Government
4.5 and 4.6 Test Review
Name____________________________________
1. What do party whips do?
2. What type of resolution does Congress use to propose a constitutional amendment?
3. Describe what the first day of a term is like in the House.
4. Describe what the first day of a term is like in the Senate.
5. What are the 4 options that the President has when a bill passed by Congress lands on his desk?
6.
How are committee chairpersons typically chosen?
7. In the Vice President’s absence, who becomes the presiding officer of the Senate?
8. Which step of the bill process do most bills die at?
9. Why does Congress create committees?
10. How do conference committees act as a “third house of Congress”?
11. What is the purpose of a filibuster? What is the main way to end a filibuster? How many votes are
necessary to end a filibuster?
12. What committee determines how and when bills reach the floor of the House?
13. Are there limits on floor debate in the House? How about in the Senate?
14. Why do majority floor leaders have a lot of power?
15. Why doesn’t the majority party pass a bill to remove the filibuster rule in the Senate?
16. Why is a threat of a filibuster (stealth/silent) typically enough to force the majority party into amending
bill or killing it? In other words, why doesn’t the majority party force the minority party to hold the
floor (live filibuster)?
17. When a compromise bill worked on by a conference committee of House and Senate members is voted
on what is usually the result?
18. Why does the President deliver a State of the Union message every year?
19. Why is it such a big deal which party holds a majority of seats in each chamber of Congress?
20. What is a select committee? Why are they formed? How are its members chosen?
21. Which chamber of Congress is the only one that can propose bills dealing with raising money?
22. What is a discharge petition? Why is it seldom successful?
23. Why is it important that committee members be in touch with current public opinion (how the public
feels)?
24. What is a conference committee? What step are they in the process of a bill becoming a law?
25. What are 3 criticisms of the seniority rule? What are 3 reasons given by proponents of the rule to keep
it?
26. What 3 ways can the House Rules Committee play a large role in the legislative process?
Resolution
Rider
Discharge Petition
Quorum
Party Caucus
Filibuster
Joint Committee
Whip
Seniority Rule
President of the Senate
Speaker of the House
Floor Leader
Public Bills
Private Bills