The Lawmaking Process - Practice Quiz

The leader of the Senate with the most authority is the

Your answer:
Majority Leader
president pro-tempore
Minority Leader
President of the Senate

When Congress sets aside money for a specific purpose it is called an

Your answer:
approbation
appraisal
appropriation
arbitration

Bills can be introduced for consideration by Congress only by

Your answer:
House members
members of Congress
Senate members
members of the House majority party

The House committee that decides the order in which bills will be considered and sets conditions for debate is the

Your answer:
committee on committees
ways and means committee
rules committee
calendar committee

Another term for the length of a member of Congresses continuous service is

Your answer:
senility
reciprocity
seniority
civility

The "lame duck" amendment was passed in response to critics' charges that

Your answer:
members of Congress were wasting the taxpayers' money by hiring large staffs do their work
newly elected members of Congress needed more than two months to assemble staffs and prepare for the duties of office
members of Congress could not perform their jobs well if they had to run for reelection for every other year
members of Congress who had lost bids for reelection acted irresponsibility in the four months between election and the opening of the new Congress

The House official whose job is to organize opposition to the majority party's legislative plan is the

Your answer:
Minority Leader
Speaker of the House
Minority Whip
Clerk of the House

Which of the following is not a congressional staff member's responsibility?

Your answer:
researching bills
writing letters to constituents
doing casework
voting on legislation

New rules for selection of chair persons were made when

Your answer:
House Speaker Newt Gingrich retired in 1998
Democrats regained control of both houses of congress in 1986
Republicans gained control of both houses of congress in 1980
the Watergate scandal led to the election of reform-minded members in 1974

A resolution that must be passed by both houses and signed by the President is known as a

Your answer:
concurrent resolution
binding resolution
joint resolution
simple resolution

A discharge petition is used to

Your answer:
expel a member of Congress for misconduct
force a bill out of committee, so that it might be voted on
force the speaker to pigeon hole a bill
move consideration of a bill from standing committee to a sub-committee

A rider is best defined as

Your answer:
one of two officials who count House votes to insure accuracy
a motion to kill a bill
a motion to send a bill back to committee
an amendment that has nothing to do with the bill to which it is added

Private bills concern the affairs of

Your answer:
officials of the executive branch
individual citizens
military personnel
senators and representatives

The House official who is a member of the Speaker's party and whose job is to find out the opinions of all the party members on pending legislation is known as the

Your answer:
President Pro Tempore
Presiding Officer
Majority Leader
Sergeant at Arms

When a congressional session formally ends, it is said to

Your answer:
adjourn
terminate
recess
commence

Committees in either house that are created for a specific purpose and a limited period of time are known as

Your answer:
standing committees
select committees
steering committees
sub-committees

The official who presides over the House debates is called the

Your answer:
Speaker of the House
House majority leader
Majority Whip
House parliamentarian

To pigeon hole a bill is to kill a bill by

Your answer:
refusing to pass it out of committee
failing to get the Presidents signature
keeping it on the floor for debate
failing to get a committee chairperson's signature

Attempting to monopolize debate in an effort to block passage of a bill is called

Your answer:
log rolling
screening
filibustering
monopolizing

After a law has been proposed in the House of Representatives, it next goes to

Your answer:
a vote of the full house
the calendar
a standing committee
the rules committee

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