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Track the life of a legislative bill

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Students investigate bills under consideration by the United States Congress and gain an understanding of the legislative process.

Objectives

Students gain an understanding of the legislative process of the United States government.
 

Learning outcomes

Students track one bill sponsored by either a senator or a house representative from their state. Students create a flow chart, using Office Visio 2007, to track the status of the bill.
 

Lesson procedure

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Introduction

The journey a bill takes to become enacted as a law by the legislative branch of our government can be very brief or very long. Many bills that are introduced never become laws.
 
The U.S. Constitution lays out the general process by which a bill becomes law. The following are the general steps:
 
  • Step 1. An individual member of either the Senate or the House of Representatives usually introduces a bill.
  • Step 2. Next, a bill is assigned to the appropriate House or Senate committee or subcommittee for hearings. After hearings have been held, the committee or subcommittee votes on whether to approve the bill. If it is not approved, the bill dies. If it is approved, it proceeds to the next step.
  • Step 3. An approved bill is then sent to the entire House or full Senate. Amendments may be made at this time. After discussion, the bill is voted on. If it is not approved, it may be sent back to committee. If a bill is approved, it is sent to the next step.
  • Step 4. After the house of origin has approved a bill, it is sent to the other house for approval.
  • Step 5. Bills approved by both houses of the legislature must be checked for accuracy. A conference may be called to reconcile minor differences in versions of the bill. If differences cannot be reconciled, the bill may die. If the differences are reconciled, the bill moves on to the next step.
  • Step 6. Reconciled bills go to the President to be signed. If the President vetoes the bill, it may be sent back to the legislature for another vote to override the veto. If the President signs the bill, it becomes law. If the President does not veto or sign the bill within 10 days, it becomes law.
  • Step 7. The law is sent to the Archivist of the United States, who assigns a number to it.
  • Step 8. The law is published.

In this activity, you will investigate current legislation under consideration by the U.S. Congress. You will choose a bill that has been sponsored by one of your U.S. senators or one of your U.S. representatives and track it using a flowchart.

Please make sure that you understand the general process of how a bill moves through the legislative process before you begin your flow chart. A good site for reviewing the process we just summarized is called “Constitutional Topic: How a Bill Becomes a Law” (see link at right).

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Student activity

Pease download the Student handout (Microsoft Word document, 18 KB) for details on the main activities for this lesson plan.
 

Lesson extension activities

For each action on the bill, ask the students to research the following:
  • The committees that reviewed the bill.
  • The voting history of bill sponsors and co-sponsors.
  • The arguments for and against the bill. 

Ask students to research the basic legislative process of a bill becoming law in another country and compare that country's process to the one in the United States.

Ask students to research the history of one recent controversial bill. The govtrack.us site enables you to search for legislation back to 1993 by subject and other keywords.

Review students' flowcharts.

Ask students to describe, orally or in writing, the process for how a bill becomes a law.

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