Congress Study Guide Questions
1. Summarize the differences between the House and Senate
2. Why is Congress a decentralized institution and why is Congress inevitably unpopular with voters.
3. How has the history and structure of the Senate meant that it would be different from the House of Representatives?
4. What were the main issues in the development of the Senate and how were these issues settled? Make sure that you understand what these terms refer to: filibuster, cloture, Rule 22
5. Read the article by David Mahyew in the Readings book and make a list of what congressmen do to achieve reelection (I will copy this from you since we don’t have a readings book for everyone)
6. Briefly summarize the trends in the sex and race of members of Congress.
7. What were the reasons why there were more new members to the House in the early 1990s?
8. Why have more congressional districts become safer for incumbent reelection?
9. What are the possible explanations for why the Democrats dominated Congress from 1933-1994?
10. Why has Congress become more ideologically partisan since the 1980s?
11. Define malapportionment, gerrymandering, majority-minority districts.
12. How have districts been designed to increase minority representation and what has the Supreme Court ruled about this? What is the difference between descriptive and substantive representation?
13. What is the sophomore surge? Why does it happen? What effects does it have?
14. Summarize the three theories of how members of Congress behave.
15. Why has civility decreased among legislators?
16. Read the article by David Price in the Readings Book. What are the points he makes about what a responsible legislator should do and what the results are of politicians who run against Congress. (I will copy this from you since we don’t have a readings book for everyone)
17. What are the principal jobs and responsibilities in the party leadership in the Senate?
18. What are the powers of the Speaker of the House? How did Newt Gingrich change the structure of the House?
19. Why are the members of each party so polarized today?
20. What are caucuses and why are they important?
21. Define the four different types of committees.
22. How has the committee structure changed in the past 30 years? What has been the effect of these changes and how does having a large staff create a demand for more staff?
23. What do the GAO, and CBO do?
24. How can a filibuster be broken? What do the changes for breaking a filibuster mean for trying to pass a bill in the Senate?
25. Think about it and give your opinion as to the impact the differences between the House and Senate have on policy-making. You must know the chart on p. 241 summarizing the differences between the House and Senate. Figure out a way to learn it.
26. Using the two articles in the Readings Book by Gregory Wawro and Eric Schickler and the downloaded article by Barbara Sinclair, make a list of reasons why Congress is sometimes not able to accomplish much. (I will copy this from you since we don’t have a readings book for everyone)
27. Summarize why Justice Scalia thinks that Americans should learn to love gridlock.
28. Make a list of the different powers that the Constitution gives to either the House or Senate. This is a review question and you should be able to do it off the top of your head. Then go check yourself by looking at the Constitution. Read through Article I, Sections 1, 3, and 7 and Article II, Section 2. Add in anything you may have forgotten.
29. What are the arguments for and against term limits?
30. How have the Congressmen’s powers and perks been reduced?
31. In general, what type of rules are there to make sure our Congress members are ethical?
32. After reading the articles by Paul Starobin, John Ellwood, and Eric Patashik, John McCain, and Brian Riedl, make a list of the arguments for and against pork. Include arguments from the textbook
Terms to Know
1. / franking privilege / 28. / Shaw v. Reno (1993) / 56. / Simple resolution2. / unicameral / 29. / descriptive representation / 57. / Concurrent resolution
3. / bicameral / 30. / substantive representation / 58. / Joint resolution
4. / Speaker of the House / 31. / sophomore surge / 59. / multiple referral
5. / Newt Gingrich / 32. / privileged speech / 60. / sequential referral
6. / Nancy Pelosi / 33. / Edmund Burke / 61. / discharge petition
7. / Harry Reid / 34. / Representational theory / 62. / closed rule
8. / Party caucus / 35. / Organizational theory / 63 / open rule
9. / Rules Committee / 36. / Attitudinal theory / 64. / restrictive rule
10. / filibuster / 37. / President Pro Tempore / 65. / quorum
11. / 17th Amendment / 38. / Majority and Minority leaders / 66. / quorum call
12. / Rule 22 / 39. / Party Whip / 67. / cloture rule
13. / cloture / 40. / Steering Committee (D) / 68. / double-tracking
14. / term limits / 41. / Committee on Committees (R) / 69. / roll-call vote
15. / US Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995) / 42. / Policy Committee / 70. / rider
16. / Marginal districts / 43. / Party polarization / 71. / Christmas tree bill
17. / Safe districts / 44. / Caucus / 72. / Committee of the Whole
18. / House Banking scandal / 45. / Congressional Black Caucus / 73. / Pork-Barrel
19. / House Post office scandal / 46. / Blue Dog Democrats / 74. / Earmarks
20. / Reapportionment / 47. / Standing Committees / 75. / Congressional courtesy
21. / redistricting / 48. / Select Committees / 76. / logrolling
22. / malapportionment / 49. / Joint Committees / 77. / Nongermane amendment
23. / gerrymandering / 50. / Conference Committees / 78. / Unanimous consent
24. / majority-minority districts / 51. / seniority system / 79. / Holds
25. / Wesberry v. Sanders 1964 / 52. / Congressional Research Service
26. / Baker v. Carr (1962) / 53. / General Accounting Office (GAO)
27. / “one man, one vote” / 54. / Congressional Budget Office (CBO)