How Congress Is Organized
This quiz is about how Congress is organized, how it works, congressional powers, and how a bill becomes law.
- 1.Describe the system that party leaders use to assign the committee chairperson and committee members? Does everyone like it and think it's fair? Who likes it? Who doesn't like it?
- 2.Describe how a bill is introduced. Who sometimes thinks of ideas for new laws and brings them to a congressman's attention? Who really writes the bill? After written, what the representative or senator have to do in front of Congress? And then where does he/she drop the bill? What is it then "given"? And then where does it go?
- 3.How many members are there in the Senate?
- A.
26
- B.
100.
- C.
65
- D.
435
- 4.How many members are there in the House of Representatives?
- A.
26
- B.
100
- C.
65
- D.
435.
- 5.Both the Senate and House of Representatives have two floor leaders to make sure that their own political party's laws get passed. What are the names of these floor leaders?
- A.
Majority leader
- B.
Minority leader
- C.
Party whip
- D.
Speaker of the House
- E.
A and B.
- 6.What is the difference between the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore?
- A.
The Speaker of the House is in charge of the Senate and House when they are in session.
- B.
The president pro tempore is in charge of the Senate and House when they are in session.
- C.
The Speaker of the House is in charge of the House when it is in session.
- D.
The president pro tempore is in charge of the Senate when it is in session.
- E.
C and D. The Speaker of the House is just in charge of the House. The president pro tempore is in charge of just the Senate.
- 7.How does one know if the majority leader or minority leader is a Republican or Democrat?
- A.
If there are more Democratic than Republican congressman, the majority leader will be Democratic.
- B.
If there are more Democratic than Republican congressman, the majority leader will be Republican.
- 8.What is the role of the party whip?
- A.
To report to the president pro tempore.
- B.
Try to persuade folks to vote their party's way and to keep track of how many votes they have on an issue.
- C.
To whip folks with a whip.
- D.
To report to the Speaker of the House.
- 9.How is the Speaker of the House selected?
- A.
Selected by members of their party.
- B.
The oldest person of their party.
- 10.How is the president pro tempore selected?
- A.
Selected by members of their party.
- B.
The oldest person of their party.
- 11.Congress has three types of committees which are _____________, _____________, and _________________.
- 12.Which committee is a permanent committee?
- A.
Standing
- B.
Joint
- C.
Select
- 13.Which committee type is a temporary committee?
- A.
Standing
- B.
Joint
- C.
Select
- 14.Who is the chairperson of the committee?
- A.
A Republican
- B.
A Democrat
- C.
A Democrat and Republican share the job to make it fair
- D.
Whoever has the majority in Congress gets to be the chairperson of the committee
- E.
They rotate between Democrat one year and then Republican the next year.
- 15.Why is it important to be the chairperson of a Standing, Select, or Joint Committee?
- A.
Because they get dinner and dessert for free.
- B.
Because they get to choose who is on their committee.
- C.
Because 100% of the committee will be from their political party.
- D.
Because the chairperson controls the committees activities and strongly influences decisions that people make.
- 16.What are the two types of powers that Congress has?
- A.
Expressed powers (or delegated powers)
- B.
Super powers.
- C.
Implied powers.
- D.
Austin Powers.
- E.
A and C.
- 17.Which powers are those that are given from Article 1 of the Constitution?
- A.
Expressed (or delegated) powers.
- B.
Implied powers.
- 18.What are implied powers?
- A.
Those listed out specifically in the Constitution in Article 1.
- B.
Those that are not stated directly and come from the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.
- C.
Those that come from the Declaration of Independance.
- 19.Which of these are non-legistative powers granted by the Constitution (hint: there are more than one)
- A.
Propose amendments.
- B.
Sentence people to jail.
- C.
Investigate.
- D.
Impeach.
- E.
Veto laws.
- 20.Which of the below is a special power of Congress?
- A.
The Senate has the ability act as the jury for impeachment trials.
- B.
The House has the ability to introduce tax bills.
- C.
The House has the ability to chose the President is no candidate wins a majority by Electoral College.
- D.
The Senate has the ability to approve or reject the President's appointments of certain high government officials.
- E.
All of the above.
- 21.What are some basic limits to congressional power in the Constitution?
- A.
Can't create new amendments, can't impeach the President, can't place term limits on Congressment
- B.
Can't favor one state, can't interfere with certain individual rights, limitation of the money available to spend, checks and balances.
- C.
Can't borrow money, can't tax people, can't create an army, can't declare war, can't set up a postal system
- D.
Can't create federal courts, can't create treaties with other countries, can't regulate commerce,
- 22.When a committee gets a bill, what are their options?
- A.
To kill it (look at it and not like it right there and stop it).
- B.
To pigeonhole it (or set it aside without even looking at it).
- C.
Send the bill to subcommittee as it is written or "as is".
- D.
Send the bill to subcommittee with changes.
- E.
All of the above.
- 23.When a committee gives a bill to a subcommittee, the subcommittee then
- A.
Researches the issue, makes changes, and send it on to Congress.
- B.
Researches the issue, holds public hearings, makes changes if necessary, and sends it on to Congress.
- C.
Researches the issue, holds public hearings, makes changes if necessary, and sends it back to committee
- D.
Researches the issue, makes changes, and send it on to the President.
- 24.Which area of Congress has very formal rules for debating a bill? Why?
- A.
Republicans, because they are usuallly more conservative.
- B.
Senate because the are more special than the House of Representatives.
- C.
House of Representatives, because they are typically younger and fight more.
- D.
House of Representatives, because there are more of them and it's more difficult to have ordered debate with more people.
- 25.In which area of Congress are members allowed to speak freely at the podium to debate an issue for an unlimited period of time?
- A.
Senate
- B.
House
Questions: 10 | Attempts: 200 | Last updated: Mar 19, 2022
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