Chapter 7: Committees: Workshops of Congress

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is an example of the informational theory of committees?

A. A member on the Agriculture Committee fights for subsidies for cotton farmers in her district.

B. After spending many years on the Foreign Affairs Committee, a member becomes an expert on trade issues with China.

C. A member of the Budget Committee adds extra provisions that benefit his district.

D. A Democrat on the Judiciary Committee fights to win approval for Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Purposes of Committees

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Which of the following is an example of the distributive theory of committees?

A. Because of his background in finance, a member is appointed to the Financial Services Committee.

B. A member on the Public Works Committee fights for a new water treatment plant in her district.

C. A Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigates a scandal in the Secretary of State’s office.

D. A small business owner lobbies to join the Small Business Committee because of his personal experiences with this issue.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Purposes of Committees

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following is an example of the partisan theory of committees?

A. A member on the Armed Services Committee fights for increased funding for the military base in her district.

B. A former astronaut is appointed to the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

C. A Republican votes to support a bill introduced by his party’s leadership.

D. The Financial Services Committee holds hearings on financial regulations after problems in the banking industry.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Purposes of Committees

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Who gets to decide how many seats the minority party gets on each committee in the House of Representatives?

A. the president

B. congressional rules

C. the majority party

D. the minority party

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sizes and Ratios

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What are select committees?

A. committees with members selected by the party leadership

B. small committees with limited membership

C. exclusive committees with significant competition for membership

D. temporary committees created for a specific purpose or group

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Select, or Special, Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. All of the following are types of committees in Congress EXCEPT ______.

A. joint

B. select

C. standing

D. partisan

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Committees

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Which of the following is true of joint committees?

A. They contain members of both chambers.

B. They are limited to Republicans only.

C. All members are appointed by the Speaker of the House.

D. They are typically short-lived, lasting one to two weeks.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Joint Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. What is the most desirable committee assignment in the House?

A. Agriculture

B. Ways and Means

C. Armed Services

D. Foreign Affairs

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Pecking Order

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which of these committee assignments seems to be least popular among members?

A. Education and the Workforce

B. Finance

C. Appropriations

D. Ethics

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Pecking Order

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Which of the following is a formal rule that guides House committee assignments?

A. Assignments need not follow seniority.

B. Assignments must give priority to senior members.

C. Party loyalty should be considered in making assignments.

D. Assignments must take electoral considerations into account.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Formal Criteria

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Witnesses typically testify in front of a panel of committee members during which of the following steps?

A. hearings

B. refer to president

C. markups

D. reports

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Where Bills Go

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. All of the following are a purpose of committee hearings EXCEPT ______.

A. raise visibility of an issue

B. stake out committee jurisdictions

C. publicize the role of the committee chair

D. record the final vote on a bill

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Where Bills Go

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which of the following statements pertaining to committee staff is true?

A. Committee staff members are active in outside communications and issue networks.

B. Committee members are not allowed to accompany their Congress member to the floor.

C. Committee staff members always make policy decisions.

D. Committee staff members are not allowed to negotiate with lobbyists.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Committee Staff

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Which of the following is a nonpartisan legislative support agency that provides information to members of Congress?

A. Ways and Means Committee

B. Government Accountability Office

C. State Department

D. Democratic National Committee

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Committee Staff

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Committee chairs in the modern Congress are powerful and almost completely independent from party leaders.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Constricting the Authority of Committee Chairs

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. It has become more common to bypass committee consideration in recent years.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Bypassing Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The Congressional Research Service operates under strict rules of nonpartisanship.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Committee Staff

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. A committee report is created only if the full committee votes to send the bill to the House or Senate.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Reports

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. According to the informational theory of committees, the purpose of committees is to provide expertise to Congress as a whole.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Purposes of Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Standing committees process the majority of Congress’s daily and annual agenda.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Standing Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Committee assignments are made solely on the basis of seniority.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Assignment Process

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The circumvention of committees reflects the dominance of party power over committee power.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Bypassing Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Republicans, but not Democrats, have term limits for committee leaders in the Senate.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Party Task Forces and “Gangs”

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Party task forces are formed to promote party priorities.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Party Task Forces and “Gangs”

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Each policy area is assigned exclusively to only one committee.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Assignment Process

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Multiple referrals are more common in the House than in the Senate.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Multiple Referrals

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Multiple referrals can be employed to slow down legislative decision-making.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Multiple Referrals

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. How do party leaders balance informal criteria in making committee assignments?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Informal Criteria

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. What are the duties and responsibilities of committee chairs?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Committee Leadership

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Seniority used to be the rule in selecting committee chairs. Which factors are more important today?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Constricting the Authority of Committee Chairs

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What are the purposes of committee hearings?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hearings

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What are some of the costs and benefits of overlapping jurisdictions?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Overlapping Jurisdictions

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. How has the committee system evolved over time?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Evolution of the Committee System

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Committees serve two broad purposes: individual and institutional. Define these purposes and give an example of a situation that illustrates each purpose.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Committees: Workshops of Congress

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. What is meant by the “safety valve” function of congressional committees?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Committees: Workshops of Congress

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which goals of lawmakers influence the committee assignments sought by members? Give an example of how these goals might influence a committee assignment in a specific case.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Preferences and Politicking

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Legislation must be passed by the House and Senate in identical form before being signed by the president. How does Congress reconcile differences in House and Senate bills before sending them to the president?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conference Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Why are select committees created?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Select, or Special, Committees

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Scholars have developed three major theories for explaining the development of the committee system. Compare and contrast these three theories and explain which you think is most relevant to the modern Congress.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Purposes of Committees

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. How does the policy environment influence committees? Which of these influences do you view as most important in the modern Congress?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Policy Environment

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Select a House or Senate committee of interest to you. Do the members seem to have been appointed for distributive, informational, or partisan purposes? What types of activities have the committee recently engaged in, and how do these fit with the different purposes of congressional committees?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Various

Difficulty Level: Hard