Chapter 4 The Legislative Branch Test Bank Docx

Chapter 4: The Legislative Branch

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The two major roles of members of Congress are ______.

a. agenda setting and lawmaking

b. policymaking and agenda setting

c. representation and lawmaking

d. constituency service and budget approval

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

2. A congressperson who votes for a law that provides subsidies to the farmers in his or her district is participating in ______.

a. policy representation

b. allocative representation

c. authoritative representation

d. symbolic representation

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

3. Which is a major difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate?

a. the types of representation available

b. the percentage of men to women

c. the degree they influence the president

d. the length of terms

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

4. Congress is ______.

a. more likely to engage in vigorous oversight when the presidency and Congress are controlled by the same party

b. more likely to engage in oversight when the public is not interested in the work of an agency

c. less likely to engage in oversight when the presidency and Congress are controlled by the same party

d. less likely to engage in oversight in an election year

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

5. ______ refers to a congressional committee’s monitoring of the executive branch and of government agencies to ensure they are acting as Congress intends.

a. A congressional witch hunt

b. A markup

c. Congressional oversight

d. Committee interference with executive prerogative

e. One of the enumerated powers of Congress

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

6. Which of the following is a check that Congress has on the executive branch?

a. the power to appoint individuals to federal judicial positions

b. the power to wage war

c. the power to set the agenda and address the United States

d. the power to impeach the president

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

7. During the constitutional process of removing a president from office, ______.

a. the Senate impeaches and the House removes the president from office

b. the two houses convene in joint session for all impeachment votes

c. the House impeaches and the Senate tries the official

d. representatives of the media are prohibited from entering the legislature’s chambers

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

8. Which is an example of congressional oversight?

a. an investigation into the attacks on September 11, 2001

b. the declaration of war in Iraq

c. the slow response to Hurricane Katrina

d. the death of a U.S. ambassador in Libya

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

9. Which power can be exercised only by the Senate?

a. voting to impeach a president

b. voting on a bill to become law

c. confirming presidential appointments to the Supreme Court

d. officially declaring war

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

10. The job of voting to impeach the president belongs to the ______.

a. judiciary

b. Cabinet

c. House of Representatives

d. Senate

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

11. The reallocation of congressional seats among the states every ten years, following the census, is known as ______.

a. malapportionment

b. reapportionment

c. gerrymandering

d. franking

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

12. The number of representatives with voting privileges in the House of Representatives ______.

a. is currently set at 435 members

b. will expand to 500 members in 2016

c. changes every ten years following the census

d. was frozen by the Twenty-Sixth Amendment

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

13. Which is an example of a check Congress has on the judicial branch?

a. reducing salaries of federal judges

b. determining if a law is constitutional

c. approving judicial appointments

d. approving the federal budget

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

14. The process of redrawing congressional districts to match population shifts in states with more than one representative is called ______.

a. restructuring

b. franking the membership

c. redistricting

d. gerrymandering

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

15. Partisan gerrymandering is the process in a particular state legislature whereby the majority party ______.

a. draws districts to maximize the number of House seats their party can win

b. promotes candidates who will most likely vote Republican

c. favors candidates who believe in a patriarchy

d. tries to keep the opposition party from voting

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

16. What has happened to the coattail effect in recent years?

a. It has been ignored by mainstream political scientists.

b. It has decreased in importance due to declining party ties.

c. It has become completely nonexistent because of declining party ties.

d. It has remained roughly as powerful as before.

Answer Location: 4.8: Who Runs and Who Wins: Does Congress Look Like America?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

17. It is generally most difficult to win the nomination of your party, but easiest to win the general election, when ______.

a. the seat is open

b. an incumbent of your party is running for reelection

c. an incumbent of the other party is running for reelection

d. a president of your party is very unpopular

Answer Location: 4.8: Who Runs and Who Wins: Does Congress Look Like America?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

18. In general, what has the greatest effect on the midterm losses suffered by the president’s party?

a. the economy and the president’s standing with the world public

b. how aggressively the Supreme Court has ruled against or for the president’s positions

c. the president’s standing with the public and the state of the economy

d. whether or not the president campaigns for reelection

Answer Location: 4.8: Who Runs and Who Wins: Does Congress Look Like America?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

19. What is redistricting?

a. drawing new district lines to accommodate the new number of seats they have and the shifts of population within the state so that the districts stay equal

b. drawing new district lines based on the race of those who reside in certain areas of the state for political gain

c. drawing new district lines based on the political partisanship of those who reside in certain areas of the state for political gain

d. redistributing seats based on population following the census

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

20. Which of the following statements concerning power in Congress is NOT true?

a. The Speaker of the House has become more powerful in the past thirty years.

b. Increasing bipartisanship has weakened the power of committee chairs.

c. The Senate majority leader is much less powerful than the Speaker of the House.

d. The Speaker’s office gained power when the Republicans took control of the House in 1994.

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

21. It has been increasingly difficult for the parties to work together in Congress in recent years because of ______.

a. the decreasing willingness of members to follow their party leaders

b. an increasing number of members who refuse to identify with either party

c. increasing party polarization and hyperpartisanship

d. the public’s decreasing attention to the actions of Congress

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

22. ______ are important in Congress because they organize the chambers.

a. Presidents

b. Senior staff

c. Parties

d. Standing committees

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

23. The major source of power for the Senate majority leader is ______.

a. control over the choice of committee chairs

b. the strict party discipline expected of members in floor voting

c. the ability to put holds on legislation favored by individual members

d. influence over the scheduling of legislation for floor consideration

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

24. The primary responsibility for gathering information, taking testimony, and revising legislation in Congress falls to ______.

a. the committee of the whole

b. the House Rules Committee

c. the majority party leadership

d. the standing committees

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

25. The greatest importance of standing committees is that they ______.

a. permit the leadership to control the legislative process

b. control the influence of lobbyists on the legislative process

c. are so powerful because they scrutinize, hold hearings on, amend, and often kill legislation

d. give the president more power in the legislative process than he would have otherwise

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

26. Which of the following is the extremely powerful congressional committee that determines when debate on a bill will take place?

a. the House Government Reform Committee

b. the House Ways and Means Committee

c. the House Rules Committee

d. the House Appropriations Committee

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

27. A representative who sought power within the House would likely want a seat on ______.

a. the House Rules Committee

b. as many joint committees as possible

c. the Standards of Official Conduct Committee

d. as many conference committees as possible

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

28. Congress makes use of ______ to increase its checks on the executive branch of government.

a. the Legislative Budget Board

b. conference committees

c. the Government Accountability Office

d. the Joint Authorization Task Force

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

29. When different versions of the same bill pass in the House and the Senate, ______.

a. the chamber that considered the bill originally should take the lead in resolving the differences

b. it dies immediately and both chambers must start over

c. a conference committee is formed to bridge the gap between the bills

d. the president appoints a mediator to negotiate an acceptable compromise

Answer Location: 4.5: Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

30. In recent years, the filibuster has ______.

a. been used much less frequently than in the past

b. become more likely to be used by bipartisan groups of opponents of civil rights legislation

c. become a tactic regularly used by the minority party to block proposals of the majority party

d. become a tactic regularly used by the majority party to block proposals of the minority party

Answer Location: 4.5 Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

31. Most bills introduced in Congress ______.

a. die by inaction at the committee stage

b. are voted down on the floor of the House or the Senate

c. are bottled up in the House Rules Committee

d. pass through both the House and the Senate

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organized Itself

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

32. How does the process of making a law begin?

a. when the people submit policies to a list either online or by mail

b. when senators vote for a policy from a list of options

c. when the president suggests policy to Congress

d. when a policy idea gets on the legislative agenda

Answer Location: 4.5: Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

33. What is reconciliation as it applies to lawmaking?

a. It is a legislative process that allows certain budgetary laws to pass with a simple majority in the Senate and with limited debate.

b. It is a legislative process by which members of congressional leadership may craft bills out of the public view.

c. It is a legislative process by which members of Congress pack bills with unrelated pieces of legislation to be voted on all at once.

d. It is a legislative process by which Congress may override a presidential veto by a simple majority in both chambers.

Answer Location: 4.5: Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

34. If Americans want Congress to quit creating pork barrel projects (also known as earmarks), they have to ______.

a. insist that their individual representatives be more responsive to local needs

b. pay closer attention to what their representatives are doing in Congress

c. reward their representatives more for engaging in national lawmaking and less for acts of representation

d. give more money to congressional campaigns

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

35. Congress finds it difficult to make policy that solves national problems because ______.

a. constituents reward them for taking care of their individual interests

b. they are in debt to special interests

c. government is inefficient

d. they are too interested in scoring political points

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

36. What is the minimum age requirement for someone to serve in the House of Representatives?

a. twenty

b. twenty-five

c. thirty

d. thirty-two

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

37. What is the primary purpose of the conference committee?

a. to focus on the basic policy areas that might benefit their constituencies

b. to provide rules for every bill, like how long it can be debated and how it can be amended

c. to cover the issues that fall outside a standing committee’s jurisdiction

d. to bring together two versions of the same bill into one so that it can be voted on

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

38. In which instance would the process of advice and consent be used?

a. during the confirmation hearing of a federal judicial appointment

b. during the redecorating of the White House by the first lady

c. during the selection of the president

d. during the selection of members on committees

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

39. A large bill that often has unrelated pieces of legislation within it is known as ______.

a. an earmark

b. omnibus legislation

c. unorthodox lawmaking

d. a filibuster

Answer Location: 4.5: Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

40. What was the outcome of Baker v. Carr (1962)?

a. Districts may have unequal numbers of constituents in districts.

b. Gerrymandering based on political party is permitted and may be encouraged.

c. Districts should have roughly equal numbers of constituents.

d. Illegal immigrants will not experience negative repercussions for participating in the census.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

True/False

1. The two most important functions of Congress are representation and lawmaking.

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

2. The founders created the congressional decision-making process to be fast.

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

3. Congressional oversight refers to a congressional committee’s monitoring of the executive branch and government agencies to ensure they are acting as Congress intends.

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

4. The Senate checks the executive branch through the approval of appointments to the Supreme Court.

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

5. The job of confirming presidential appointments belongs to the judiciary.

Answer Location: 4.4: The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.3: Understand the congressional role in checks and balances

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

6. The reallocation of congressional seats among the states every ten years, following the census, is known as gerrymandering.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

7. The number of representatives with voting privileges in the House of Representatives is currently set at 435 members.

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

8. After the census every ten years, House seats are reapportioned among the states to ensure that districts maintain population equality.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

9. The process of redrawing congressional districts to match population shifts in states with more than one representative is called reapportionment.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

10. Redrawing congressional district boundaries to favor a particular group or party is known as gerrymandering.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Easy

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

Short Answer

1. Briefly describe three ways in which the requirements or functions of the Senate differ from those of the House of Representatives.

Answer Location: 4.2: How the Constitution Structures Congress

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.1: Understand how the Constitution structures Congress

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

2. What are the four types of representation within Congress?

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

3. How would bipartisanship be beneficial to the processes within Congress?

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

4. Briefly define gerrymandering. How is gerrymandering seen as controversial?

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Medium

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

5. What was the outcome of Baker v. Carr (1962)?

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

Essay

1. Define the term hyperpartisanship and discuss why it has become more prevalent in modern American politics.

Answer Location: 4.6: Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.5: Understand the constitutional and political tensions that make it difficult for Congress to act quickly

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

2. Define racial gerrymandering and explain its current legal status.

Answer Location: 4.7: Congressional Elections

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.6: Understand how congressional elections work

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

3. Explain the role of the parties in Congress. How does party leadership differ between the two chambers and why? Explain recent trends in party leadership strength over time as well as the reasons for changing strength.

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

4. Discuss the committee system in Congress. What functions does the committee system perform? What are the types of committees, and how do they differ? What is the role of the chair, and how has the selection and power of the chair changed over the years? How are members chosen for committees, and how do they decide the committees on which they wish to serve?

Answer Location: 4.3: How Congress Organizes Itself

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.2: Understand how the institution organizes itself

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.

5. Explain the process of how a bill becomes a law. Specifically, highlight the many places where a bill may be sidetracked, fundamentally changed, or killed. How does this process fit with the founders’ intent concerning Congress?

Answer Location: 4.5: Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws

Cognitive Domain: Application

Learning Objective: 4.4: Understand how Congress makes laws

Difficulty Level: Hard

SAGE Course Outcome: Explain the main institutions of American government, including their roles and interrelationships.