Membership & Basics
How many members are in the House of Representatives?
435
Which chamber must begin all revenue (tax and spending) bills?
House of Representatives
Official count of the U.S. population every 10 years.
Census
True/False: The House allows filibusters.
False (only the Senate allows unlimited debate)
Who is the leader of the House of Representatives?
Speaker of the House
How many Senators are there total?
100
Which chamber ratifies treaties?
Senate
Process of dividing 435 House seats among states after the Census.
Apportionment
Who holds the record for the longest one-person filibuster?
Strom Thurmond (24 hours, 1957)
Cory Booker (25 hours and 4 minutes. )
Who presides over the Senate and only votes in ties?
Vice President
What is the term length for a Representative vs. a Senator?
House = 2 years, Senate = 6 years
Which chamber impeaches officials, and which chamber tries them?
House impeaches, Senate tries
Manipulating district boundaries to favor one party.
Gerrymandering
Which civil rights law faced a 57-day filibuster before cloture ended it?
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Which amendment allowed for the direct election of Senators?
17th Amendment (1913)
What are the three qualifications for being a Senator?
30 years old, U.S. citizen for 9 years, resident of state represented
Who elects the President if no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes?
The House of Representatives
Vote of 60 Senators to end a filibuster.
Cloture
Name one pro and one con of the filibuster.
Pro = protects minority party rights; Con = causes gridlock
Which treaty was rejected by the Senate in 1919, keeping the U.S. out of the League of Nations?
Treaty of Versailles
Why did the Framers make the House based on population and the Senate equal for all states?
To balance large and small state interests (Great Compromise)
What fraction of the Senate is needed to convict in an impeachment trial?
2/3
Formal approval of treaties by the Senate.
Ratify
How many votes does it take to pass cloture in the Senate?
60 (3/5 of the Senate)
Which three Presidents were impeached and then tried in the Senate?
Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump