The

Legislative
Branch Unit 2
Test

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE

BRANCH Unit 2 Test
REVIEWING FACTS (3 points each) In the space provided,
write the letter of the term that matches each description.
Some answers will not be used.
C
1. Term for the situation in which the president holds a bill but does
not sign it
D

2. Creating district lines that favor one party over another

3. Investigation of government agencies actions and programs

4. Distribute seats in the House of Representatives among the states

L
5. Majority of congresspersons that must be present to conduct
business
K

6. Political group that has fewer seats in Congress

H
7. Permits the president to reject portions of a spending bill without
rejecting the whole bill
F

8. Governments official count of the population

9. Needs to pass through a number of steps before it becomes a law

B
10. Enables members of Congress to send official mail without
paying for postage
a.
pork-barrel
spending
b.
franking
privilege
c.
pocket
veto
d.
gerrymandering
e. bill
f. census
g.
majority
party
h.
line-item
veto
i. apportion
j.
oversight
k.
minority
party

l. quorum

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE

BRANCH Unit 2 Test, Continued
IDENTIFYING IDEAS (3 points each) In the space
provided, write the term that is identified by each
statement.
1. According to the Constitution, members of the Senate must be at least
30
years old.
2. Impeachment trials against government officials are held in the House
of Representatives
.
3. It would require a constitutional amendment to impose term
on members of Congress.

limits

4. Congressional committee chairs usually are those who have the most
seniority
.
5. Each house of Congress has standing

, or permanent, committees.

6. For every policy under consideration, congress members must evaluate

how it will affect their
district
as well as the nation as a whole.
7. The framers thought that Congress
discussed it first in the Constitution.

was so important that they

8. Every state is allowed to have a minimum of one seat

House.
9. The current number of senators is 100

in the

10. Neither the House nor the Senate may suspend the writ of habeas
corpus
.

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE

BRANCH Unit 2 Test, Continued

UNDERSTANDING IDEAS (3 points each) For each of the

following, write the letter of the best choice in the space
provided.
d

1. All of the following statements are true EXCEPT

a. Congress oversees every aspect of government agencies.
b. many congressional investigations explore how an
agency operates on a daily basis.
c. during the past 25 years, the number of
congressional investigations has increased.
d. every congressional investigation is supervised by the president.

2. The size of the House of Representatives is determined by

a. the Constitution.
b. the Supreme Court.
c. Congress.
d. state legislatures.

3. How many sessions are there in each term of Congress?

a.
one
b.
two
c.
six
d.
ten

a
4. Who is the most influential person in the House of
Representatives?
a. the Speaker
b. the majority whip
c. the president pro tempore
d. the majority floor leader
d
5. In the absence of the vice president, the presiding officer of the
Senate is
a. the president.
b. the Speaker.
c. the minority floor leader.
d. the president pro tempore.
b

6. If congresspersons value the needs of people who elected

them more than the needs of the entire country, then they
are
a. valuing national interests over federal interests.
b. valuing local interests over federal interests.
c. valuing district interests over executive interests.
d. valuing the local voter over the electoral college.

UNIT 2: THE LEGISLATIVE

BRANCH Unit 2 Test, Continued

7. The two types of congressional committees are

a. accommodation and modification.
b. public and private.
c. appropriation and authorization.
d. federal and local.

8. Both houses of Congress are permitted to judge

a. the quality of members filibusters.
b. members behavior.
c. members family lives.
d. the voting records of committees.
b

9. How often is the

census taken?
a. every year
b. every 10 years
c. once every six months
d. monthly

10. All of the following are expressed powers of Congress EXCEPT

a. passing ex post
facto
laws.
b.
establishing
post
offices. c. punishing
piracy.
d. organizing a
militia.

COMPOSING AN ESSAY (10 points) On a separate sheet

of paper, write a brief essay in response to one of the
following.
1. Explain why it is that congressional incumbents tend to be re-elected.
2. Identify and describe the six steps a bill must pass through before it
becomes law.
1. Sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S.
Senate seeking reelection have a better than (95%) likelihood of being
reelected. Incumbents tend to win because they enjoy significant
advantages over their challengers. This "incumbent advantage" in
congressional elections has several reasons. Members of Congress are
reelected because their constituents have not been provided with a
compelling reason to vote for someone else. Sitting members of
Congress are almost universally recognized in their districts. Having
served in Congress for two years (House members) or six years

(Senators) makes a sitting member of Congress something of a

household name among his or her constituents. Moreover, members of
the U.S. House and Senate have easy and ready access to the news
media and make regular appearances on television and radio programs
and are frequently mentioned in newspaper articles and editorials. To
defend their strong positions further, sitting members of Congress enjoy
the advantage of the large amounts of campaign contributions they are
able to raise, especially in comparison to those who run against them.
Each member of Congress has an office budget allotment which
provides enough money to hire a sizable staff both in Washington, D.C.
and back home in their states or districts. These staffers assist
members in their efforts in a successful reelection campaign. In
addition to money for staff, members of Congress also have travel
allowances for trips between Washington and their constituencies as
well as for trips inside their states or districts that they can use for
their campaign. Their ability to send postage-free informational letters
or announcements to their constituents on a regular basis is another
benefit. In contrast, a candidate challenging an incumbent must
generally figure out how to pay his or her bills while running for office.
Many candidates are forced to go into debt, especially in the early
stages of a campaign before he or she has raised much money. True, an
under-funded candidate is limited in his or her ability to provide voters
with such a reason, but when a member of Congress strays too far from
the opinions and values of his or her constituents or becomes embroiled
in controversy, challengers will find that they are able to raise more
than enough money to make sure the voters know about such things
and as a result challengers do get elected.