Congress Classroom · student handout

A legislator's week

Name Period

From 2013 to 2024, the typical legislator had an action on a bill they sponsor in about 1 week in 4. A week with nothing on their bills can still be a full week of work.

Words this lesson uses

Sponsor. The one legislator who introduced the measure. Only a legislator can, though the idea can come from anyone.

Any action. Anything recorded on a measure, from being introduced to a hearing or a vote.

Hearing. A committee meeting where witnesses answer questions on the record. Most hearings are about a subject, not about one measure.

Committee. A standing group of legislators responsible for one set of subjects. Almost every measure is sent to one, and most never leave it.

The whole job

In a week in Washington a legislator may sit in committee hearings, vote on the floor on other members' bills, meet people from home and from groups with a stake in a bill, work with staff on new bills, and ask colleagues to sign on. Their offices also help people from home with problems with federal agencies, such as a passport, a veterans' benefit or a Social Security check; this is called casework. Some weeks they are home instead, in the state or district.

The record of the bills a legislator sponsors shows only one part of this: something happening to their own bills. A week of hearings and votes can leave that record blank.

List three things a legislator might do this week that would not show up on their own bills.

What the record shows

What the record shows
Weeks in which the typical legislator had any action on a bill they sponsor	about 1 in 4 (19 to 27%, by Congress)
Of all those active weeks, the share where the only action was a new bill being introduced	68%
For a real Three (a Representative and the state's two Senators), weeks when all three were active	typically 4 to 7 in a whole Congress
Threes with no such week in a whole Congress	151 of 2,594

Your Three

For each of your school's Three, find the most recent week with an action on a bill they sponsor. What was it?
Was it a new bill, or a step on a bill already moving?
Pick one of them and find one thing they did that week that is not on their bills' record: a committee hearing, a vote, a public statement. Where did you find it?
The badge turns on when all three are active in the same week. Why is that rare? Give two reasons.

Exit ticket

The typical legislator has an action on their own bills in about one week in four. Does that mean they work one week in four? Explain in one sentence.