Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
The words that fill the blank must help explain the difficulty of developing a consensus. A lack of agreement on the assumptions that underlie Congress members’ policy objectives would contribute to such a difficulty. Accordingly, “disparate” and “divergent” are the best choices because they both indicate disagreement among the members. Although the words “trite” and “trivial” are similar in meaning, triteness and triviality do not help to explain the difficulty in developing a consensus.