Legislative Process Flashcards
How is a bill presented in the House?
Presented into a hopper.
How is a bill presented in the senate?
Read aloud
What follows the initial presentation of a bill?
Members are given time to research a bill
Who allocates the bill to a committtee?
Congressional leadership decides whether to send the Bill forward or to combine it with other bills - an ‘omni-bus bill’.
What role can the President have in the creation of bills?
A bill can be something a president has called for, such as in the State of the Union, but it has to be presetned by at least one individual member of congress.
What are some weaknesses of the omnibus combination?
Opposing bills can be combined to dissuade voting against or for them. For example,support for Ukraine and Israel and border control being pushed together.
What is a negative of the research time?
Allows for lobbying from pressure groups.
What is a negative of the influence congressional leadership can have?
Allows it to be open to partisan bias.
What role do committee chairs have?
They have the ability pigeonhole the bill (where it is left unheard) or send it to a subcommittee or wether to debate it as a full committee
Who are committee members?
Policy specialists
What can happen during the committee stage?
Amendments can be proposed and voted on and lobbyists and the white house can attempt to influence committee members.
Analyse the committee stage
Committee chairs are selected by the majority party so open to partisan influence
Non-democratic for all power to keep a bill going to be put into one persons hands.
Specialists are good.
What follows the committee stage?
TImetabling
What is the role of the House Rules committee?
Control hte order of bills and procedures, including ho long to discuss, whether amendments are allowed etc.
Who decides the order of bills in the senate?
Majority and minority leader.