Chapter 11 Quiz

Question 1

Incumbents

Answer 1

Those individuals who already hold office. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win.

Question 2

Casework

Answer 2

Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals, particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get.

Question 3

Pork barrel

Answer 3

Federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local govern-ments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district.

Question 4

Baker VS. Carr

Answer 4

The 1962 Supreme Court ruling that allowed federal courts to review the boundaries of legislative districts.

Question 5

Bicameral Legsilature

Answer 5

A legislature divided into two houses.
The U.S. Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska’s are bicameral.

Question 6

Speaker of the house

Answer 6

An office mandated by the Constitution.
The Speaker is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line (after the vice president) to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant.

Question 7

Majority leader

Answer 7

The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House or the majority party’s manager in the Senate. The majority leader in each house is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes on behalf of the party’s legislative positions.

Question 8

Whips

Answer 8

Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to the passage of a bill favored by the party.

Question 9

Minority leader

Answer 9

The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate.

Question 10

Committee Chairs

Answer 10

The most important influencers of their committees’ agendas, committee chairs play the dominant roles in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house.

Question 11

Seniority system

Answer 11

A simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. The member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled the chamber became chair, regardless of party loyalty, mental state, or competence.

Question 12

Caucus (congressional)

Answer 12

A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic.
Many are composed of members from both parties and from both houses.

Question 13

Bill

Answer 13

A proposed law, drafted in legal language. Anyone can draft a bill, but only a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration.

Question 14

Legislative oversight

Answer 14

Congress’s monitoring of the executive branch bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly through committee hearings.

Question 15

Filibuster

Answer 15

A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Sixty members present and voting can halt a filibuster on legislation.

Question 16

Shaw V Reno

Answer 16

the justices decided that using racial reasons for redistricting is unconstitutional.