That Time Congress Forgot How to Pass a Law - Notes / Opener

• Notes
  • Bills don’t normally get passed, they get bogged down and slowed down
  • There’s a gavel
  • Library of Congress
• What does the video think is wrong with congress?
  • Congress spends more time debating and talking rather than actually passing laws. So much so that they might forget the process since it’s been so long.

Notes

Policy Making Structures and Processes

<aside>

L E A D E R S H I P

</aside>

House Leaders

Speaker of the House:

• Leader of the majority party in the House
• Organizes meetings, committees, and debate speakers

Majority & Minority Leaders:

• First members recognized in debate, spokesperson for their person

Whip:

• Deputy leader (below Majority leaders) who manage party discipline

Senate Leaders

President of the Senate:

• The Vice President of the US; breaks tie votes
• President pro tempore; steps on if the VP is unavailable

Senate Majority Leader:

• Chief Legislator; wields more power in the Senate than the VP
• Sets the calendar, determines which bills are debated on the floor

Committees

Standing Committees

Permanent committees focused on a particular policy area

Joint Committees

Unites members from the House & Senate for routine management and research

Select Committees

Temporary committees to perform a particular study or investigation

Conference Committees

Temporary committees to iron out differences in a bill passed by both houses

Next

Task: How a Bill becomes a law poster.

On a 11x18 sheet of paper or larger, your task is to create a diagram showing the detailed process on how a bill becomes a law. Here are the requirements:

1. Clear title, organization, and writing
2. You must include details (who, what, where, when, why, how) for each of the following stages. Note: For many of these stages, there will be multiple steps in the process. All of these should be shown.
   1. Introduction of the bill
   2. Committee responsibilities
   3. Floor activity
   4. Conference Committee
   5. President's Action / Congress Reaction