U.S. Government and Politics Exam Review

Flashcards covering key concepts in U.S. Government and Politics for exam preparation.

The Amendment providing for direct election by voters of the U.S. Senate is the

Seventeenth

The current size of the U.S. House of Representatives is

435

Which type of committee is a permanent legislative committee?

Standing

Cloture, a motion to end a filibuster, requires a __ majority vote of the Senate.

3/5

To successfully override a presidential veto requires a__majority vote in both chambers of congress.

2/3

Congressional hearings to examine whether the executive branch has faithfully executed laws is referred to as

Oversight

Currently, the Senate Majority Leader is

Chuck Schumer

Allocation of seats in the House of Representatives among the states following each census of population is called

Reapportionment

The standing committee which plays a crucial role in the ability of the Speaker of the House to exert influence is the

Rules Committee

Advantages favoring incumbent members of Congress seeking re-election include

All of the above (high name recognition among voters, greater ability to get media coverage, good will generated through casework and pork barrel projects)

Presidents make policies by

orders, which are directives to federal agencies on how to__implement legislation.

Executive

Which of the following is not a major source of political power for the president?

Appropriation of funds

Firing a presidential appointee represents what type of presidential power?

Implied power

The only person to serve as president who was not elected president or vice-president was

Gerald Ford

After the Vice-President, the next in line to fill a vacancy in the office of President is

Speaker of the House

The War Powers Act was enacted by congress successfully overriding a veto by President

Richard Nixon

If no candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College, the__will select a president.

House of Representatives

Fourty-eight states award electoral votes to the candidate with the most popular votes statewide. Two states award an Electoral College vote to the winner of the popular vote within each congressional district in the state. A state allocating electoral votes by congressional district is

Nebraska

The only constitutional duty of the Vice-President of the United States is to

preside over the Senate and cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary

The __Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a means to fill a vacancy in the office of Vice-president

Twenty-Fifth

The Medicare program provides what to whom?

health care to the elderly

The Medicaid program provides what to whom?

health care to low income people

The official standard regarding what level of annual cash income is sufficient to maintain a "decent standard of living" is called the

poverty line

Poverty is most likely in what type of household?

female headed household with children

The single largest social welfare program of the federal government is

Social Security

U.S. government national debt currently is about

$36 trillion

A rise in the general level of prices for goods and services is referred to as

inflation

Entitlement programs and interest of the national debt account for about 70% of the federal government budget. Which of the following is NOT an entitlement program?

NASA (Social Security, Medicare, veteran's benefits)

An imbalance in the annual federal budget in which spending exceeds revenues is referred to as

a deficit

Monetary policy in the United States is the responsibility of

the Federal Reserve Board

An important component of U.S. containment policy, economic aid to rebuild Western European countries after World War II was called the

Marshall Plan

The Cold War was a confrontation between the United States and

the Soviet Union

The September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center was carried out by which group?

al Qaeda

Which of the following represents an important component of U.S. military policy?

NATO

Isolationism dates back to the Farewell Address of __ who warned Americans to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

George Washington

The total number of countries serving on the United Nations Security Council is

fifteen

The president who started the process of normalizing relations with communist China was

Richard Nixon

The president who expressed concern about the influence of the "military-industrial complex" was

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Which country was not a member of the "Axis of Evil" as defined by George W. Bush?

Syria

Significant issues in U.S.-China relations include

all of these (trade imbalances, human rights, status of Taiwan)