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The Legislative Branch Unit 2 Test

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Unit 2 TestREVIEWING FACTS (3 points each) In the space provided, write the letter of the term that matches each description. Some answers will not be used.

C 1. Term for the situation in which the president holds a bill but does not sign it

D 2. Creating district lines that favor one party over another

J 3. Investigation of government agencies actions and programs

I 4. Distribute seats in the House of Representatives among the states

L 5. Majority of congresspersons that must be present to conduct business

K 6. Political group that has fewer seats in Congress

H 7. Permits the president to reject portions of a spending bill without rejecting the whole bill

F 8. Governments official count of the population

E 9. Needs to pass through a number of steps before it becomes a law

B 10. Enables members of Congress to send official mail without paying for postage

a. pork-barrel spending

b. franking privilege

c. pocket veto

d. gerrymandering

e. bill

f. census

g. majority party h. line-item veto i. apportion

j. oversight

k. minority party

l. quorum

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Unit 2 Test, ContinuedIDENTIFYING IDEAS (3 points each) In the space provided, write the term that is identified by each statement.

1. According to the Constitution, members of the Senate must be at least

30 years old.

2. Impeachment trials against government officials are held in the House of Representatives.

3. It would require a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress.

4. Congressional committee chairs usually are those who have the most

seniority.

5. Each house of Congress has standing, or permanent, committees.

6. For every policy under consideration, congress members must evaluate how it will affect their

district as well as the nation as a whole.

7. The framers thought that Congress was so important that they discussed it first in the Constitution.

8. Every state is allowed to have a minimum of one seat in the House.

9. The current number of senators is 100.

10. Neither the House nor the Senate may suspend the writ of habeas corpus.

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Unit 2 Test, ContinuedUNDERSTANDING IDEAS (3 points each) For each of the following, write the letter of the best choice in the space provided.

d 1. All of the following statements are true EXCEPTa. Congress oversees every aspect of government agencies.

b. many congressional investigations explore how an agency operates on a daily basis.

c. during the past 25 years, the number of congressional investigations has increased.

d. every congressional investigation is supervised by the president.

d 2. The size of the House of Representatives is determined by

a. the Constitution.

b. the Supreme Court.

c. Congress.

d. state legislatures.

b 3. How many sessions are there in each term of Congress?

a. one b. two c. six d. ten

a 4. Who is the most influential person in the House of Representatives?

a. the Speaker

b. the majority whip

c. the president pro tempored. the majority floor leader

d 5. In the absence of the vice president, the presiding officer of the Senate is

a. the president.

b. the Speaker.

c. the minority floor leader.

d. the president pro tempore.b 6. If congresspersons value the needs of people who elected them more than the needs of the entire country, then they are

a. valuing national interests over federal interests.

b. valuing local interests over federal interests.

c. valuing district interests over executive interests.

d. valuing the local voter over the electoral college.

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Unit 2 Test, Continued c 7. The two types of congressional committees are

a. accommodation and modification.

b. public and private.

c. appropriation and authorization.

d. federal and local.

d 8. Both houses of Congress are permitted to judge

a. the quality of members filibusters.

b. members behavior.

c. members family lives.

d. the voting records of committees.

b 9. How often is the census taken?

a. every year

b. every 10 years

c. once every six months

d. monthly

a10. All of the following are expressed powers of Congress EXCEPTa. passing ex post facto laws. b. establishing post offices. c. punishing piracy.

d. organizing a militia.

COMPOSING AN ESSAY (10 points) On a separate sheet of paper, write a brief essay in response to one of the following.

1. Explain why it is that congressional incumbents tend to be re-elected.

2. Identify and describe the six steps a bill must pass through before it becomes law.

1. Sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate seeking reelection have a better than (95%) likelihood of being reelected. Incumbents tend to win because they enjoy significant advantages over their challengers. This "incumbent advantage" in congressional elections has several reasons. Members of Congress are reelected because their constituents have not been provided with a compelling reason to vote for someone else. Sitting members of Congress are almost universally recognized in their districts. Having served in Congress for two years (House members) or six years (Senators) makes a sitting member of Congress something of a household name among his or her constituents. Moreover, members of the U.S. House and Senate have easy and ready access to the news media and make regular appearances on television and radio programs and are frequently mentioned in newspaper articles and editorials. To defend their strong positions further, sitting members of Congress enjoy the advantage of the large amounts of campaign contributions they are able to raise, especially in comparison to those who run against them. Each member of Congress has an office budget allotment which provides enough money to hire a sizable staff both in Washington, D.C. and back home in their states or districts. These staffers assist members in their efforts in a successful reelection campaign. In addition to money for staff, members of Congress also have travel allowances for trips between Washington and their constituencies as well as for trips inside their states or districts that they can use for their campaign. Their ability to send postage-free informational letters or announcements to their constituents on a regular basis is another benefit. In contrast, a candidate challenging an incumbent must generally figure out how to pay his or her bills while running for office. Many candidates are forced to go into debt, especially in the early stages of a campaign before he or she has raised much money. True, an under-funded candidate is limited in his or her ability to provide voters with such a reason, but when a member of Congress strays too far from the opinions and values of his or her constituents or becomes embroiled in controversy, challengers will find that they are able to raise more than enough money to make sure the voters know about such things and as a result challengers do get elected.