290 CHAPTER 9|CONGRESS
- Members of Congress generally hold multiple goals.
Which goal comes fi rst?
a) getting re-elected
b) passing good policy
c) serving their political party
d) blocking the opposing party
e) serving special interests - What is apportionment?
a) determining presidential primary winners
b) determining whether the state legislature or
courts will re-draw district lines
c) determining which states gain/lose seats in the
Senate S
PRACTICE ONLINE
“Critical Thinking ” exercise: Politics Is Confl ictual—
Congressional and Presidential Fund-Raisingd) determining which states gain/lose seats in the
House
e) determining how many seats a party has in Congress- On average, incumbents spend __ times as
much as challengers on campaigning.
a) one and one-half
b) three
c) fi ve
d) ten
e) twenty
THE STRUCTURE OF CONGRESS
E Examine how parties, the committee system, and staff ers enable Congress to function. Pages 271–80
SUMMARY
Many aspects of Congress meet the electoral needs of its
members. The norms of universalism and reciprocity still
dominate, meaning that members of Congress share re-
sources more broadly than partisan politics would dictate.
KEY TERMS
earmarks (p. 271)
seniority (p. 272)
Speaker of the House (p. 272)
majority leader (p. 272)
whip system (p. 274)
minority leader (p. 274)
president pro tempore (p. 274)
roll call vote (p. 274)
party vote (p. 274)
party unity (p. 274)
standing committees (p. 277)
select committees (p. 277)
joint committees (p. 277)
conference committees (p. 277)
CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION
If you were in charge of the Commission on Congressional
Reform, what proposals would you make to change how
Congress operates? Would your proposals have a chance of
being implemented? Why or why not?
PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS- Under the norm of __, federal highway
dollars are likely to be divided up so that many districts
benefi t.
a) reciprocity
b) seniority
c) party unity
d) universalism
e) specialization - The Senate leadership is __ the House
leadership.
a) more powerful than
b) as powerful as
c) less powerful than - Party leaders have the power to __.
a) force members of Congress to vote a particular way
b) keep a member of Congress off the ballot in the
next election
c) force their members to share campaign money
d) exclude a member from a roll call vote
e) help their members get favorable committee
assignments - Committee leadership, division of seats on commit-
tees, and allocation of committee resources are deter-
mined by _____.
a) majority party
b) size of election margin