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Congress
The legislature of the United States that has the power to make laws and check the power of the President.
Bicameral
A legislature consisting of two houses or chambers.
House of Representatives
The branch of government specifically created to closely represent the people's views.
Foreign Policy
The area of policy where many members of the Senate specialize due to its constitutional duties.
Japan's Diet
Similar in structure to the U.S. Congress.
Every two years
The frequency with which House members are elected.
Two years and six years
The lengths of service for House members and Senate members, respectively.
33
On average, the number of Senate seats up for election every two years.
Exactly two
The number of United States senators each state has.
Seventeenth Amendment
Shifted the power to elect senators from state legislators to popular elections.
10 million
The average cost to make a successful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Incumbency
The candidate's current holding of office, which is the MOST important determinant in a successful congressional campaign.
All of these answers are correct.
Factors such as stronger name recognition, easier access to media, the privilege of franking, and larger campaign contributions, which make it more likely for incumbents to prevail.
It redraws the congressional district boundaries within the state.
A statement about reapportionment that is NOT accurate.
Every 10 years
The frequency of reapportionment and redistricting of seats in the House of Representatives.
Gerrymandering
The practice of redrawing electoral boundaries for political advantage.
When it eliminates the minority party's influence statewide.
The condition under which drawing legislative district boundaries for the purpose of benefitting an incumbent is unconstitutional.
Majority-minority districts
The attempts by state legislatures to address racial imbalance in the House of Representatives.
All of these answers are correct.
The various powers granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Broad
The scope of authority exercised by Congress due to the elastic clause.
Establish taxes on exports
Not a power granted to Congress.
All of these answers are correct.
Sources of congressional power and authority including the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions, the media, and the people.
Checks and balances
An important consideration during the shaping of congressional functions.
Edmund Burke
The eighteenth-century political theorist who espoused the trustee model of political representation.
In line with constituents
The manner in which elected representatives act within the instructed delegate model.
A combination of the trustee model and instructed delegate model
The approach most representatives in Congress employ.
Pork barrel
Appropriations of funds by congressional legislators for projects in their districts.
Transportation bills
The type of bills traditionally used for legislators to appropriate funds to special projects.
Effective, with a significant decrease in the amount of dollars appropriated
The result of the recent moratorium on earmarks.
Casework
A special form of representation involving personal aid to a constituent or group of constituents.
Ombudsperson
The role of a member of Congress advocating on behalf of a constituent with a bureaucratic issue.
Walter Mondale
The former senator and vice president who warned of the constituent service dilemma.
Oversight
The process by which Congress checks the executive branch to ensure laws are administered according to legislators' intentions.
Legislative veto
One of the EXCEPTED tools that Congress uses to 'check' the executive branch.
Unified
The nature of positions that House members' constituencies tend to have on many issues, particularly in populated areas.
More prestigious
Compared to the House, the Senate is viewed as.
Less reliant on staff
The difference in support that House members typically experience compared to colleagues in the Senate.
Introduction, committee review, House and Senate approval, conference committee reconciliation, presidential approval
The correct chronological order of a legislative bill's passage.
The hopper
The wooden box into which House members insert proposed bills.
Referral to the lead committee
The process that replaced joint referral abolished in 1995.
Committee review
The second step in the process of a bill becoming a law.
Standing committees
Permanent committees with a defined legislative jurisdiction.
Select committees
Advisory committees that handle specific issues, like the House committee on Energy Independence.
Joint committees
Committees that include members of both chambers of Congress.
Agency review, hearings, markup, report
The correct chronological sequence of subcommittee procedures in Congress.
A majority
The number of House members' signatures necessary to execute a discharge petition.
Through the rules committee
How the House of Representatives determines terms of debate and scope of amendments on a bill.
Filibuster
The record-setting procedural move to delay passage of a bill, exemplified by Strom Thurmond's 24-hour speech.
Conference committee reconciliation
The fourth step in the process of a bill becoming a law.
The president sends a message to Congress explaining why the bill should not become law.
What is NOT required for an effective presidential pocket veto.
Second
The position of the Speaker of the House in the line of presidential succession.
Speaker of the House
The MOST powerful person in the House of Representatives.
House majority leader
The House leader responsible for developing party strategy and encouraging unity among majority party legislators.
House majority whip
The leader who acts as a go-between with the leadership and majority party members.
The Vice President
The president of the Senate according to the Constitution.
Senate majority leader
The MOST powerful person in the Senate.
1994
The year when Republicans regained control of both the House and the Senate.
Just prior to election
When partisan voting is usually MOST prominent.
Partisanship
The tendency that increases congressional due to computer-driven mapmaking.
Logrolling
The reciprocal practice of trading votes widely used in Congress.
The constituency
Typically wields the MOST influence in congressional decision making.
Congress is not demographically representative of the American public
The MOST accurate statement about members of Congress.
The creation of a bicameral legislature
How the framers balanced representation for two opposing groups.
Stronger name recognition, easier access to media coverage, redistricting that favors the incumbent party, franking, campaign contributions, casework
Advantages of incumbency in congressional elections.
Gerrymandering
The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit an incumbent or political party.
Trustee and instructed delegate models of representation
The contrasting approaches to how representatives decide their positions or vote.
Casework as a form of congressional representation
Providing personal aid to constituents often involving government assistance.
Congressional hearings, confirmation hearings, investigations, budgetary appropriations
Tools employed by Congress to fulfill its oversight functions.
Introduction, committee review, House and Senate approval, conference committee reconciliation, presidential approval
The five sequential features of the congressional legislative process.
Subcommittees handle specifics
The role of congressional subcommittees in managing legislative jurisdiction.
A filibuster
A procedural tactic used in the Senate to halt the passage of a bill.
Attentive public
Voters who closely monitor congressional actions, impacting political accountability.
Note 
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