1.7 Liberty And Law Flashcards
What is a bill
A “bill” is a proposed law
what must start in the House of Representatives
Revenue (tax) bills
why must Revenue (tax) bills start in the House of Representatives
This is to ensure that no money can be taken from the people without their consent
To become a law, a bill must get what support?
the support of a majority in both chambers of Congress.
if the president signs the bill what happens
it becomes a law
If the president rejects the bill
he returns it to Congress, and it becomes vetoed
If each chamber of Congress votes in favor of the returned bill with a 2/3rds margin what happens
they override the president’s veto
If they override the veto….
the bill becomes a law even over the president’s objections.
The president has 10 days to consider whether to sign or veto a bill true or false
True
If the president fails to act within that 10-day window….
the bill becomes a law
why did they act on a 10 day window
This is to prevent the president from holding on to bills and never doing anything with them.
f for some reason Congress is not in session during the end of the 10-day period,
the bill simply dies or is called pocket veto.
why did the pocket veto come to fruition?
the pocket veto prevents Congress from dumping a bunch of bills on the president to overwhelm him and force passage
How is a bill introduced
A bill (written proposal for a law)
can come from just about
anywhere, but only a House
member can introduce it
Interest groups
are associations of people who work to advance a cause through the political process and they often draft bills to advance causes they believe in or provide analysis of bills they want to support or defeat
Lobbyist
hired to help with these strategies and because they may have connections or influence with Congressmen
Why are they called lobbyist
because of their tendency to hang out in the lobby and wait for lawmakers.
Every member of the House serves on committees.
True
On average, a House member serves on how many committees and subcommittees, becoming specialists
two committees and three subcommittees
what committees are more powerful and prestigious
Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means are at the top
who gets the first and last pick for committee choosing
Senior members of the House get first pick. Freshmen members get last pick.
Hearings
Members will discuss and debate the bill.
3. Hearings are often open to the public.
4. Lobbyists often attend hearings to monitor a bill
and offer their expertise to legislators
Testimony
witnesses or people impacted by a bill will
be invited to testify for or against the bill.
2. Both sides in the debate will bring in
witnesses to help them make their case
Mark Up
debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
goal is to draft a bill that has the support of all
sides, or at least the majority party
Filibuster
the act of talking a bill to death in the Senate, and The ability to speak with no time limits can be used as a tactic to kill a bill.
How does bicameralism
protect liberty?
The House reflects
majority opinion.
The Senate protects
minority opinion.
How does a Bill become a law
The Rules Committee will
establish rules of debate that
benefit the majority party.
3. The bill will then be scheduled
for debate on the floor
“cloture” vote
The Senate can end a filibuster if they can secure 60
votes or more.
The filibuster is not a constitutional
mechanism but rather a Senate
tradition True or False
True
Committees in the Senate mirror those in the House because both chambers must deal with the same bills. True or False
True
The Senate is designed to be what
anti-democratic because demcracy can be dangerous
who reminds us that the Senate serves a useful and intentional function.
James Madison (“Father of the Constitution”)
“Nuclear Option”
mean getting rid of the filibuster
