Chapter 14: Congress, Budgets, and Domestic Policy Making

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. What was the central issue of disagreement during the budget battle and government shutdown of 2019?

A. funding to build a wall on the southern border

B. introduction of new environmental regulations

C. spending on the Pentagon and other defense items

D. tax breaks related to education and home mortgages

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Congress, Budgets, and Domestic Policy Making

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. All of the following are typical steps in the policymaking process EXCEPT ______.

A. setting the agenda

B. fund-raising

C. formulating policy

D. implementation

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Stages of Policy Making

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following is an example of an activity that would occur during the agenda-setting stage of policymaking?

A. President Obama signs the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act into law.

B. The Energy Committee holds several hearings on renewable energy.

C. A landslide election shifts attention to the nation’s mounting deficit and debt.

D. A blue-ribbon commission is appointed to explore possible solutions to climate change.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Setting the Agenda

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Which of the following is an example of an activity that would occur during the policy formulation stage of policymaking?

A. The Food and Drug Administration approves a new drug for over-the-counter sales.

B. Events in Ferguson bring attention to the issue of demilitarizing the police.

C. President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act into law.

D. Congress funds several pilot projects testing various types of school vouchers.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Formulating Policy

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Which of the following is an example of an activity that would occur during the policy adoption stage of policymaking?

A. President Bush signs No Child Left Behind into law.

B. The Senate holds hearings on the implementation of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

C. A policy entrepreneur tries to get other members to consider legislation addressing climate change.

D. The Agriculture Committee writes a report on farm subsidies.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Adopting Policy

Difficulty Level: Medium:

6. Which of the following is an example of an activity that would occur during the implementation stage of policymaking?

A. The US Department of Health and Human Services rules that birth control will be covered as a preventative service under the Affordable Care Act.

B. The Senate votes in favor of the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act after a lengthy filibuster.

C. The Homeland Security Committee holds hearings on Pentagon funding.

D. A landslide election shifts attention to the nation’s mounting deficit and debt.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Implementing Policy

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Which of the following is an example of a distributive policy?

A. a regulation providing for the testing of new drugs before they are sold

B. a bill establishing new national parks and historic sites

C. an increase in taxes for individuals earning over $100,000

D. spending on Medicaid

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Distributive Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which of the following is an example of a regulatory policy?

A. earmarks

B. funding for academic research at MIT

C. a prohibition on deceptive advertising

D. spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Regulatory Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Which of the following is an example of a redistributive policy?

A. a limit on the amount of pollutants a factory can produce

B. funding to build a bridge

C. regulations of the banking industry

D. an increase in taxes for individuals earning over $100,000

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Redistributive Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Which of the following is an example of an unfunded mandate?

A. No Child Left Behind

B. Iraq War Resolution

C. creation of the Environmental Protection Agency

D. a bill raising taxes on the top 1 percent of earners

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Localism

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which of these is an example of mandatory (or entitlement) spending?

A. funding for the FDA

B. Social Security

C. No Child Left Behind

D. child nutrition programs

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Challenge of Entitlements

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Which of the following is accomplished by a budget resolution?

A. cuts taxes

B. limits the funds that can be allocated to entitlement spending

C. establishes spending priorities

D. reduces the national debt

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Concurrent Budget Resolution

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which of these is an example of discretionary spending?

A. unemployment benefits

B. Medicare

C. NASA

D. food stamps

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Challenge of Entitlements

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Which of these is an example of a tax expenditure?

A. salaries for federal judges

B. funding for the Human Genome Project

C. food stamps

D. the home mortgage interest deduction

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Tax Expenditures

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. A budget resolution acts as a “fiscal blueprint” for Congress by establishing the context of congressional budgeting.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Concurrent Budget Resolution

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. The Congressional Budget Office is a nonpartisan office that prepares economic forecasts for Congress.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The 1974 Budget Act

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Budget resolutions do not need the president’s signature because they have no binding legal effect.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Concurrent Budget Resolution

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Policy implementation is usually the first step in the policymaking process.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Implementing Policy

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Entitlements make up about two thirds of all federal spending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Challenge of Entitlements

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Redistributive policies are typically the least controversial and result in little partisan conflict.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Redistributive Policies

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Sequestration is a process by which Senators can hold budget proposals “hostage” until their demands for earmarks are met.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Revised Budget Process

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Earmark reform led to the elimination of pork and other earmarks in congressional legislation.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Earmark Reform

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Congressional oversight is typically part of the implementation stage of policymaking.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Implementing Policy

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Appropriation bills are constitutionally required to start in the House of Representatives.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Authorizations and Appropriations

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. What happened to the surpluses from 1998 to 2002?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Revised Budget Process

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is the difference between PAYGO and CUTGO?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Revised Budget Process

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. What is reconciliation? Why is it particularly important in the Senate?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Reconciliation

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What are tax expenditures and who is most likely to benefit from them?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Tax Expenditures

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What is the difference between an authorization and an appropriation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Authorizations and Appropriations

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Why is interest on the national debt a budget problem, and why has it been so difficult to solve?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Interest on the Debt

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. What is symbolic policymaking and why does Congress make this type of policy?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Symbolic Policy Making

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. What were the most important features of the 1974 Budget Act?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The 1974 Budget Act

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Why has Congress relied on continuing resolutions to fund government in recent years?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Concurrent Budget Resolution

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. What is a policy window? Give a specific example of one policy window.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Adopting Policy

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. What is the difference between discretionary and mandatory spending?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Congressional Budgeting

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Why are entitlements so difficult to control or cut?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Challenge of Entitlements

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Identify and describe the four stages of policymaking.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stages of Policy Making

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. What are the three major categories of domestic policies? Give a specific example of each.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Domestic Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. What was the purpose of earmark reform? Was it successful?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Earmark Reform

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. What are some of the costs and benefits of earmarks?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distributive Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. How does bicameralism influence congressional decision-making?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Bicameralism

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. Trace a recent policy through each of the four steps of the policymaking process. Which hurdle seemed to be most difficult to overcome for this policy to actually take effect? (Note: Depending on the level of the students, the professor may wish to provide a list of possible policies to choose from.)

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Various

Difficulty Level: Hard