How a Bill Becomes a Law

January 9th-12th

Overview of Bills

Crash Course How a Bill Becomes a Law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66f4-NKEYz4&index=9&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOfse2ncvffeelTrqvhrz8H

So… how does a bill become a law?

Task:

- Follow along on your notes to fill in the details. There is a filled-in infographic on the back for a better visual representation of the bill process.

- You will need to be able to fully explain this process (although we are talking about the “brief” version, passing a bill is difficult)

Step 1: Starts with an idea

Anyone can have an idea for a bill (lobbyist, Congressman, a citizen), but only members of Congress can introduce the bill to a chamber of Congress.

Beginning of the Bill

● A bill is a proposed law presented to the House or Senate for consideration.● A bill or resolution usually deals with a single matter but sometimes a rider

(addition to the bill) dealing with an unrelated matter is included.● The clerk/secretary numbers each bill

Representatives introduce bills by placing them in the bill hopper that is attached to the side of the Clerk’s desk. The term comes from a funnel-shaped storage bin filled from the top and emptied from the bottom. The storage bins usually hold grain or coal.

Types of Bills and Resolutions

● Bill - proposed law or draft of a law; public bill applies to the entire nation; private bill applies only to certain people or places

Example → Appropriations bill: determines how money is spent.

Bills dealing with revenue ALWAYS begin in the House of Representatives!

● Joint Resolution - a proposal for action that has the force of law when passed; usually deals with special circumstances of temporary matters; President must sign

Types of Bills and Resolutions (cont.)

Concurrent Resolution - a statement of position on an issue used by the House and Senate acting jointly; does not have the force of law; does not require the President’s signature

Simple Resolution - a measure relating to the business of either house or expressing an opinion on a matter; does not have the force of law; does not require the President’s signature

The Bill CommitteeMost bills die in committee, pigeonholed (put away), never to be acted upon. After bills are proposed, they are assigned to the committees.

If a committee pigeonholes a bill that a majority of the House wishes to consider, it can be brought out of committee via a discharge petition.

Gathering Information →

- Most committees do their work through several subcommittees (divisions of existing committees formed to address specific issues).

- Committees and subcommittees often hold public hearings or make a junket (trip) to gather information relating to a measure.

Committee Actions

When a subcommittee has completed its work on a bill, it returns to the full committee. The full committee may do one of several things:

1. Report the bill favorably, with a “do pass” recommendation2. Refuse to report the bill3. Report the bill in amended/changed form4. Report the bill with unfavorable recommendation5. Report a committee bill

Bill of the Floor (House of Reps)

A bill is placed into one of five calendars before going to the floor for consideration:

1. The Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

2. The House Calendar3. The Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House4. The Consent Calendar5. The Discharge Calendar

Before most measures can be taken from a calendar, the Rules Committee must approve that step and set a time for its appearance on the floor

Bill on the Floor (Senate)

The only difference is the filibuster (think of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington!) - can stand and talk as long as they (the Senator) can in order to stall the bill

To stop a Filibuster from happening…

1) The Senate can put the bill aside and move on2) Vote to end the filibuster - ⅗ have to agree, or 60 of the Senators (this is

known as cloture)... limits filibuster to 30 hours (1917)

Committee of the Whole

The Committee of the Whole includes all members of the House, however, they sit as one large committee and not as the House itself. This speeds up consideration of bills (debate the bill with 100 members, not the full 435)

When the Committee of the Whole resolves itself, the Speaker steps down and another member presides. General debate follows.

● Debate rules…● Severe limits are placed on floor debate due to the House’s large size● Majority and minority floor leaders generally decide in advance how they will

split the time to be spent on a bill.

Voting on a Bill

There are four methods of taking a floor vote in the House:

1. During voice votes the Speaker calls for the “ayes” and then the “noes”2. In a standing vote, the members in favor of for and then those opposed to

the bill rise and then are counted by the clerk3. One fifth of a quorum can demand a teller vote, in which the Speaker names

two tellers, for and against, and members pass by each one to be counted4. A roll-call vote may be demanded by one fifth of the members present

When Representatives vote on a bill they usually use the Electronic Voting Machine. To record their vote, Representatives slide their voting cards into the machine then select year, nay, or present. The machine tallies the results.

Final Steps...

Once a bill has been approved at second reading, it is engrossed, or printed in its final form. It is then read for a third time and a final vote is taken.

Senate: nearly the same process and then on to….

Then it is sent to the President.

SIDENOTE: ***If there are two bills (one in each house) and they are similar → then a Conference Committee with both members of the House/Senate come together and fix the bill to combine it.

Other sidenote → bills have to be identical. So if the bill goes through the House and then the Senate makes changes… then it must return to the House to see these changes and see if both houses can come to an agreement (see how difficult this can be… hence why bills die in committees)

Final final steps...Once the leaders of both Chambers have signed-off, the Clerk of the House delivers the bill to a clerk at the White House and obtains a receipt. When the President receives the bill, he has three options…

1. Pass - if the president approves the bill he signs it and usually writes “approved” and the date, although the Constitution only requires his signature

2. Veto - if the president does not approve the bill, he must return it to its Chamber of origin with his objections within 10 days

3. Pocket Veto - if the president receives the bill and does not sign or return it to Congress with objections within 10 days (excluding Sundays), it becomes law as long as Congress remains in session. If Congress recesses before the 10 days have passed, the bill dies.

I’m Just a Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0

Find the inaccuracies of the Schoolhouse Rock Video.

Bill Simulation

We will simulate a bill going through both the House & Senate.

⅕ of the class = Senate

⅘ of the class = House of Representatives

*Instead of being the Congressional body of the US Federal Government, you will be the Congressional body of Loudoun County Public Schools. It works pretty much the same way Congress does (note this is a hypothetical situation!)

Setting Up The Houses

Senate = make 1 person the majority leader to keep everyone in line… the President and Pres Pro Temp are on a golfing trip together :/

House = make 1 person the Speaker of the House to keep everyone in line (this person needs to be willing to speak up and cut people off, while being RESPECTFUL)

Phase 1 - Introduce the slightly diff bills

Each chamber has a slightly different form of the bill.

Overall topic: Final Exams will be administered this Spring 2017.

Agenda - January 11th and 12th

● Sit in your usual seats● Congress Simulation● Congress Simulation Reflection● Pick up Congress Study Guides - test is Thursday, Jan 19th & Friday, Jan 20th!

***IMPORTANT!

● LAST day to turn in missing work/make up tests that have not yet been completed is Tuesday, January 17th!!!

Phase 2 - Decide on Committees

● Brainstorm with your house to decide on potential committees that would be relevant to deciding/marking up/editing the bill

● Pick the best 2 Committees → these will break into the subcommittees for that the bills will go to

So this is where we are...

Bill Introduced in House Bill Introduced in Senate

Subcommittee #1 Subcommittee #1Subcommittee #2

Phase 3 - Subcommittee Markups

Split each chamber into 2 groups → each group will be part of one of the 2 subcommittees that are part of each chamber

Goal: Markup the bill (keep in mind that this bill needs to be revised by the floor of your chamber AND then be approved by the Senate)

Phase 4 - Floor Meeting & DebateHouse - BEFORE you begin, the Speaker has been instructed by the Rules Committee to allot only a specific amount of time each member can speak if he/she wishes to change the proposed bill.

Senate - The Majority Leader has been instructed to keep everyone in line during the floor debate. Keep in mind that any member may filibuster if he/she wishes to do so and this can be ended with a cloture ⅗ vote of the Senators.

*At the end of this time, both chambers must have approved their combined version of the bills each subcommittee has worked on. You have not seen the other chamber’s bill yet… just the one from the other subcommittee in your chamber.

Phase 5 - Vote

Both houses must approve their versions of the bill with a simple majority (over 50%).

Phase 5 - Conference Committee

Because the bills in both the House and Senate are very similar (although not identical), the bills will be put forth to the Conference Committee.

Choose 3 people from each chamber to enter into the Conference Committee Fishbowl.

These 3 people MUST decide on a revised version of the 2 bills. They must combine the bills and decide on one. Keep in mind this new version of the bill must pass through BOTH houses with a simple majority after this meeting.

Phase 6 - Back to the Floor for Debate

Same thing as Phase 4

Phase 7 - Vote!

Must pass each chamber with a simple majority.

Phase 8 - on to the President aka Ms. Trent

What will she do to the bill???

Options…

● Sign into law● Veto● Pocket veto

Reflection...

● What was your experience working in your designated chamber?● How do you think the other chamber worked? Was it as efficient/inefficient

as yours?● What happened to the bill during committee?● What happened to the bill during conference committee?● Overall reaction of this process? Why do you think bills die so often?