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This tutorial will provide an opportunity to examine the different steps that are required for a proposed bill to be pas

Understanding How a U.S. Federal Bill Becomes a Law. This tutorial will provide an opportunity to examine the different steps that are required for a proposed bill to be passed into law in the U.S. Congress. Click Here to Begin. Created by Laura Chamberlain. Instructions.

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This tutorial will provide an opportunity to examine the different steps that are required for a proposed bill to be pas

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  1. Understanding How a U.S. Federal Bill Becomes a Law This tutorial will provide an opportunity to examine the different steps that are required for a proposed bill to be passed into law in the U.S. Congress. Click Here to Begin Created by Laura Chamberlain

  2. Instructions ~During this tutorial you will be spending time looking at the different steps needed to pass a bill in to law. ~You will be reading information, answering questions and completing a large flow chart that you will be copying down to turn in and then use as notes, so make sure you have a pencil and paper. ~Each slide will present you with information and then additions to the road map that you should copy down onto your own, along with any other information you find useful.Once you have completed everything on the slide, look for these symbols to take you to the next slide or to return to a previous slide. Try it now:

  3. Understanding How a U.S. Federal Bill Becomes a Law

  4. Are you ready for a roadtrip? The roadtrip is a great American pastime. Packing up your car, picking a destination on the map, and setting out, and making some stops along the way. Passing a Bill into Law, can be thought of like a roadtrip, but with a slightly confusing route to get to the final destination: The White House and the President’s Desk. When the road seems confusing, and may have some pitfalls, it is best to have a map. By the end of this exercise, you will have your very own map, that you will be able to use to help guide your studies. So grab the cooler, your sunglasses, and don’t forget to call shotgun, because we’re hitting the road!

  5. Hitting the Road Now that we know where we’re trying to get our Bill to –The President’s Desk to be signed, let’s start our Road Maps. Your Road Map doesn’t have to look exactly like the one completed here, but as we move forward you will need to make sure that you copy down all the important stops and information in the correct order. Let’s start with two cars in the upper right, one for the House of Representatives and one for the Senate :

  6. Hitting the Road When someone (citizen, special interest group/lobbyist, Congressperson) wishes to create a law, they write what is called a Bill, which is simply a proposed law. This Bill is then introduced into one of the houses, or chambers, of Congress by a Congressperson. The United States Congress has two Houses: The House of Representatives and the House of the Senate. We can think of these two chambers as “vehicles” to move our Bill with, so let’s think of each chamber as a car. It does not matter which chamber the Bill starts in, unless it involves raising revenues or appropriations (or the raising, or spending, of money). If so, it must begin in the House of Representatives, but will also be considered by the Senate.

  7. On the Road When a Bill is introduced into a house, it’s assigned a number. This number shows what house , which session, and what number bill it is. Here are two examples: H.O.R. 204. 129 SEN 198. 25 Knowing all this, let’s update our map. Copy the following information into your notes: Bill Assigned a Number Bill Introduced in either House ! Caution! $ Bills must start in the House of Reps.

  8. Snack Time We’ve got some road behind us now! Anyone else thirsty? But drinks don’t come free you know! You’ll have to pay somehow…Luckily, they consider knowledge to be good currency in these parts.

  9. Snack time Click the correct answer below to fill your soda cup. How many Houses make up the U.S. Congress? 4 3 2 1

  10. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  11. CORRECT!

  12. Snack time Click the correct answer. What are the two Houses that make up the U.S. Congress called? The Republicans and Democrats The House of Representatives and the Senate The Best and The Worst The Executive and the Legislative

  13. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  14. CORRECT!

  15. Snack time Click the correct answer. A Bill is introduced that does not involve the appropriation of money. Where does that Bill start? The Senate The House of Representatives A Lobbyist Either the House of Reps. Or the Senate

  16. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  17. CORRECT!

  18. Time for a tune-up! Given the subject of the Bill, it is assigned to a Committee, who then refers it to a Sub-Committee for review. This is no different than taking a car to a mechanic’s shop to have any needed changes made to make sure that the car is “road ready”. You can think of the Committee as a the mechanic’s shop and the Sub-Committee as the mechanics.

  19. Time for a tune-up! For better or worse, many bills die while in committees for a various reasons…like a car going to the junkyard. But there’s a lot of work that goes on here too! While your car’s in the shop, many different people may come, examine your car, change something, or try topersuade others what is the best thing for your car. In a Sub-Committees there is lots of information gathering going on. Public Hearings are held so that both supporters and opponents of the Bill can voice their opinions about the Bill, and try and build support one way or the other.

  20. Time for a tune-up! The Sub-Committee works on the Bill, making any changes and amendments deemed necessary. If the Sub-Committee reports the Bill favorably to the Committee, the Committee then decides whether or not to report it favorably to the floor, or house, for debate. A favorable report puts the car back on the road to becoming a law by moving it to the floor for full debate! Before we get going, let’s update our map again….

  21. Bill Introduced in either House Bill Assigned number ! Favorable report of Bill Bill Assigned to Sub-Committee Bill Assigned to Committee Whew! Let’s stop and get some snacks before we really get back on the road….

  22. Snack Time! Hmmm…looks like we’ll have to pay for chips with knowledge at this stop too. Click the correct answer to the question below to earn a big bag of chips: While the Bill is in Committee, what events occur in the legislature? Public debates between supporters and opponents of the Bill Picnics and Tea Parties Information collection, revision, and a vote to move the Bill to the floor for debate. All of the above

  23. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  24. CORRECT!

  25. Snack Time! True or False. A Bill can die in a Committee or Sub-committee? True False

  26. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  27. CORRECT!

  28. Back on the Road! Time to really get moving again, since we’ve ‘refueled’. But looking at the road ahead, it looks like there might be something coming up….

  29. The Road Splits! So we were moving along to a floor debate, but it looks like our cars take different paths as this point. We had better make sure our maps reflect this fork in the road.

  30. Bill Introduced in either House Bill Assigned number ! Favorable report of Bill Bill Assigned to Committee Bill Assigned to Sub-Committee H.O.R. Floor Debate Sen. Floor Debate

  31. The Road for The House of Representatives On this road, the Bill is on the floor of the House of Representatives. Here it may be discussed, debated, amended, and shaped. However, this can only occur if a Committee of the Whole is present. This committee consists of any 100 members of the House of Representatives who are present at any given time.

  32. The Road for The House of Representatives Once the debate has concluded, the Bill must be put to a vote. A quorum (which is half the total members of the House of Representatives) must be present to vote. Only a simple majority is needed to pass the Bill. Let’s update the map….

  33. Bill Introduced in either House Bill Assigned number ! Favorable report of Bill Bill Sub-Committee Bill Assigned to Committee Com. Of Whole Present H.O.R. Floor Debate Debate Occurs Vote. To pass a majority of the quorum needed Sen. Floor Debate

  34. The road for the senate It is important to note that if a Bill has already passed through the House of Representatives, it need not go through the Committee steps. If it was introduced in the Senate, and has passed through the Committee process, it then moves to the Senate floor to debate. It is here that “Riders” (irreverent amendments that have nothing to do with the subject of the Bill) are added. They are like hitchhikers who want to ‘ride’ through a passage of Congress. The Senate has no Committee of the Whole rule, nor is there a limit regarding the amount of time for debate, which can lead to some trouble…..

  35. The road for the Senate Oh no! Traffic Jam! Some one has decided to Filibuster on the Senate floor. Because there is no limit on debate, sometimes Senators will make long-winded, often off topic speeches in order to prevent a vote from taking place. Luckily, there are two ways around this. The first is a Cloture Resolution. This is difficult and rarely used procedure that has 3/5ths of the Senate vote to break a filibuster. The second is a new process called Double Tracking. When a senator filibusters against a bill for a certain amount of time, it is temporarily set aside so that the Senate may move on with other business, rather than being tied up while someone talks around the clock.

  36. The road for the Senate Once the Bill is put to a vote in the Senate, it can pass with a simple majority. Looks like there is more updating to do, but we’ll have to move further down the page…..

  37. Debate Occurs H.O.R. Floor Debate Com. Of Whole Present Debate Occurs Vote. To pass a majority of the quorum needed Sen. Floor Debate Filibuster Alert! ! End filibuster through Cloture or Double Tracking Vote. To pass a simple majority is needed

  38. Break Time Let’s take some time to review the information we just covered and grab a candy bar while we’re at it…. On the floor of the House of Representatives, the Bill is debated and amended, but who must be present for that to happen? The Committee of the Whole An even number of Republicans and Democrats The Press Corps The President

  39. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  40. CORRECT!

  41. Break Time During debate of a Bill in the Senate, what is it called when a member decides to give a long speech to block a vote on a Bill? A Buster Brown A Filibuster A traffic jam A Snoozer

  42. Oops! That answer is not correct. Try Again by clicking the image below…

  43. CORRECT!

  44. Back on the Road! Time to really get moving again- we’re almost there! We might even be getting a new ride….

  45. Merge Ahead! If the House of Representatives and the Senate pass different forms of the Bill, these differences must be reconciled in one of two ways: 1)Minor differences mean that Bill is sent back to the other House to approve any changes. 2) Major differences mean that a Conference Committee must be formed. This committee is made up members of both houses, and sometimes the Bill has major re-writing done in order to find a compromise.

  46. Merge Ahead! Those who attend the conference committee, then report back to their respective houses about what the new Bill looks like. This Bill can be accepted or rejected, but not amended. Most times, the house will accept the Bill rather than have no Bill at all. This means we have to add to our map.

  47. Debate Occurs H.O.R. Floor Debate Com. Of Whole Present Debate Occurs Vote. To pass a majority of the quorum needed Sen. Floor Debate ! Filibuster Alert! End filibuster through Cloture or Double Tracking Vote. To pass a simple majority is needed One single version of the Bill emerges either from a vote by the other chamber or by conference committee

  48. The White House Once the Bill has passed BOTH HOUSES IN THE SAME FORM, it then moves to the White House and the desk of the President in the Oval Office.

  49. Our Bill is a Law! Once there the President can do one of three things: Sign the Bill into law within ten days (our goal!) Veto the Bill and return it to Congress. Congress in turn, can use a special vote to override the veto. “Pocket Veto” the Bill. This means that this session of Congress will end within 10 days. If a Bill does not pass within a single session of Congress it dies, and must start the process over again, when the new session, with potentially different members and priorities, begins.

  50. Thanks for joining me on this trip, where we learned how a Bill becomes a law. Before you leave, please make sure that you got all of the different stops on our Road Map so that you have a great study resource. Once your map is complete, along with any additional notes you want to take, please turn this into your teacher to be graded. Great Job!

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