Congress

Question 1

Census

Answer 1

Occurs every 10 years and is used to count the population for each in order to correctly reapportion seats in the House of Representatives

Question 2

Congressional Redistricting

Answer 2

Is done by each state legislature; therefore, the political party in each state controls how the districts are drawn

Question 3

Gerrymander

Answer 3

The legislature will do this to district boundaries in order to give the current party a advantage in future state elections

Question 4

Congressional Elections

Answer 4

• Elections for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives occur every two years
• Elections for 1/3 of the Senate seats occurs every two years (Terms last for six years)

Question 5

Smith v. Allwright (1944)

Answer 5

Court case ruling that denying African Americans the right to vote in a primary election is a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment

Question 6

Wesberry v. Sanders (1963)

Answer 6

Court case ruling that ordered House Districts are to be as equal as possible (“One man, one vote”)

Question 7

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Answer 7

Court case ruling that giving money to a political campaign was a form of free speech and threw out some stringent federal regulations on fund-raising and election spending

Question 8

Shaw v. Reno (1993) and Miller v. Johnson (1995)

Answer 8

Court case ruling that race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative district boundaries

Question 9

U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995)

Answer 9

Court case ruling that states cannot set term limits on members of Congress

Question 10

Bush v. Gore (2000)

Answer 10

Court case ruling that Florida’s recount in the election of 2000 was ruled to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause

Question 11

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 11

Increased minority representation in Congress

Question 12

House Ways and Means Committee

Answer 12

Oversees taxing and spending legislation (House of Representatives)

Question 13

Non-Legislative Tasks of Congress

Answer 13

Three Tasks:

• Oversight
• Public Education
• Representing Constituents Within The Government

Question 14

Sponsor of the Bill

Answer 14

The member of Congress who introduces the bill

Question 15

Rules Committee

Answer 15

Responsible for determining how long a bill will be debated and whether to allow an open or closed rule for amending the bill (House of Representatives)

Question 16

Poison-Pill Amenments

Answer 16

an amendment to a legislative bill that considerably weakens the bill’s intended effect, or ruins the bill’s chances of passing (The Rules Committee can make it easy for opponents to add these to a bill if they want to get rid of the bill)

Question 17

Filibuster

Answer 17

A tactic used to delay a vote on a bill and tie up the work of the Senate (Occurs traditionally by a Senator giving a speech that may last hours)

Question 18

Cloture

Answer 18

The only way to end a filibuster and requires the votes of 60 members, which is difficult to get if both parties are equally represented

Question 19

Pork Barrels

Answer 19

Projects designed to bring federal money back to the home state or in other words the Senators are “Bringing home the bacon” and increases the chances of them getting reelected

Question 20

Earmarks

Answer 20

Provisions within a legislation that appropriate money to a specific project

Question 21

Pocket Veto

Answer 21

Ability of the President to veto a law by not signing it after ten days (If Congress is not in session, if it is, then the bill will become law)

Question 22

Line-Item Veto

Answer 22

Empowers the President to veto individual parts of a bill (Struck down by Clinton v. New York City)

Question 23

Clinton v. New York City

Answer 23

Court case ruling that struck down the line-item veto power of the President and declared unconstitutional

Question 24

INS v. Chadha (1983)

Answer 24

Court case ruling that prevented Congress from having the ability to veto Presidential actions by a vote of one or both houses

Question 25

Standing Committees

Answer 25

Are permanent, specialized committees

Question 26

Joint Committees

Answer 26

Are made up of members of both the House and the Senate and are used to communicate to the public or for investigations and generally do not send bills to either house

Question 27

Select Committees

Answer 27

Temporary Committees organized in each house for a special purpose and usually carry out investigations for the purpose of writing special legislation

Question 28

Conference Committees

Answer 28

Are temporary and include members from the committees of the two houses that were responsible for writing the bill (Try to negotiate a compromise bill that will appease both Houses)

Question 29

Pigeonholed

Answer 29

When a bill is stuck in a House or Senate committee

Question 30

Discharge Petition

Answer 30

The mechanism to force a bill out of a committee for a floor vote

Question 31

Speaker of the House

Answer 31

Leader of the House of Representatives (Voted by the majority party in a special election)

Question 32

Majority Leader of the House

Answer 32

Keeps party members in line and helps determine the party’s legislative agenda

Question 33

Minority Leader of the House

Answer 33

Keeps the minority party members in line and helps determine the minority party’s legislative agenda

Question 34

President Pro Tempore

Answer 34

Is the presiding officer when the Vice President is absent during Senate sessions (Given to the most senior member of the majority party)

Question 35

Northwest Ordinance (1787, 1789)

Answer 35

Provides clear guidelines for the settlement of new territories and a path to statehood (Success of the Articles of Confederation)

Question 36

Pendleton Act (1883)

Answer 36

Eliminated the spoils system of patronage in selection for government jobs and set up an exam based merit system for qualified candidates

Question 37

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

Answer 37

Provides Congress with authority to regulate and break up monopolies/trusts in the United States (Was abused to break up labor unions)

Question 38

Hatch Act (1939)

Answer 38

Permits government employees to vote in government elections but forbids them from participating in partisan politics

Question 39

Freedom of Information Act (1966)

Answer 39

Declassifies government documents for public use

Question 40

Air Quality Act (1967)

Answer 40

The beginning of a series of acts to regulate impacts on the environment

Question 41

Federal Election Campaign Acts (1971, 1974)

Answer 41

Established the Federal Election Commission and requires disclosures of contributions and expenditures, as well as limitations on contributions and presidential election expenditures

Question 42

War Powers Act (1973)

Answer 42

Limits the President’s power to use troops overseas in hostilities, puts a time limit on use and gives Congress final power to withdraw troops

Question 43

Budge and Impoundment Control Act (1974)

Answer 43

Established congressional budget committees and the Congressional Budget Office, as gives Congress the power to prevent the President from refusing to fund congressional initiatives

Question 44

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Bill (1985)

Answer 44

Sets budget reduction targets to balance budget but fails to eliminate loopholes

Question 45

Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917-1918)

Answer 45

Severely curtailed the civil liberties of Americans during wartime and greatly increased the power of the federal government in controlling public activity (Sedition Act was repealed in 1921)

Question 46

Immigration Act (1924)

Answer 46

Stringently limits the number of immigrants admitted into the United States and sets strict quotas for entry

Question 47

Voting Rights Act (1965)

Answer 47

Suspended literacy tests, empowered federal officials to register voters, and prohibited states from changing voting procedures without federal permission

Question 48

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

Answer 48

Banned age discrimination in jobs unless age is related to job performance

Question 49

Civil Rights Act/Fair Housing Act (1968)

Answer 49

Title II banned discrimination in public places on the basis of race, color, national origin, or religion; and Title VII prohibited employment discrimination based on gender

Question 50

Title IX Education Act (1972)

Answer 50

Prohibited gender discrimination in federally funded education programs

Question 51

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Answer 51

Protected civil liberties of disabled Americans and mandated “reasonable accommodations” to public facility use

Question 52

National Voter Registration Act/Motor Voter Act (1993)

Answer 52

Law that allows people to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license

Question 53

The Patriot Act (2001)

Answer 53

Congress granted broad police authority to federal, state, and local government to interdict, prosecute, and convict suspected terrorists (In response to 9/11 and used to be known as the USA-PATRIOT Act)

Question 54

New Deal Legislation (1933-1939)

Answer 54

Legislation that expanded the role of government in the economy and society (Created Social Security, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority)

Question 55

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996)

Answer 55

Law that seeks to increase the role of personal responsibility in welfare recipients and shifted many responsibilities for welfare provision to state governments

Question 56

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act/McCain-Feingold Bill (2002)

Answer 56

Law that bans soft money contributions to national political parties and raised hard money limits to $2,000 (Several provisions were struck down after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010))