WGU C963 READY EXAM QUESTION AND ANSWERS
A+ (100% CORRECT) LATEST VERSION 2026
Natural Rights - ANSWER✔️The right to life, liberty, and property; believed to be given by God;
no government may take them away.
State of Nature - ANSWER✔️A theory on how people might have lived before societies came
into existence.
Due Process - ANSWER✔️The requirement that government, when dealing with people, have in
place a fair procedure which it equally applies to all.
Social Contract - ANSWER✔️An agreement between people and government in which citizens
consent to be governed so long as the government protects their natural rights.
Political Ideologies - ANSWER✔️Coherent philosophies about the structure, power, and purpose
of government.
Bicameral Legislature - ANSWER✔️A lawmaking body that consists of two separate chambers.
Executive Orders - ANSWER✔️Rules or orders that are issued by the President and have the
force of law.
,Inherent Power - ANSWER✔️The powers neither enumerated nor implied but assumed to exist as
a direct result of the country's existence.
Oversight - ANSWER✔️The right to review and monitor other bodies such as the executive
branch.
Committees - ANSWER✔️A small set of representatives tasked with considering, researching,
introducing, and investigating particular policy areas.
Discretionary Spending - ANSWER✔️Spending that can be altered from year to year through the
appropriations process.
Budget Resolution - ANSWER✔️A model of what the government plans to spend and take in as
revenue over the next fiscal year. Includes a set of budget priorities and discretionary spending
limits.
Pork-barrel Spending - ANSWER✔️Spending on often unnecessary local projects that benefit a
specific member of Congress' district or state.
Line-item Veto - ANSWER✔️The ability of the President to reject specific portions of a piece of
legislation rather than reject an entire piece of legislation. Ruled unconstitutional by the US
Supreme Court.
Interstate Commerce Clause - ANSWER✔️Enumerated power of Congress to regulate commerce
and trade that occurs between two or more states.
Legal Tender Act - ANSWER✔️Act passed in 1862 that allowed Congress the ability to produce
paper notes of money not guaranteed by gold or silver.
Federal Reserve System - ANSWER✔️The central banking system of the United States that sets
monetary policies and bank regulations.
Advice and Consent - ANSWER✔️Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive
and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties
become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
Supermajority - ANSWER✔️Also referred to as an absolute majority, any number greater than
half or 50%.
Filibuster - ANSWER✔️A rule only permitted in the US Senate that allows a member of the
Senate to prevent action on a bill or vote by continuously speaking.
Administrative Agencies - ANSWER✔️Bodies created by Congress to enforce laws and develop
regulations for the enforcement of laws.
,Majority Party - ANSWER✔️The political party in Congress that has the most seats in each
chamber.
Minority Party - ANSWER✔️The political party in Congress that has the fewest seats in each
chamber.
Speaker of the House - ANSWER✔️The elected leader of the majority party in the House of
Representatives who serves as the chief presiding officer.
Majority Leader - ANSWER✔️The second in command in the House of Representatives; works
closely with the Speaker of the House.
Minority Leader - ANSWER✔️The elected leader of the minority party.
Majority Whip - ANSWER✔️A leadership position from the majority party whose job it is to
help coordinate strategy among the members of their political party.
Minority Whip - ANSWER✔️A leadership position from the minority party whose job it is to
help coordinate strategy among the members of their political party.
President pro tempore - ANSWER✔️The person in the Senate who serves as the Chief Presiding
Officer in the absence of the Vice President, ceremoniously given to the longest-serving senator
of the majority party.
Standing Committee - ANSWER✔️Permanent committees that exist from session to session for
the purpose of researching, writing, and introducing proposed pieces of legislation.
Select Committee - ANSWER✔️Temporary Committees established to investigate a particular
issue or policy area not covered by a standing committee.
Joint Committee - ANSWER✔️Committees that have both members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate serving and working together.
Conference Committee - ANSWER✔️A type of joint committee whose job it is to form one
unified bill from different versions of the same piece of legislation passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate to be sent to the President.
Rules Committee - ANSWER✔️The Committee that determines the parameters for debate and
amendments to a piece of legislation, the Rules Committee has more power in the House of
Representatives than it does in the Senate.
Cloture - ANSWER✔️A procedural mechanism whereby 60 members (three fifths) of the entire
Senate vote to end a filibuster.
, Gerrymandering - ANSWER✔️The illegal re-drawing of electoral districts to provide an unfair
electoral advantage based on political party or race.
Redistricting - ANSWER✔️The re-drawing of electoral districts to accommodate for changes in a
state's population based on the last census. The goal is to create districts that are equal in
population.
Census - ANSWER✔️A population count. The US completes a census every 10 years.
Reapportionment - ANSWER✔️The reallocation of seats in the House or Representatives based
on changes in a state's population.
Popular Vote - ANSWER✔️An election in which the winner is determined by the number of
individual votes obtained.
Virginia Plan - ANSWER✔️A plan for a two-house legislature; representatives would be elected
to the lower house based on each state's population; representatives for the upper house would be
chosen by the lower house.
New Jersey Plan - ANSWER✔️A plan that called for a one-house national legislature; each state
would receive one vote.
Great Compromise - ANSWER✔️Also known as the Connecticut Compromise. A compromise
between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan that created a bicameral legislature;
representation based on population in the House of Representatives and equal representation of
states in the Senate.
Three-Fifths Compromise - ANSWER✔️A compromise between northern and southern states
that called for counting of all a state's free population and 60 percent of its slave population for
both federal taxation and representation in Congress.
Veto - ANSWER✔️The power of the president to reject a law proposed by Congress.
Checks and Balances - ANSWER✔️A system that allows one branch of government to limit the
exercise of power by another branch; requires the different parts of government to work
together..
Separation of Powers - ANSWER✔️The sharing of powers among three separate branches of
government.
Federal System - ANSWER✔️A form of government which power is divided between state
governments and a national government.
A+ (100% CORRECT) LATEST VERSION 2026
Natural Rights - ANSWER✔️The right to life, liberty, and property; believed to be given by God;
no government may take them away.
State of Nature - ANSWER✔️A theory on how people might have lived before societies came
into existence.
Due Process - ANSWER✔️The requirement that government, when dealing with people, have in
place a fair procedure which it equally applies to all.
Social Contract - ANSWER✔️An agreement between people and government in which citizens
consent to be governed so long as the government protects their natural rights.
Political Ideologies - ANSWER✔️Coherent philosophies about the structure, power, and purpose
of government.
Bicameral Legislature - ANSWER✔️A lawmaking body that consists of two separate chambers.
Executive Orders - ANSWER✔️Rules or orders that are issued by the President and have the
force of law.
,Inherent Power - ANSWER✔️The powers neither enumerated nor implied but assumed to exist as
a direct result of the country's existence.
Oversight - ANSWER✔️The right to review and monitor other bodies such as the executive
branch.
Committees - ANSWER✔️A small set of representatives tasked with considering, researching,
introducing, and investigating particular policy areas.
Discretionary Spending - ANSWER✔️Spending that can be altered from year to year through the
appropriations process.
Budget Resolution - ANSWER✔️A model of what the government plans to spend and take in as
revenue over the next fiscal year. Includes a set of budget priorities and discretionary spending
limits.
Pork-barrel Spending - ANSWER✔️Spending on often unnecessary local projects that benefit a
specific member of Congress' district or state.
Line-item Veto - ANSWER✔️The ability of the President to reject specific portions of a piece of
legislation rather than reject an entire piece of legislation. Ruled unconstitutional by the US
Supreme Court.
Interstate Commerce Clause - ANSWER✔️Enumerated power of Congress to regulate commerce
and trade that occurs between two or more states.
Legal Tender Act - ANSWER✔️Act passed in 1862 that allowed Congress the ability to produce
paper notes of money not guaranteed by gold or silver.
Federal Reserve System - ANSWER✔️The central banking system of the United States that sets
monetary policies and bank regulations.
Advice and Consent - ANSWER✔️Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive
and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties
become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
Supermajority - ANSWER✔️Also referred to as an absolute majority, any number greater than
half or 50%.
Filibuster - ANSWER✔️A rule only permitted in the US Senate that allows a member of the
Senate to prevent action on a bill or vote by continuously speaking.
Administrative Agencies - ANSWER✔️Bodies created by Congress to enforce laws and develop
regulations for the enforcement of laws.
,Majority Party - ANSWER✔️The political party in Congress that has the most seats in each
chamber.
Minority Party - ANSWER✔️The political party in Congress that has the fewest seats in each
chamber.
Speaker of the House - ANSWER✔️The elected leader of the majority party in the House of
Representatives who serves as the chief presiding officer.
Majority Leader - ANSWER✔️The second in command in the House of Representatives; works
closely with the Speaker of the House.
Minority Leader - ANSWER✔️The elected leader of the minority party.
Majority Whip - ANSWER✔️A leadership position from the majority party whose job it is to
help coordinate strategy among the members of their political party.
Minority Whip - ANSWER✔️A leadership position from the minority party whose job it is to
help coordinate strategy among the members of their political party.
President pro tempore - ANSWER✔️The person in the Senate who serves as the Chief Presiding
Officer in the absence of the Vice President, ceremoniously given to the longest-serving senator
of the majority party.
Standing Committee - ANSWER✔️Permanent committees that exist from session to session for
the purpose of researching, writing, and introducing proposed pieces of legislation.
Select Committee - ANSWER✔️Temporary Committees established to investigate a particular
issue or policy area not covered by a standing committee.
Joint Committee - ANSWER✔️Committees that have both members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate serving and working together.
Conference Committee - ANSWER✔️A type of joint committee whose job it is to form one
unified bill from different versions of the same piece of legislation passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate to be sent to the President.
Rules Committee - ANSWER✔️The Committee that determines the parameters for debate and
amendments to a piece of legislation, the Rules Committee has more power in the House of
Representatives than it does in the Senate.
Cloture - ANSWER✔️A procedural mechanism whereby 60 members (three fifths) of the entire
Senate vote to end a filibuster.
, Gerrymandering - ANSWER✔️The illegal re-drawing of electoral districts to provide an unfair
electoral advantage based on political party or race.
Redistricting - ANSWER✔️The re-drawing of electoral districts to accommodate for changes in a
state's population based on the last census. The goal is to create districts that are equal in
population.
Census - ANSWER✔️A population count. The US completes a census every 10 years.
Reapportionment - ANSWER✔️The reallocation of seats in the House or Representatives based
on changes in a state's population.
Popular Vote - ANSWER✔️An election in which the winner is determined by the number of
individual votes obtained.
Virginia Plan - ANSWER✔️A plan for a two-house legislature; representatives would be elected
to the lower house based on each state's population; representatives for the upper house would be
chosen by the lower house.
New Jersey Plan - ANSWER✔️A plan that called for a one-house national legislature; each state
would receive one vote.
Great Compromise - ANSWER✔️Also known as the Connecticut Compromise. A compromise
between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan that created a bicameral legislature;
representation based on population in the House of Representatives and equal representation of
states in the Senate.
Three-Fifths Compromise - ANSWER✔️A compromise between northern and southern states
that called for counting of all a state's free population and 60 percent of its slave population for
both federal taxation and representation in Congress.
Veto - ANSWER✔️The power of the president to reject a law proposed by Congress.
Checks and Balances - ANSWER✔️A system that allows one branch of government to limit the
exercise of power by another branch; requires the different parts of government to work
together..
Separation of Powers - ANSWER✔️The sharing of powers among three separate branches of
government.
Federal System - ANSWER✔️A form of government which power is divided between state
governments and a national government.
