First Steps
This is the only type of person who can officially introduce a bill to Congress.
What is a Member of Congress?
During this step, committees invite these people to talk for or against a bill.
Who are witnesses?
This is the word for the formal argument or discussion that happens when a bill reaches the full House or Senate.
What is a debate?
This is the name of the special committee where members from both houses meet to fix differences between two versions of the same bill.
What is a Conference Committee?
If a President ignores a bill for 10 days while Congress is out of session, the bill dies. This is called a ___ veto.
What is a Pocket Veto?
Once a bill is introduced, it is given these two things to identify it (Example: S. 523).
What are letters and a number?
A committee has three choices: they can accept a bill, reject it, or do this to it.
What is change (or amend) it?
If a member of Congress wants to change a bill while it is being debated, they propose one of these.
What is an amendment?
Once both houses pass the exact same version of a bill, it is sent to this person’s desk.
Who is the President?
This is the fraction of votes needed in both the House and Senate to "override" a Presidential veto.
What is two-thirds (2/3)?
This is the name of the daily publication where every new bill is printed so people can read it.
What is the Congressional Record?
When a committee is done with a bill, they "report it out" and put it on this to schedule a time to talk about it.
What is the House (or Senate) Calendar?
Once the debate is over, this must happen to see if the bill moves forward or dies.
What is a vote?
If the President does this to the bill, it officially becomes a law!
What is signs it?
In the Senate, a member can talk for hours to try and "kill" a bill by delaying a vote. This is called a ___.
What is a filibuster?
After a bill is labeled, it is sent to this specific small group of experts to be studied.
What is a Standing Committee?
These are the official meetings held by committees to gather information about a bill.
What are hearings?
After a bill passes one house (like the House of Representatives), it is sent here to start the whole process over again.
What is the "other house" (or the Senate)?
If the President says "no" to a bill, it is called this
What is a veto?
To stop the person from talking in the $300 question, the Senate must vote for "cloture," which requires this many senators to agree.
What is 60?
While a Member of Congress must introduce the bill, most ideas for bills actually come from these two outside sources.
Who are citizens (constituents) or interest groups?
This is the specific term for the session where committee members go through a bill line-by-line to make final changes.
What is a mark-up session?
This is the minimum number of members (a majority) who must be present for the House or Senate to legally conduct business.
What is a quorum?
If a bill is vetoed and Congress fails to get enough votes to override it, this is the only way that specific bill can ever become a law.
What is starting the entire process over from Step 1?
This powerful committee in the House (and only the House) acts as a "traffic cop" by setting the rules for how long a bill can be debated.
What is the House Rules Committee?