1. Government Notes
Lawmaking

2. I. Lawmaking a proposed law is called a bill
a bill must be passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the president before it becomes a law

3. II. Lawmaking in the House of Reps
representative sponsors a bill, introduces it by putting it in the Hopper (a box near the front of the chamber)
The bill is then assigned to a committee for study
If released by the committee, the bill is put on a calendar to be voted on, debated or amended.

4. D. quorum needed for a vote
1. quorum: minimum number of House members that need to be actually present
2. regular session quorum: 218 members
3. Committee of the Whole session quorum: 100 members
E. If the bill passes by simple majority (218 of 435), the bill moves to the Senate.

5. III. Lawmaking in the Senate
bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and voted on.
Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous consent
Senators may filibuster until a majority votes to abandon the bill or to modify it

6. 1. filibuster is a delaying tactic where Senators can keep talking as long as they want D. filibuster can be stopped when 3/5 votes for cloture 1. cloture is a rule that each Senator can only talk for 1 hour

7. E. If the Senate makes changes, the bill must return to the House for concurrence. 
F. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval.
G. President then has 10 days to veto the final bill or sign it into law.

8. Propose Your Own Bill Assignment This needs to be typed in an to do not “share” a google doc or attach anything to the . must be sent before 12:26pm (this is the end of lunch) on Monday, February 19, Points will be taken if the bill is not typed in the body of the . Bill should read like a paragraph (see example on last slide)

9. H. R. ____ Be it proposed that…
H.R.____ Be it proposed that…. …in order to alleviate eliminate nullify amend prevent provide (for) develop create increase expand extend assist acknowledge require

10. Give reasons for proposing this bill and use persuasive words in your subsequent sentences [Your bill should be between 5 and 10 sentences long. After the first sentence, which will seem like a run-on, you need to be convincing but do not use “I”, “me”, or “my”] Sponsor: Your Name (introduced 2/__/18) Committees: which committees you think it should go to (see the printed list and then if you need more info check out each of the committees at

11. Ms. Heck’s Bill
H. R. 4: Be it proposed that recycle bins be required to be placed next to every garbage can in a public space in order to reduce waste for our planet. The availability of recycle bins is in direct correlation to the number of people who recycle so by increasing the number of bins the probability of recycling will also increase. If we were to double our recycling in the country then we could save more of our resources and reduce the strain on our landfills. This would additionally add jobs in the field of recycling. Without the increase in recycling we could be killing ourselves and our planet.
Sponsor: Andrea Heck (introduced 2/17/18)
Committee: House Committee on Energy and Commerce