Exam Prep Chapter 8 Congressional Rules And Procedures - Complete Test Bank | Congress and Its Members 17e by Roger H. Davidson. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 8: Congressional Rules and Procedures
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following steps comes first in the lawmaking process?
A. floor debate
B. report from committee
C. introduction into the House or Senate
D. conference committee
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Referral of Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. In the House, bills that raise or spend money are assigned to the ______.
A. Union Calendar
B. House Calendar
C. Senate Calendar
D. Private Calendar
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Scheduling in the House
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. What does a waiver from the Rules Committee accomplish?
A. requires an up-or-down vote after three hours of debate on the floor of the House
B. sets aside technical violations of the rules to allow bills to reach the floor
C. waives the requirement of tax bills originating in the House
D. forces a committee to report a bill favorably
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Types of Rules
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. Which of these procedures is the most common way to pass bills in the House?
A. structured rules
B. suspension of the rules
C. cloture
D. unanimous consent
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Shortcuts for Minor Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
5. Which of the following types of bills are considered “privileged” in the House and granted privileged access to the floor?
A. judicial appointments
B. labor and workforce
C. commemorative holidays
D. appropriations
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Shortcuts for Minor Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Which House committee is considered the “traffic cop” of the House floor?
A. Rules
B. Ways and Means
C. Ethics
D. Appropriations
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Arm of the Majority Leadership
Difficulty Level: Easy
7. Which of the following is true of a structured or restricted rule?
A. No amendments may be considered on the House floor.
B. Amendments must be approved in advance by the Rules Committee.
C. Debate is strictly limited to two hours for each party.
D. Only party leadership may offer amendments on the House floor.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Emergence of Creative Rules
Difficulty Level: Medium
8. All of the following are types of rules granted by the Rules Committee EXCEPT ______.
A. open
B. amended
C. closed
D. modified
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Types of Rules
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. During general debate on the House floor, which of the following is true?
A. Members engage in extensive back-and-forth exchanges.
B. The majority party receives twice as much time to present its case.
C. Most legislators read prepared speech.
D. Amendments are voted on.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: General Debate
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. Which of these is the most common or important way for bills to reach the floor of the Senate?
A. scheduling by the chair
B. special rule from the Rules Committee
C. discharge petition
D. unanimous consent
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Unanimous-Consent Agreements
Difficulty Level: Easy
True/False
1. Minority party members are more likely than majority party members to sign a discharge petition.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Dislodging a Bill from Committee
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Most House business is conducted Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to accommodate members traveling home to their districts.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: House Floor Procedures
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. Only members of Congress can introduce legislation.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction of Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. The House is required to debate legislation once it is placed on an official calendar.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Scheduling in the House
Difficulty Level: Easy
5. Only members of Congress can draft legislation.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Drafting
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Members of the minority party typically prefer restrictive rules when bringing legislation to the floor.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Strategic Role of the Committee on Rules
Difficulty Level: Easy
7. Everything in politics is timing.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Timing
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. Members try to draft bill language so their bills will be referred to a friendly committee.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Drafting
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. Lawmaking is a simple, yet, time insensitive process.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Referral of Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. The rise of partisan acrimony triggered an increase in traditional rules.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Emergence of Creative Rules
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. Only House members are permitted to offer nongermane amendments on the floor; this practice is prohibited in the Senate.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Ways to Extract Bills from Committee
Difficulty Level: Easy
12. The Senate’s rules emphasize individual prerogatives and minority rights.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Scheduling in the Senate
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. In the modern Senate, even the threat of a filibuster is sufficient to block action on many bills or nominations.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Holds, Filibusters, and Cloture
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. Filibusters are most effective late in the legislative session because there may not be sufficient time to break it.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Holds, Filibusters, and Cloture
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. The amending process is the heart of decision-making on the floor of the House.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Amending Phase
Difficulty Level: Easy
Essay
1. What is a hold, and how does it fit with the norm of individualism in the Senate?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Holds
Difficulty Level: Medium
2. How does the cluster voting rule relate to the idea of the “two Congresses?”
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Shortcuts for Minor Bills
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. Congress has been described as a “procedural obstacle course.” What does this description mean?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Congressional Rules and Procedures
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. How can the Senate obtain floor action when a bill is blocked in committee?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Ways to Extract Bills from Committee
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. How does an open rule differ from a closed rule?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Types of Rules
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. Why do members of Congress introduce legislation? Outline the three broad categories and give an example of each.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Introduction of Bills
Difficulty Level: Hard
7. How do elections influence the timing of legislation?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Timing
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. How might the amendment process in the House have electoral consequences?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Amending Phase
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. Why has the creative use of complex rules expanded in recent years?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Strategic Role of the Committee on Rules
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. Why has the number of bills passed by Congress declined in recent years?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Referral of Bills
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. How has the role of the Rules Committee changed over Congress’s history?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Strategic Role of the Committee on Rules
Difficulty Level: Medium
12. What recourse do House members have if a committee refuses to report a bill? Are these methods effective?
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Dislodging a Bill from Committee
Difficulty Level: Medium
13. What are the six steps observed for passing a major bill in the House?
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: House Floor Procedures
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. Why are rules from the Rules Committee rarely defeated on the House floor?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Adoption of the Rule
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Identify a recent bill passed by Congress. Use Thomas.gov to track how the bill progressed through both chambers. Which committees was it referred to? What rules was it considered under? How did procedural concerns shape the progress of the bill through the chambers?
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Various
Difficulty Level: Hard
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Complete Test Bank | Congress and Its Members 17e
By Roger H. Davidson