Brainstarter 3/21

• Most of the fine tuning (studying, having hearings on and amending) bills is done in small groups called ___.
• What are the
• permanent kind?
• temporary kind?
• the kind made up of H and S

*how is committee membership determined?

• Who am I? Letter A-G

Options:

Majority Party Leader Speaker of the House

Minority Party Leader Party Whip

VP Pres Pro Tem

President

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4.

From the video…record as many steps as you can in “How a Bill Becomes a Law”

Short & Sweet Version

Short and Sweet (Bill)

• Starts as an ________; constituents call their _____________
• He/she types up bill & introduces it to ___________
• Bill then gets put in a _________ where Congressmen study and debate
• Bill either gets sent on or _______ in committee
• The ________ & the ________ vote on bill
• Bill goes to ____________ where he can become a _______
• If President says no it’s a _________ & bill goes back to _____________

What’s the difference b/w this and an executive order?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSeb2zHQ0

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On the back of 6-3 notes create a flowchart displaying steps in how a bill becomes a law. The more detail the better. (Start on p. 148 of textbook) Be sure to answer the following questions along the way:

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How It Starts

-1. starts as an idea

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-Who has the idea?

Split Process

-a new bill must pass both parts of Congress

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-the bill must also pass both parts in exactly the same form

Becoming a Bill

-2. must be sponsored by a member of Congress

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-put in a draft form

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-introduced into Congress

Committee

-bill is 3. assigned to a committee

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-committee has 3 options

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-send bill to next stage

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-kill the bill

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-pigeonhole the bill-- Action that places a bill to the side without a vote

4. Sent to Sub-Committee

-studies the bill in-depth

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-public hearings-- Meetings held by legislative committees in order to allow public comments and information to be given to legislative committees

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-same 3 options

Colbert Testifies in sub-committee

Committee

-5. back to full committee

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-committee votes to send bill to full House or Senate

House or Senate

-6. Bill is read to the Full House or Senate for the first time

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-Party Leaders try to schedule debate time for bill

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-Members research the merits of the bill

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-Riders may be attached

-additional measures which are not related to the original bill

Debate

-7. members get to voice their opinions on the bill

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-time is often limited in debates in the House (5 minutes)

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-Senate has no time limits on their debate-

-filibuster used as a protest method to delay passage of bill

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-cloture vote ends a filibuster

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-each party is given equal opportunity to speak about the bill

Voting

8. -after debate a vote is scheduled

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-3 types of votes

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voice

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standing

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roll-call—

Type of Congressional vote where each legislator is called out and a vote recorded—mostly done electronically today

Voting Record of NC's reps

Same Bill Must Pass

-both parts of Congress must pass the same bill

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-if bill is not the same a conference committee will meet

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-Special committee made up of legislators from the House and Senate who try to work out differences in bill that passed both houses in different forms

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-bill must be voted on in new form

9. Sent to President

-4 options

-a) sign it into law

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-b) pocket veto-- Process where the President does not sign a bill and Congress is not in session; dies

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-c) veto the bill

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-d) not sign the bill (Congress is in session)

becomes law in 10 days

Over-Riding a Veto

-if vetoed Congress can override the veto

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-2/3 vote required in each house to override

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-very difficult to achieve (107 times out of 1484 vetoes)