POLI 2051 FINAL EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
100% PASS
Cabinet - ✔✔the group of presidential advisors who head the executive departments.
Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) - ✔✔members advise the president on economic
policy and prepare the Annual Report of the CEA.
Crisis - ✔✔a sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event.
Impeachment - ✔✔the political equivalent of an indictment for removing a discredited
president.
Legislative veto - ✔✔a clause which allows Congress to override the action of the
executive.
National Security Council (NSC) - ✔✔a committee that links the president's key foreign
and military advisors.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) - ✔✔responsible for preparing the president's
budget and assessing the budgetary implications of legislative proposals.
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,Pocket veto - ✔✔this occurs when Congress adjourns within 10 days after submitting a
bill and the president takes no action to sign it or veto it.
Presidential coattails - ✔✔where voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of
the president's party because those candidates support the president.
Twenty-fifth Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1967, permits the vice president to become
acting president in the event that the president is temporarily disabled.
Twenty-second Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1951, limits presidents to two terms.
Veto - ✔✔sending the legislation back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it.
War Powers Resolution - ✔✔passed in 1973, requires presidents to consult with
Congress prior to using military force and mandates the withdrawal of forces after sixty
days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension.
Watergate - ✔✔a political scandal involving President Nixon's abuse of his powers.
Appropriations bill - ✔✔bill passed annually to fund an authorized program.
Authorization bill - ✔✔an act of Congress that establishes a discretionary government
program or an entitlement, or that continues or changes such programs.
Budget - ✔✔a policy document that allocates burdens (taxes) and benefits
(expenditures).
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,Budget resolution - ✔✔a bill setting limits on expenditures based on revenue
projections, agreed to by both houses of Congress in April each year.
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 - ✔✔an act designed to
reform the budgeting process by making Congress less dependent on the president's
budget; established a fixed budget calendar and a budget committee in each house.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - ✔✔research agency of Congress, responsible to it
for providing analyses of budget proposals, revenue forecasts, and related information.
Continuing resolutions - ✔✔laws that allow agencies to spend at the previous year's
level.
Deficit - ✔✔occurs when government spends more money than it receives in taxes in
the fiscal year.
Entitlements - ✔✔expenditures for which the total amount spent is not by congressional
appropriation, but rather by rules of eligibility established by Congress.
Expenditures - ✔✔money spent by the government in any one year.
Federal debt - ✔✔all of the money borrowed by the government over the years that is
still outstanding.
House Ways and Means Committee - ✔✔responsible for originating all revenue bills.
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, Income tax - ✔✔the portion of money individuals are required to pay to the
government from the money they earned.
Incrementalism - ✔✔the best predictor of this year's budget is last year's budget plus a
little bit more.
Medicare - ✔✔in 1965, this program was added to Social Security to provide hospital
and physician coverage to the elderly.
Reconciliation - ✔✔revisions of program authorizations to make the final budget meet
the limits of the budget resolution, usually occurring toward the end of the budgetary
process.
Revenues - ✔✔money received by the government in any given year.
Senate Finance Committee - ✔✔responsible for writing the tax code.
Sixteenth Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1913, permits Congress to levy an income tax.
Social Security Act - ✔✔passed to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older
Americans. Tax expenditures: revenue losses due to special exemptions, exclusions, and
deductions.
Uncontrollable expenditures - ✔✔result from policies that make some group
automatically eligible for benefits.
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
100% PASS
Cabinet - ✔✔the group of presidential advisors who head the executive departments.
Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) - ✔✔members advise the president on economic
policy and prepare the Annual Report of the CEA.
Crisis - ✔✔a sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event.
Impeachment - ✔✔the political equivalent of an indictment for removing a discredited
president.
Legislative veto - ✔✔a clause which allows Congress to override the action of the
executive.
National Security Council (NSC) - ✔✔a committee that links the president's key foreign
and military advisors.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) - ✔✔responsible for preparing the president's
budget and assessing the budgetary implications of legislative proposals.
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,Pocket veto - ✔✔this occurs when Congress adjourns within 10 days after submitting a
bill and the president takes no action to sign it or veto it.
Presidential coattails - ✔✔where voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of
the president's party because those candidates support the president.
Twenty-fifth Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1967, permits the vice president to become
acting president in the event that the president is temporarily disabled.
Twenty-second Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1951, limits presidents to two terms.
Veto - ✔✔sending the legislation back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it.
War Powers Resolution - ✔✔passed in 1973, requires presidents to consult with
Congress prior to using military force and mandates the withdrawal of forces after sixty
days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension.
Watergate - ✔✔a political scandal involving President Nixon's abuse of his powers.
Appropriations bill - ✔✔bill passed annually to fund an authorized program.
Authorization bill - ✔✔an act of Congress that establishes a discretionary government
program or an entitlement, or that continues or changes such programs.
Budget - ✔✔a policy document that allocates burdens (taxes) and benefits
(expenditures).
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,Budget resolution - ✔✔a bill setting limits on expenditures based on revenue
projections, agreed to by both houses of Congress in April each year.
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 - ✔✔an act designed to
reform the budgeting process by making Congress less dependent on the president's
budget; established a fixed budget calendar and a budget committee in each house.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - ✔✔research agency of Congress, responsible to it
for providing analyses of budget proposals, revenue forecasts, and related information.
Continuing resolutions - ✔✔laws that allow agencies to spend at the previous year's
level.
Deficit - ✔✔occurs when government spends more money than it receives in taxes in
the fiscal year.
Entitlements - ✔✔expenditures for which the total amount spent is not by congressional
appropriation, but rather by rules of eligibility established by Congress.
Expenditures - ✔✔money spent by the government in any one year.
Federal debt - ✔✔all of the money borrowed by the government over the years that is
still outstanding.
House Ways and Means Committee - ✔✔responsible for originating all revenue bills.
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, Income tax - ✔✔the portion of money individuals are required to pay to the
government from the money they earned.
Incrementalism - ✔✔the best predictor of this year's budget is last year's budget plus a
little bit more.
Medicare - ✔✔in 1965, this program was added to Social Security to provide hospital
and physician coverage to the elderly.
Reconciliation - ✔✔revisions of program authorizations to make the final budget meet
the limits of the budget resolution, usually occurring toward the end of the budgetary
process.
Revenues - ✔✔money received by the government in any given year.
Senate Finance Committee - ✔✔responsible for writing the tax code.
Sixteenth Amendment - ✔✔passed in 1913, permits Congress to levy an income tax.
Social Security Act - ✔✔passed to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older
Americans. Tax expenditures: revenue losses due to special exemptions, exclusions, and
deductions.
Uncontrollable expenditures - ✔✔result from policies that make some group
automatically eligible for benefits.
EMILY CHARLENE © 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
