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50 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
The House of Representatives and the Senate have
roughly equal powers
Bureaucracies have all except which of the following characteristics?
bureaucracies are egalitarian organizations with little division of labor
In the US Congress, parties...
are the principal organizing force
Congress consists of two houses or chambers. Therefore it is
The authorization process is only one step in law making. There is a parallel process that must also be accomplished before money can be spent. This is called the
appropriations process
The Speaker is...
the leader of the majority party in the House
When a president uses his ability to go directly to the public for support, it is called...
making use of the "bully pulpit"
a committee with fixed membership and jurisdiction that persists from one Congress to the next is called a _____________ committee
The process in which Congressional committees and subcommittees revise proposed legislation is known as...
The practice of hiring government workers on the basis of party loyalty was known as
the Pendleton system
In the case of a tie vote in the Senate, the deciding vote is cast by the
vice president
Congress does it's business
in committee
Compared to the legislative article, the executive article of the Constitution is
briefer and somewhat vague
The job of linking the rank and file to the party leadership fall to
the party whips
Most legislation ______ in committee
Before a bill can be signed or vetoed by the president, it must
pass both houses in identical form
The bureau designed to develop the federal budget and to coordinate agency budget requests is called the
Office of Management and Budget
The traditional practice of allowing senators, if of the same party as the president, to basically veto appointments within their states is called
senatorial courtesy
An example of an indepenent regulatory agency would be
Department of Motor Vehicles
Newly-elected presidents enjoy a period in which the opposition and media suspend criticism and allow the new president to organize his administration and begin governing. This is called a....
The most important committees in the House include...
Rules, Ways and Means, and Appropriations
Unlike their predecessors, modern Presidents are distinguished by which of the following characteristics?
All of the above: They are held responsible for the state of the nation AND They seek to govern through the rule maing authority of the bureaucracy AND They seek to enact a legislative agenda
Presidential elections are held in
The majority of Congressional powers are found in
Article I, Section 8
A bill or resolution must be introduced by
a member of Congress
The powers DENIED to Congress in Article I, Section 9, include...
all of the above: The ability to suspend the right of habeas corpus AND The ability to pass ex post facto laws AND The ability to confer titles of nobility
Formally, the civil service (federal bureaucracy) is responsible to...
the president
The right of a president to deny information to Congress is called
executive privilege
In recent years, the number of people working for the federal government, as a % of the workforce, has...
A Congressional committee that resolves differences between House and Senate versions of a bill is called a...
conference committee
Key members of a president's administration such as the Secretary of State make up the
When the presidency is controlled by one party and Congress is controlled by another, it is called
divided government
THe greatest growth in bureaucracy as measured by the number of employees is in...
state and local governments
Complex legislation that overlaps several policy areas is likely to be subject to
multiple referral
The principal of bureaucratic behavior that argues bureaucracies will spend all of their budgets is known as...
parkinson's law
Congress has a large amount of influence over the bureaucracy because of
All of the above: Legislative oversight AND the confirmation process AND the budget process
The House and Senate combiined have ____ members
Members of Congress face a strong incentive to oppose legislation that negatively affects their districts, even if the legislation is good for the nation because...
of electoral incentives-members of Congress want to be reelected
The clause that allows Congress to expand it's powers beyond those specifically listed in the Constitution is the...
Necessary and Proper Clause
The Senate tradition of unlimited debate is called the
The scandal involving the Nixon administration's efforts to illegally obtain information on the Democrats' campaign strategy is called
The most important power of Congress is
the power of the purse
The Executive Office of the President...
All of the above: Contains major offices that provide support and information to the president AND includes the Office of Management and Budget AND was created, at least indirectly, by the "Brownlow Report"
Recall your reading of "behing the Noisy Clashes: 2 Chambers that don't understand each other." According to the article, what is the primary reason the House is more efficient then the Senate?
The House is a rules based chamber that gives little power to the minority party, while the Senate is more informal, and the minority party has more power
In 1939, the Congress passed a law prohibiting federal employees from active political campaigning and solicitation. This law was called the
Hatch Act
Members of Congress face a strong incentive to oppose legislation that negatively affects their districts even if it is for the national good because...
members want to be reelected
Congress often directs that agencies spend money in ways consistent with congressional preferences by making portions of the budget subject to a(n)
Recall your reading of James Q. Wilson's "Bureaucracy and the Public Interest." Which of the following is NOT an explanation espoused by Wilson for the failure of bureaucracies to perform their tasks well?
The administrators of organizations often behave irrationally or are simply incompetent
If a president vetoes a law,
Congress may override with a 2/3 vote
The process by which members of Congress implicitly trade votes is called...