Trivia Questions On US Government And Politics! Quiz

Register bills to be introduced on the floor and schedule debate

Handle proposed legislation that deals with more than one area of policy

Work out compromises between House and Senate versions of bills

Combine members of both the House and Senate to consider overlapping policy areas

Educate the public about the activities of Congress

Incumbents spend more money than do challengers

Incumbents can brag about federal spending projects in their districts

Incumbents can increase visibility among their constituents by using the franking privilege

Incumbents provide casework for their constituents

Challengers have a clean political record, and incumbents do not

In extreme cases, Congress can cut agency budgets in order to secure compliance with Congressional wishes.

Congress keeps tabs on more routine activities of the executive branch through its committee staff members.

There are few political payoffs for carefully watching a government agency if it is implementing policy properly.

Since the 1970s, Congress has substantially decreased its oversight activities.

It serves as a Congressional check on the executive branch.

III only

I and III only

II and III only

I, II, and IV only

I, III, and V only

Conducting oversight

Filibustering

Introducing another bill

Holding hearings

Logrolling

Along party lines

According to their personal ideology

In a presidential coalition

In keeping with the needs of their constituency

According to the pressures of lobbyists

Senate

House appropriate subcommittee

President

House floor for debate

House Rules Committee

Power is more decentralized in the Senate

The filibuster is more common in the House than in the Senate

The Senate allows twice as much time for debate on a bill than does the House

Members of the House have large constituencies

The legislative process starts in the House, the Senate can only debate bills once the House has passed them

The majority party controls all of the seats on a majority of the committees

Both political parties became more extreme and more homogenous

Both political parties moderated, taking policy positions closer to the median voter

The House operates on a nonpartisan basis while the Senate is heavily partisan

Political parties are much weaker and disjointed than they were 30 years ago

Extremely important, and increasingly so

Moderately important, even though party identification is not as strong as it used to be

Slightly important in a few districts, not important in most others

Not important at all, and never really has been

Much less significant than in presidential campaigns