1. What role does the executive branch play in the lawmaking process?
The Bill to Law Process
Essential Questions: How does the legislature complete its most important job?
What role does the executive branch play in the lawmaking process?

2. How a Bill Becomes a Law Types of Bills:
- Private Bills: deal with specific people or places
- Public Bills: deal with entire nation
Bill to Law Process
1. Idea: members of Congress, lobbyists, and the President or Governor come up with ideas for bills. Anyone can come up with the idea for a bill.
2. Bill is written up and proposed on the floor of one house by a senator or representative

3. Bill to Law continued…
3. Each bill goes to the appropriate committee where experts are consulted and amendments are discussed.
Five things can happen to a bill in committee: 1) bill is passed with no changes. 2) bill is passed with changes. 3) bill is replaced with an alternative. 4) “pigeonholing”: Chair of the committee ignores the bill. 5) bill is killed.

4. Bill to Law
4. Floor Debate: Both houses allow all members to debate the bill and propose changes.
- In the Senate only: Senators can add amendments that are totally unconnected to the bill. These are called “riders”. There are also no time limits in the Senate, so a Senator can speak continuously for hours to prevent a vote on a bill. This is called a filibuster. Filibusters can only be ended by a “Cloture” vote of 3/5 of the Senate.
5. Voting on a bill: a simple majority of 51% is needed to pass a bill

5. Bill to Law
6. Conference Committee: members of both houses meet to compromise on a single version of a bill. The bill must again be passed by both houses
7. Presidential Action: The President can do three things.
1) sign the bill into law.
2) veto the bill (a 2/3 vote of Congress is needed to overturn a Presidential veto).
3) Pocket-veto: If Congress is not in session when the President receives the bill, he can ignore it for 10 days. After 10 days, the bill can no longer be passed.