A bill can originate from Congress, the President, or citizens. It is introduced by a Representative or Senator and assigned to a committee related to the bill's issue. The committee members consider input from citizens and lobbyists, and can vote to pass the bill to the full House or Senate, table it, or kill it. If passed, the bill moves to debates and votes in both houses, and may be amended, passed to the other house, or killed. If changed, a conference committee reconciles the versions before final votes in each house. If passed, the bill goes to the President to be signed into law or vetoed, though Congress can override a veto.

1. HOW A BILL BECOMES A
LAW

2. Ideas for new laws can come from
several places:
Congress
The President
Citizens

3. No matter where the idea comes from,
a Representative or Senator writes it as
a bill and then introduces it into
Congress.
See an actual
House Bill

4. Once a bill is introduced, it is first
_________ to a __________ that
assigned committee
issue
deals with that ______.
U.S. Senate Committee
on Environment and
Public Works

5. The committee members get information, and
listen to others who want to __________ influence
them,
citizens lobbyists
including _________ & __________

6. The committee members have three options:
1. _____ yes and the bill goes to the
Vote
whole floor of the House or Senate.
2. Put ______ the bill without a vote.
aside
(called tabling the bill or pigeonholing it)
Kill
3. _____ the bill (vote “no”) and the bill
dies in committee

7. If the committee votes “yes” on the bill, it then
moves to the whole floor of the House or Senate
for discussion, debate and changes.
Can you tell which picture below is the House and which one is
the Senate?
How do you know?
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate

8. THE FLOOR
Once the bill is on the floor, several things can
happen.
pass new
1. The members can vote yes to _____ a ____
house
bill – this sends it over to the other ______.
2. The members can vote yes to _____ the
pass
______ same
exact bill as the other house – this
sends it to the President.

9. THE FLOOR
3. The members can vote yes to _____ a
__________ different
version of the bill – this sends
it to a conference committee.
4. The members can vote ___ to _____ the
bill – the bill stops here, dead.
pass
no kill

10. If both houses pass different versions of the same bill,
the bill is sent to a conference committee. The
conference committee includes members of the House
and Senate and they try to work out a compromise.
1. Who do you think the
animals represent?
2. What do you think
the cartoonist means?

11. In the conference committee, if the
committee members all ______, the
bill goes back to each house for a
final vote.
agree
don’t
If the members _____ come to an
agreement, the bill stops here and dies.

12. Once the bill is finally passed by both
houses, it goes to the President.
Sign
1. _____ - The President approves the
bill and signs it. Now it is a ____.
law

13. But what if the President does not like
the bill and won’t sign it?
VETO
What is that called?

14. But, there is still hope for the bill!
Congress has the power to
override
________ the President’s
veto. This can be difficult
because it takes 2/3 of
both houses to agree to
override.