A lesson, one period, grade 7 and up
How a bill starts
From the hopper to a committee: who can introduce a bill, what the number and the cosponsor list tell you, and what happens next to most bills. Two real bills that started the same way.
- Grades
- 7 and up
- Time
- About 45 minutes
Standards
D2.Civ.3 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Examine the origins, purposes, and impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements.
- Grades 9-12
- Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements on the maintenance of national and international order.
D2.Civ.5 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Explain the origins, functions, and structure of government with reference to the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, and selected other systems of government.
- Grades 9-12
- Evaluate citizens' and institutions' effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
D2.Civ.12 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.
- Grades 9-12
- Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
The C3 Framework and Common Core publish these by grade band, so each is shown at every band it has. Neither framework goes above grade 12.
Objectives
- Describe how a bill is introduced in the House and in the Senate, and who decides which committee gets it.
- Read a bill's number, sponsor, original cosponsors and committee referral from its record.
- Explain, using the record's own numbers, why "introduced" is where most bills stop.
- Compare two real bills that started the same way and explain what the record can and cannot show about why one moved.
Words this lesson uses
Sponsor · Cosponsor · Committee · Chamber · Any action
Defined on the student handout.
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