Legislative Branch
How a Bill Becomes a Law
10/5
●Pick up an outline from the front
What is a Bill?
●A draft of a proposed
law that is written by a
member of Congress for
discussion
●More than 10,000 bills
introduced during a
term of Congress
Two Types of Bills
●Bills fall into two
categories:
oPrivate bills
 involve individual
people or places
oPublic bills
 involve the nation
as a whole
How a Bill Becomes a Law
●All bills start out as an idea
●New ideas can come from
private citizens, the White
House, or Special-Interest
groups
●A Senator or Representative
must introduce the bill to
Congress
How a Bill Becomes a Law
●Every bill is given a title
and a number
●Bills introduced in the
Senate have a “S.” and
then a number
●Bills introduced in the
House of Representatives
have a “H.R.” and then a
number
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Committee
●A bill is sent to a
Standing committee that
is related to the subject
of the bill
●Standing committees
have the power to:
o Kill the bill (several ways to
do this)
o Pass the bill
o Mark up a bill with changes
and suggest that it be
passed
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Debating a Bill
●Bills are considered by
the full House or Senate
●Bills are debated on the
floor of the House or
Senate
●Amendments may be
added to the bill during
this stage
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Bills and Riders
●Riders:
o completely unrelated
amendments add to a bill
●Allowed in the Senate
only
●Amber Alert Bill
Example
o RAVE Act was attached as
a rider
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Rules of Debate
●The House of
Representatives has more
rules for debate because
it is larger
o House Rules Committee
makes the rules for debate
●Senate, due to smaller
size, has fewer rules for
debate
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Filibuster
●Filibuster
o Talking a bill to death
o Only happens in the Senate
●A filibuster can be
ended if three-fifths of
the Senate votes for
cloture
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Filibuster
●Longest filibuster in
United States history was
by Senator Strom
Thurmond
o Spoke for 24 hours and 18
minutes straight
o He was hoping to talk the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 to
death
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Voting
●After debate, a bill is
voted on
●Voting in the House is done
in 3 ways
o Voice vote, Standing vote, and
Recorded vote
●Voting in the Senate is
done in 3 ways
o Roll Call vote, Voice vote, and
Standing vote
How a Bill Becomes a Law
●A simple majority of all
members present is
needed to pass a bill
●Once a bill passes in one
house, it must pass in the
other
●Bills must pass in
identical form through
both houses
o Conference Committee
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Presidential Action
●After a bill is approved by
both houses, it is sent to
the president
●The president can do one
of three things:
o sign the bill
o veto the bill
o do nothing
 pocket veto
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Veto
●The president can
attempt to kill a bill
through a veto
●Congress can try to
override the veto with a
two-thirds vote in each
House
How a Bill Becomes a Law
●https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66f4NKEYz4
●https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6
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