Most scholars agree that the legislative output of Congress declined during in recent decades.
The Supreme Court upheld Senator Mike Gravel’s reading of the Pentagon Papers—some then-secret government documents about the Vietnam War—into the Congressional Record because
The November 2012 elections brought __________ first-term members to the House of Representatives.
It can be said that most Americans trust the Supreme Court, respect the presidency (whether or not you like the president), and dislike Congress.
From 1890 to 1910, about __________ of all votes in Congress evoked a partisan split.
A marginal district is one in which
Political scientist Richard F. Fenno described this paradox about Congress:
Individual members of the House have more power than those in the Senate.
In general, Senate leaders have more power than House leaders.
If you wished to study the real leadership office in the Senate, you would most likely focus on the
One proposed explanation for why congressional seats have become less marginal is that
The influence of political parties in Congress has decreased, and ideology has become more important.
The conservative coalition consisted of Western Democrats and Republicans.
Originally, members of the Senate were selected by
The principal work of Congress is
In the 20th century, committee chairs have dominated the work of Congress.
Rule 22 was the first attempt to restrict the filibuster.
The Constitution states that the president must spend all the money that Congress appropriates.
Since Washington, only one-third of presidents have been elected for a second term.
Andrew Jackson established the precedent that a president’s veto can be used
If a president has a particular attitude about how a piece of legislation might be implemented, he/she might issue a(n)
The cabinet officers are the heads of
The only official task of the vice president is to preside over the Senate and to vote in cases of a tie.
The Electoral College protected small states by giving each state at least one electoral vote.
The first plan suggested at the Constitutional Convention called for the president to be chosen by
This method of staff organization poses the risk of isolating or misinforming the president.
More than twenty-five hundred presidential vetoes have been made since 1789. Congress has overridden approximately what percentage of these?
Which individual described the business of the president as “usually not much above routine” and mostly “mere administration”?
From the time of winning office to the time of leaving it, the popularity of most recent presidents
Andrew Jackson did not initiate many new policies, but did strike down the ones he did not like.
How successful presidents are with legislation in Congress is difficult to gauge because presidents
According to presidential scholar Richard Neustadt, the president’s most important audience is
A bill is passed to the president for action while Congress is still in session. After ten days he or she has still not approved it. What happens to the bill?
Duplication occurs when two government agencies seem to be doing the same thing.
An agency cannot spend any money without approval from
The text argues that many of the problems of bureaucracy in government arise from its
The iron triangle is a relationship between an agency, a committee, and an issue network.
Perhaps the most significant constraint on bureaucratic power is the necessity to follow procedures set down in laws.
Scholar Donald F. Kettl termed the “Mildred Paradox” to describe
A laissez-faire economy
Periodically, the size of the bureaucracy has grown substantially. These times of growth have generally occurred during
Between 1816 and 1861, the number of federal employees increased eightfold, in large part because of
Iron triangles are less common today than they once were because
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was the first federal bureaucratic agency that exercised broad regulatory authority over the economy.
The definition of bureaucracy includes all of the following notions EXCEPT
Many agencies are created without congressional approval.
Today, the federal government contains how many cabinet departments?
One of the major constraints under which government agencies operate is the
A dramatic increase in size of the federal bureaucracy occurred during the twentieth century, largely as a consequence of
During the early years of the federal government, this department held most of the power.
Set 2
Congress is constitutionally independent of the president, meaning its members are not tightly disciplined by party leaders, and are free to express their views and vote as they wish.
Public approval of Congress has increased since 2000.
Until 1995, Congress passed many laws that
The __________system is now electronic and permits each House member to record his or her vote and learn the total automatically.
Conference reports are typically accepted by both chambers.
A bill can be introduced by
If you wanted to know what a member of Congress really thinks about a bill, you would be best advised to look at how he or she voted
In the organizational explanation of congressional voting behavior, the principal voting cue is probably
When a bill passes the House and Senate in substantially different forms, the differences are resolved in
A president’s veto can be overridden by
The authors suggest that those who work for individual members of Congress (as opposed to committees) often assume a(n) __________ function.
The number of senators from each state is determined by
The most important decision a member of parliament makes is
The text suggests that the claim that Congress became weak as the president became strong is
Many scholars believe that Congress lost power to the president during the New Deal period and during the 1960s.
Members of the Senate must be thirty-five years of age.
The reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives occurs
Presidents actually appoint a very small percentage of the employees in the various departments of government.
Which of the following was the first vice president to become president because of the death of a predecessor?
Age (thirty-five) and natural-born citizen requirements are the only requirements for the presidency.
In recent decades all presidents have had to devote substantial amounts of their time to foreign affairs and to
In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court held that the president has a qualified power of executive privilege.
The Supreme Court first faced the issue of executive privilege during the __________ administration.
The purpose of a budget resolution is to
The authors suggest the first presidents did much to make their office appear legitimate to the citizenry by
Only __________ presidents have been impeached.
Woodrow Wilson viewed the presidency as an office that featured extraordinary powers.
The Department of State has a reputation for representing the interests of other nations as well as those of the United States.
The president earns an annual salary of around $1 million.
In recent administrations, presidential cabinet nominees are not likely to have had
In 2008, about half of all the campaign events held by the Obama and McCain campaigns were held in Minnesota, Connecticut, and Oregon due to their high electoral college votes.
There are _________ administrative departments (or cabinet departments) in the executive branch.
The Department of Defense coordinates the military but plays a small role in the policymaking process.
Civil servants who perform routine tasks are greatly influenced by their own personal attitudes.
The recruitment and retention policies of the civil service work to ensure that most bureaucrats have
The personal attributes of members of the higher civil service are similar to those of the average American.
An issue network consists of a federal agency, a prominent interest group, and the congressional committee assigned oversight responsibility for the agency.
Medicaid, the main federal health program for low-income citizens, is administered mainly by
A government agency and a large corporation are both bureaucracies.
The real power over an agency’s budget is exercised by
According to the text, the most visible and dramatic form of congressional supervision of an agency is
Contributing to the growth of the bureaucracy was a change in the agenda and responsibilities of the federal government.
The authors suggest that, many times, vintage horror stories of outlandish prices for items are a result of the fact that the items themselves are
The text suggests that the buddy system produces incompetent employees.
Which of the following statements regarding the firing of civil-service employees is correct?
A significant number of federal bureaucrats are regularly fired for misconduct and poor performance.
A personal attribute that has been shown to have a clear effect on bureaucratic behavior is
Which of the following statements regarding congressional investigations is incorrect?
The federal civil-service system was designed to recruit qualified people on the basis of
A major reason the federal government began expanding in size and authority after the Civil War is that
Other sets
Under the Constitution, bills can originate in either house of Congress with the exception of
Generally Congress is reluctant to challenge a(n) ______________ president
Polls show that many Americans have a low opinion of Congress but a high opinion of their own member of Congress.
The Constitution prohibits an amendment that would change the number of Senators from each state.
The text suggests that the claim that Congress became weak as the president became strong is
A congress is an assemblage of elected representatives who both pass laws and select the nation’s chief executive.
In the Senate, a filibuster can be ended by invoking
The Framers tried to prevent legislative tyranny by
Which vote requires members to shout “aye” or “no”?
For members who seek to mirror their constituents’ views, the principal difficulty is
Congress is constitutionally independent of the president, meaning its members are not tightly disciplined by party leaders, and are free to express their views and vote as they wish.
The __________system is now electronic and permits each House member to record his or her vote and learn the total automatically.
A joint resolution
The Committee chairmen must be elected by
According to the Constitution, each state must have at least two members in the House of Representatives.
An Open Rule is an order from the House Rules Committee in the House of Representatives that sets a time limit on debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor.
__________ committees are most important because they are usually the only ones that can report out bills.
Although President Obama was opposed to the issuance of signing statements, he signed more than a dozen between 2009–2011.
Rivalries tend to develop between the White House staff and department heads because
A typical work week for the president might be ninety hours.
The president is limited to two terms in office by
Presidents who favor personal involvement in the details of policy favor __________ structures.
Which economic adviser to the president probably would be most concerned with the views of foreign bankers?
Presidential vetoes are often overridden by Congress.
An obvious and important difference between a president and a prime minister is that the prime minister always has
The American people tend to hold presidents more strictly accountable for foreign affairs than for domestic issues.
President __________ came to the White House with experience in Congress and the CIA.
The constraints imposed on the president suggest that the chief executive’s best legislative strategy is to
The president earns an annual salary of around $1 million.
The examples in the text teach that emergency conditions and __________ can offer presidents the opportunity for substantial increases in power.
George H. W. Bush had a recognized skill at one‐on‐one foreign diplomacy.
The War Powers Act
President ___________ ran on a platform that emphasized “compassionate conservatism.”
The text suggests that the buddy system
The first federal law subsidizing school lunches was passed in the early 1970s.
Red tape occurs as a result of
When congressional committees require that agency decisions be submitted to them before the agency implements them, the committees are exercising the power of
No federal money may be spent unless it has first
There are 15 federal cabinet departments.
The collection of interest groups, think tanks, policy experts, news reporters, and congressional committees that try to influence agencies are called
Contributing to the growth of the bureaucracy was a change in the agenda and responsibilities of the federal government.
If one were looking to be employed by an “activist” agency, it would be best to send a resume to the
In its first 45 years, the FBI was virtually immune to
In 2010, Congress passed a law that mandated the USDA work with _______ to address issues related to hunger.
If a person is appointed to a government position after passing a written examination or by having met certain selection criteria, he or she is probably joining the
To say that the federal bureaucracy has grown “thicker” is to say that it has
FEMA became the leading example of a failed federal agency after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Most of the growth in the federal bureaucracy previous to 1861 came via the expansion of the post office.
Which of the following statements regarding the firing of civil‐service employees is correct?
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have an undetermined number of personnel.
Which of the following statements is incorrect?
A president’s veto can be overridden by
Members of the House of Representatives have a salary of approximately
According to the original Constitution, senators were to be elected by
The Committee chairmen must be elected by
Which of the following statements regarding the House Rules Committee is incorrect?
No representative or senator can accept a fee or honorarium for giving a speech.
Congress is constitutionally independent of the president, meaning its members are not tightly disciplined by party leaders, and are free to express their views and vote as they wish.
The most important decision a member of parliament makes is
The reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives occurs
Studies have shown significant correlations between congressional votes and constituency opinion regarding
The Constitution prohibits an amendment that would change the number of Senators from each state.
Today, there is one national legislature for every ________ citizens.
The Supreme Court recognizes “privileged speech” for members of Congress so long as that speech is
A congress is an assemblage of elected representatives who both pass laws and select the nation’s chief executive.
Except in matters of national emergency, most votes in Congress
The purpose of the Committee of the Whole is to
Andrew Jackson established the practice that the president’s veto can be used
Gerald Ford was the first
In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court held that the president has a qualified power of executive privilege.
In order to be president, an individual must be at least __________ years old.
Only __________ presidents have been impeached.
Which economic adviser to the president probably would be most concerned with the views of foreign bankers?
The War Powers Act
Which amendment to the Constitution focused on presidential disability and the line of succession?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed in February 2009.
The authors note that __________ are actually not very successful in bids to become president.
The Department of State has a reputation for representing the interests of other nations as well as those of the United States.
Presidents actually appoint a very small percentage of the employees in the various departments of government.
Only __________ presidents have been assassinated.
President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives.
To win a presidential election, a candidate must receive at least __________ electoral votes.
A president’s success in getting Congress to go along with his or her programs can be measured in two ways—by the proportion of presidential proposals approved by Congress and by the
Red tape occurs as a result of
The Constitution created the cabinet departments.
If one were looking to be employed by an “activist” agency, it would be best to send a resume to the
The federal income tax was first authorized by the
Which of the following statements regarding the firing of civil‐service employees is correct?
A bureaucracy is a complex organization in the sense that
FEMA became the leading example of a failed federal agency after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Surveys of 200 top‐level, nonpolitical federal bureaucrats found that most
Environmental protection activities by the federal government were virtually non‐ existent before 1970.
In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security has had more private contract employees than it has had federal workers.
The lower ranks of the federal civil service are filled with
A government agency and a large corporation are both bureaucracies.
An example of a congressional agency with a more pronounced distributional effect within the country would be the
Most government agencies are dominated by people who
Congress does not have the power to compel an individual to appear before a committee during an investigation.
Those removed from the Senior Executive Service are guaranteed a job somewhere else in government.
The First Congress approved a bill that gave Congress, not the president, the right to remove public officials.
A bicameral legislative branch
Which of the following statements regarding members of Congress is incorrect?
__________ committees are most important because they are usually the only ones that can report out bills.
Each member of the House usually serves on two major committees.
By the strictest measure, a party vote occurs when __________ percent or more of one party vote together against __________ percent of the opposing party.
The Constitution prohibits an amendment that would change the number of Senators from each state.
Who decides the size of the House of Representatives?
Members of Congress cannot accept a gift worth more than $250 from a friend without approval by the ethics committee.
A congress is an assemblage of elected representatives who both pass laws and select the nation’s chief executive.
The Speaker of the House
By the ______, serving in Congress had become a career.
A joint resolution
S. Senators serve for a ____ year term.
The Congressional Accountability Act raised some concerns with respect to
The authors suggest that those who work for individual members of Congress (as opposed to committees) often assume a(n) __________ function.
In the Senate, a filibuster can be ended by invoking
Both houses of Congress have a total of 435 members.
Presidents who favor personal involvement in the details of policy favor __________ structures.
Presidents who favor order and clear lines of authority favor __________ structures.
According to law, federal civil servants are not subject to impeachment.
The Federal Reserve Board, although nominated by the president, functions largely independently of the chief executive.
Which economic adviser to the president probably would be most concerned with the views of foreign bankers?
President Kennedy preferred clear hierarchical lines of authority.
There are _________ administrative departments (or cabinet departments) in the executive branch.
The veto message must be sent to Congress within __________ days.
The American people tend to hold presidents more strictly accountable for foreign affairs than for domestic issues.
Only __________ presidents have been impeached.
The proportion of measures submitted by the president to Congress that are approved is
To become president, a candidate must collect 270 electoral votes.
Rivalries tend to develop between the White House staff and department heads because
When Barack Obama took office, what happened to the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)?
Before the president assumed dominance in the conduct of foreign policy, the cabinet officer who dominated this policy area was the
A signing statement is a statement issued
Whereas European countries exhibit extensive government ownership of key industries, the United States relies primarily on
No federal money may be spent unless it has first
The authors suggest that, many times, vintage horror stories of outlandish prices for items are a result of the fact that the items themselves are
The recruitment and retention policies of the civil service work to ensure that most bureaucrats have
A government agency and a large corporation are both bureaucracies.
There are 15 federal cabinet departments.
Employees hired outside the competitive service are part of the __________ service.
Medicaid, the main federal health program for low‐income citizens, is administered mainly by
In its first 45 years, the FBI was virtually immune to
A National Performance Review was conducted to find out which government agencies were especially efficient. This was led by
Most federal agencies must share their functions with
The power of the bureaucracy depends less on its size and more on the extent of its discretionary authority.
Using the buddy system, an agency can circumvent the usual OPM search process by
Surveys of 200 top‐level, nonpolitical federal bureaucrats found that most
The difference between a presidentially‐oriented and a congressionally‐oriented agency is that
Northcote Parkinson, a British writer, observed which of the following?