As we discussed in class, if a bill has passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and has been approved by the President, or if a presidential veto has been overridden, the bill becomes a law and is enforced by the government.
We discovered that this is often a very long process.
To review:
1. A member of Congress introduces a bill.
When a senator or representative introduces a bill, it is sent to the clerk of the Senate or House, who gives it a number and title. Next, the bill goes to the appropriate committee.
2. Committees review and vote on the bill.
Committees specialize in different areas, such as foreign relations or agriculture, and are made up of small groups of senators or representatives.
The committee may reject the bill and “table” it, meaning it is never discussed again. Or it may hold hearings to listen to facts and opinions, make changes in the bill and cast votes. If most committee members vote in favor of the bill, it is sent back to the Senate and the House for debate.
3. The Senate and the House debate and vote on the bill.
Separately, the Senate and the House debate the bill, offer amendments and cast votes. If the bill is defeated in either the Senate or the House, the bill dies.
Sometimes, the House and the Senate pass the same bill, but with different amendments. In these cases, the bill goes to a conference committee made up of members of Congress. The conference committee works out differences between the two versions of the bill.
Then the bill goes before all of Congress for a vote. If a majority of both the Senate and the House votes for the bill, it goes to the President for approval.
4. The President signs the bill—or not.
If the President approves the bill and signs it, the bill becomes a law.
However, if the President disapproves, he can veto the bill by refusing to sign it.
Congress can try to overrule a veto. If both the Senate and the House pass the bill by a two-thirds majority, the President's veto is overruled and the bill becomes a law.
Watch this 3 minute Schoolhouse Rock video
View the Overview of the Legislative Process
(4 minutes)
This 4 minute video shows laws that were passed in 2015 and went into effect on January 1, 2016.
Election Coverage
Look at The Road to the White House and complete your worksheet.
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| Donald Trump |
Also: Meet your Presidential Candidates here:
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| Hilary Clinton |
Your assignment will be to watch at least ONE of the Presidential debates. Talk to your parents and see which one they might be free to watch with you. You will complete the chart given to you in response to the debate.
- First presidential debate (Mon, Sept. 26)
- Vice presidential debate (Tues, Oct. 4)
- Second presidential debate (Sun, Oct. 9)
- Third presidential debate (Wed Oct. 19)
This website offers a FACT CHECK on what was said during the first Presidential Debate.
These are the candidates who have dropped out of the Presidential Race.
I was surprised that there wasn't already a law that required daycare workers to get certain immunizations. I think it's a good idea to help protect the kids from diseases.
ReplyDeleteWould if the kids all grown up get a disease that they could have gotten earlier in their life and if they got it again it would have not affected them as much. Honestly I think that we should all expose the children we have to germs as soon as possible so that later on in their life they will not be as vulnerable too sickness, but when they do get sick that their memory B cells will have already seen the enemy and will be able to have the white blood cells fight the bad cells and have a better chance at not getting sick as often and their immune system will be stronger.
DeleteI agree with the law that forces multiple offense drunk drivers to get the breath test in their cars.
ReplyDeleteI think that one about selling illegal drugs should have been that way a long time ago
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that anyone who gets convicted of making a false 911 call will have to reimburse however much it cost for the emergency workers to respond to the call.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that people are now allowed to hunt Bobcats, even if only at certain times.
ReplyDeleteI think the breathalyzer is a good idea and also a bad idea. the good thing about it is that their would be a less percentage of drunk drivers on the road. But the bad part is that if the car stops every hour or couple hours. especially if you are on a road trip. then it will take you twice the time to get their .
ReplyDeleteand alsoe for your scholastic news worksheet. just type in what the heading is on the paper on google. and links will come up. their will be this fun car game. it will give you all the answeres
ReplyDeleteThe idea Lauren is not to look up a copy of the worksheet with the answers but to do the activity and learn for yourself. :)
DeleteI also really like that they are having the machines to test driver that could be or are drunk
ReplyDeleteI like the law that requires police officers who wear cameras to leave them on when they are doing their thing. That way if something bad happened to anyone involved, there could be another source to consider besides the police officer's word against the suspect's word. However, I think that law should just require all police officers to wear cameras as well.
ReplyDeleteI thought that legalizing bobcat permits every year was a fun and interesting fact in order to have their population thrive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the law that raises the age limit on youth hunting permits from 16 to 18
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the breathalyzer ingestion test for the car as a safe way to keep the public out of harms way. There are more drunk drivers than there are police officers, and this will definitely reduce the amount of work that the officers will have to do.
ReplyDelete