The Realities of Passing Legislation The Realities The

The Realities of Passing Legislation

The Realities • The mortality rate for bills is very high. • There are more steps in the process that are designed to kill a bill than to allow it to pass through Congress. • This is intentional so that we can avoid dangerous or bad laws. • The founding fathers wanted ‘checks’ in the process to prevent tyrannical rule. • No congressman wants to be on the losing side of a bill.

From the Outside • Lobbyists – People who work outside the government who work to influence action. • Work can be done by either influencing congressmen directly or indirectly. • President – The president has the ability to influence the outcome of bills. • When the president threatens a veto, that is normally good enough to kill a bill. • Bureaucracy – Government agencies can fight against bills and prevent passage. • You normally need the blessings of agencies to affect how they operate.

Vetogates • A procedural process where a bill can be killed. • Congressmen have the ability to kill bills without actually voting against them. • Sometimes it is not necessarily a good thing politically to vote against a piece of legislation. • There are several ways in each house where bills can be killed.

Vetogates • In the House • Speaker of the House • They can hold up bills and keep them from reaching committees. • The House Rules Committee • They act as the ‘traffic cops’ for bills. • Rules Committee is ultimately responsible for sending bills to specific committees. Committee choice can kill a bill. • They can also act to prevent a bill from being heard on the floor.

Vetogates • In the Senate • The majority party can stall or kill legislation by preventing it from being heard on the floor • Filibuster – The act of debating a bill for an infinite amount of time • Filibusters can be stopped with a cloture vote, which requires 3/5 ths vote (60 in the current Senate) • The threat of a filibuster is generally good enough to stop legislation

Vetogates • In either house • Pigeonholing – The act of setting aside bills in committee with no intention of considering them • Mark-Up – The changing of bills in committee, normally used to include legal language • Committees can add or delete parts of the bill that make it unpassable

And now we write… e r a s e t a g g n i o t h t Ve ood ag Change his mind in a well constructed paragraph. He’s a conservative talk show host, the smarter you are the more that will play into how you try to convince him.