d. overriding.
e. hushing.
39. Which of the following congressional offices is mandated by the Constitution?
a. Speaker of the House
b. House and Senate majority leader
c. President of the House
d. President of the United States
e. All of the above are mandated by the Constitution.
40. Which of the following is NOT a role or responsibility of the Speaker of the House?
a. Making committee assignments
b. Presiding over the House when it is in session
c. Recommending which members should be expelled from the House for failure to support the
party’s positions on bills
d. Assigning most bills to committees
e. Appointing the party’s legislative leaders
41. The minority whip
a. assists the majority leader in party-line votes.
b. becomes the Speaker automatically if the Speaker resigns.
c. represents African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans in each chamber of
Congress.
d. keeps a close head count on key votes and attempts to keep party members in line.
e. is used to punish members who do not vote with the rest of their party.
42. The most powerful person in the Senate is the
a. majority leader.
b. vice president of the United States, who serves as president of the Senate.
c. chair of the Rules Committee.
d. Speaker.
e. president of the United States.
43. Party leaders who work with the majority or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on
waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party are called
a. whips.
b. speakers.
c. pork barrellers.
d. PACs.
e. filibusterers.
44. Most of the business of Congress takes place
a. in congressional districts.
b. on the floor of the House and Senate.
c. in committees and subcommittees.
d. during evening social functions.
e. in the Rules Committee.
45. Appropriations, Judiciary, and Armed Services are all examples of ________ committees.
a. standing
b. select
c. conference
d. joint
e. rule
46. _____ committees draw their membership from both the Senate and the House.
a. Joint
b. Standing
c. Ad-hoc
d. Select
e. Conference
47. When the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill,
a. the House bill is changed to conform with the Senate bill.
b. the Senate bill is changed to conform with the House bill.
c. a conference committee is appointed to resolve differences.
d. a joint committee is appointed to resolve differences.
e. the president may select which bill to enact into law.
48. Legislative ________ is the process of monitoring the bureaucracy and its administration of policy.
a. franking
b. stonewalling
c. overview
d. oversight
e. supremacy
49. When members of Congress hold a hearing to question a cabinet member on how a law is being carried
out, they are engaging in
a. agenda setting.
b. filibustering.
c. legislative oversight.
d. casework.
e. congressional administration.
50. Members of Congress who informally band together in groups to promote and protect mutual interests
(e.g., mushroom growers) form what are called
a. subcommittees.
b. committees.
c. caucuses.
d. junkets.
e. interest groups.
51. Within the last few years, power in Congress has become more
a. decentralized with the proliferation of subcommittees and caucuses.
b. controlled by the influence of interest groups and PACs.
c. centralized, with more power in the hands of senior party leaders.
d. dependent on the relationship between the members of Congress and the president as the chief
legislator.
e. constructive in terms of the relationship between the constituents and their representatives due to
a large increase in well-informed constituents.
52. The ____ is administered by the Library of Congress to provide nonpartisan studies and information to
members of Congress.
a. Congressional Research Service
b. Government Accountability Office
c. Congressional Budget Office
d. House Rules Committee
e. House Ways and Means Committee
53. The __________ helps Congress perform its oversight functions by reviewing the activities of the
executive branch to see if it is following the congressional intent of the laws.
a. Government Accountability Office
b. Congressional Research Office
c. Congressional Budget Office
d. Select Committee
e. Rules Committee
54. A proposed law, drafted in legal language, is called a
a. statute.
b. opinion.
c. bill.
d. committee report.
e. caucus.
55. Which of the following statements regarding party politics and Congress is FALSE?
a. Over the past three decades the distance between congressional parties has been growing.
b. Differences between the parties are sharpest on questions of economic and social welfare policy.
c. Democrats are more supportive of government action on social welfare policies than are
Republicans.
d. Republicans in Congress have become more conservative while Democrats in Congress have
become more liberal.
e. Bipartisan compromise has grown more frequent over the last three decades.
Answers to the preceding questions above will be released at 6:00PM, Monday, February 9th.