Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President's recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President's choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary's argument depends?
T-9-Q33. Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the passage? A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing congestion on the province’s highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of easing congestion, because . A. most of people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience. B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion, about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other. C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the past 20 years. D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railroads. E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail.
2. GWD17-Q9: (CD-9 Q10) Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics. Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary’s argument depends? A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party. C. The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. D. The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties. E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects.
11. GWD17-Q11: Some species of Arctic birds are threatened by recent sharp increases in the population of snow geese, which breed in the Arctic and are displacing birds of less vigorous species. Although snow geese are a popular quarry for hunters in the southern regions where they winter, the hunting season ends if and when hunting has reduced the population by five percent, according to official estimates. Clearly, dropping this restriction would allow the other species to recover.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?
A. Hunting limits for snow geese were imposed many years ago in response to a sharp decline in the population of snow geese. B. It has been many years since the restriction led to the hunting season for snow geese being closed earlier than the scheduled date. C. The number of snow geese taken by hunters each year has grown every year for several years. D. As their population has increased, snow geese have recolonized wintering grounds that they had not used for several seasons. E. In the snow goose’s winter habitats, the goose faces no significant natural predation.