Lesson 4.04 How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Introduction
• Learn
• Try It
• Task

Introduction

Enduring Knowledge: Congress has a proven and orderly system to do its main job, make laws.

Study the political cartoon below. Choose three characters or objects in the cartoon that stand out to you and describe the significance of each. What point is the cartoonist trying to make concerning the Senate? Does the cartoon portray a positive or negative image of Congress and the legislative process?

Open Political Cartoon in a new window | Political Cartoon text version

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This 1900 illustration, titled "The law-mills again at work", depicts one view of the legislative process at the turn of the 20th century. (Library of Congress)

Lesson Objectives Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to: Identify how a bill is introduced in Congress Trace a bill through the House and the Senate Identify the role of the President in a bill becoming a law. Tracing the legislative process, including types of votes and committee action, from a bill's presentation to presidential action The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Government objective(s): 11.3. This lesson incorporates the following Literacy Standards: R1, R2, R4, R7, and W4.