Lesson 4 Teacher Copy Class Discussion

Engage students in a class discussion using the legislative flowchart (note packet, p. 23-26)
and the following questions:
Where in the legislative process might disagreements among the political parties be
visible?
When one party has a majority in the Senate or House, that party controls the
chairmanship of the congressional committees in that house. How might action in the
committees be affected? What if the sponsor of a bill is from the other party? What if
it is from the committee chairmans party? What is the likely outcome from a
committee if one of the bills sponsors is the chairman? Why might committee
chairmanship matter?
If a bill makes it out of committee, how does the legislative process differ in the two
chambers of Congress? Why might the filibuster be permitted in one but not in the
other? (Teacher Note: The House of Representatives has a Rules Committee that
places a limit on debate when a bill goes to the floor. The Senate has no such
committee. As a result, a bill is informally scheduled to come up on the Senate floor
where debate can be endless. A filibuster occurs when a Senator engaged in debate
refuses to yield the floor and thus prevents a roll call vote from taking place. The
image of a Senator standing his ground on the Senate floor is epitomized by Jimmy
Stewart with his performance in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Filibusters provide a
minority of Senators a way to make their voices heard.)
What is a conference committee? What purpose does it serve?
Why can bills on taxes only originate in the House? (Teacher Note: The Framers of
the Constitution regarded the power of the purse to be so important that they
decided that the House of Representatives at that time the only members of
Congress directly elected by the peopleshould be able to originate any revenue bill.
However, according to the Constitution (Article 1, Section 7), the Senate could amend
these bills just as it could any other legislation.)
What might happen if the House and the Senate are controlled by different political
parties?
What might be different if both houses of Congress are controlled by the same party?
What role does the president play in creating legislation? How can he stop
legislation?
How might the Presidents political party affect his use of veto power?
If the President is from a different political party than the majority in both Houses, how
might the legislature respond to a president veto?
The legislative process takes a long time. Why do you think the Framers created such
a prolonged process?