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
~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:
Understanding
How a U.S.
Federal Bill
Becomes a
Law
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!
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 :
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.
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
Introduced
in either
House
Caution! $ Bills must start in
the House of Reps.
Bill
Assigned a
Number
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.
SNACK TIME
Click the correct answer below to fill your
soda cup.
How many Houses make up the U.S. Congress?
1
2
3
4
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
SNACK TIME
Click the correct answer.
What are the two Houses that make
up the U.S. Congress called?
The Republicans
and Democrats
The Best and The
Worst
The House of Representatives
and the Senate
The Executive and the
Legislative
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
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
A Lobbyist
The House of Representatives
Either the House of Reps.
Or the Senate
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
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.
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 to persuade 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.
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….
!
Favorable
report of
Bill
Bill
Introduced
in either
House
Bill
Assigned
to SubCommittee
Bill
Assigned
number
Bill
Assigned
to
Committee
Whew! Let’s stop and get some
snacks before we really get back
on the road….
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
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
SNACK TIME!
True or False. A Bill can die in a Committee or Subcommittee?
True
False
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
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….
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.
!
Favorable
report of
Bill
Bill
Introduced
in either
House
Bill
Assigned
number
Bill
Assigned
to SubCommittee
H.O.R. Floor
Debate
Sen.
Floor
Debate
Bill
Assigned to
Committee
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.
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….
!
Bill
Introduced
in either
House
Favorable
report of
Bill
Bill
Assigned
number
Bill
SubCommittee
H.O.R.
Floor
Debate
Sen.
Floor
Debate
Bill
Assigned to
Committee
Com. Of
Whole
Present
Vote. To
pass a
majority of
the
quorum
needed
Debate
Occurs
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…..
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.
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…..
H.O.R.
Floor
Debate
Com. Of
Whole
Present
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
Debate
Occurs
!
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
The President
An even number of
Republicans and
Democrats
The Press Corps
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
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 Snoozer
A Filibuster
A traffic jam
Oops!
That answer is not correct.
Try Again by clicking the image
below…
BACK ON THE ROAD!
Time to really get moving
again- we’re almost there!
We might even be getting a
new ride….
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.
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.
Com. Of
Whole
Present
H.O.R.
Floor
Debate
Vote. To
pass a
majority
of the
quorum
needed
Sen.
Floor
Debate
Filibuster
Alert!
Debate
Occurs
!
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
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.
OUR BILL IS A LAW!
Once there the President can do one of
three things:
1) Sign the Bill into law within ten days (our goal!)
2) Veto the Bill and return it to Congress. Congress
in turn, can use a special vote to override the
veto.
3) “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.
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!