- 大鱼炖火锅
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How a Bill Becomes Law
The following steps trace the process by which a paternal proclamation becomes law in the Cameron household.
Step One: The father of the house issues an executive order that all Saturday activities will be suspended until the garage is cleaned up.
Step Two: The children form a committee and produce a report finding the order totally unconstitutional because it violates the "Cruel and Unusual" clause.
Step Three: The committee report is voided by paternal declaration.
Step Four: The ruling is appealed under the "This is stupid nobody else has to do this kind of stuff" doctrine of the "Equal Protection" clause. Specific examples are cited of other children who are not cleaning their garages.
Step Five: The "nobody else has to" doctrine is rejected as having no bearing on the case.
Step Six: Each child petitions separately for the relief under the "why do I have to do it none of it is my junk" theory.
Step Seven: The father rules that the individuals of the household are a family, that the junk in the garage belongs to the family, and that the family has the responsibility of cleaning it up.
Step Eight: The children attempt to stay the executive order by evading subpoena.
Step Nine: The father retrieves the children from their bedrooms and declares notice properly served.
Step Ten: The children plead pre-existing obligations that preempt the paternal proclamation. The oldest is due at the mall, the middle child has to go to a soccer game, and the youngest is yeah me too.
Step Eleven: Clarification is sought from the youngest on which of the two lame excuses is yeah me too: soccer game or the mall?
Step Twelve: The youngest says the soccer game.
Step Thirteen: The father rules the soccer game cannot preempt the garage cleanup.
Step Fourteen: The youngest says I meant the mall.
Step Fifteen: The father rules the mall cannot preempt the garage cleanup.
Step Sixteen: The children pass a resolution that the father is the meanest man in the world.
Step Seventeen: The father agrees to accept the "meanest man" amendment and calls for an end to the debate.
Step Eighteen: The children submit an emergency appeal on the grounds that there might be mice living in the garage.
Step Nineteen: The father issues an executive decree that he has authority over all rodents and that there are no mice in the garage.
Step Twenty: The children move for dismissal, claiming they are exempt because they have homework to do.
Step Twenty-One: The father consults the official Cameron family calendar and determines there is another day left in the weekend in which homework can be done.
Step Twenty-two: The children file a grievance with the Supreme Court of the house: their mother. A restraining order is sought prohibiting enforcement of the father"s executive order on the grounds that he never listens, he is ruining our lives, he"s mean, and if he really wants the garage cleaned up why doesn"t he do it himself.
Step Twenty-Three: A constitutional crisis is averted when the wife hands down a decision supporting the father"s right to order the children to clean up the garage.
Step Twenty-four: The children declare themselves no longer members of the family. As stateless persons, they are not subject to parental authority.
Step Twenty-five: The father agrees to expedite the emigration of each child on the date they achieve their majorities. Until the parents are released by the laws of the State of Colorado from their obligations, however, the family members are stuck with each other. Meanwhile, the father identifies further sanctions to be imposed upon delay of compliance with his order, including suspension of telephone privileges.
Step Twenty-six: The teenagers file a brief equating telephone cut-off with capital punishment.
Step Twenty-seven: The father further suspends all use of the family automobile until the garage is cleaned up enough to park the car in it.
Step Twenty-eight: The children petition for relief from further sanctions by agreeing to clean up the garage.
Thus, with these simple 28 steps, a bill moves through the checks and balances and becomes law.
It may not be the best system, but it"s the only one we"ve got.
- 北境漫步
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这里的bill应该是指the Bill of Rights吧?
In 1791,James Maduson drew up the first ten amendents of the rights of individual Americans included in the Constitution. Known as the Bill of Rights, these amendments are usually considered part of the original document.
- S笔记
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在美国如何将议案确定为法律~
呵呵~
:)
- 蓓蓓
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Advocacy Tips: How a Bill Becomes a Law
Being an effective advocate on legislative issues also means understanding how Congress works.
We have reprinted a cartoon that depicts the legislative process as a board game. When we first looked at it, we thought it was poking fun at the process. Actually, it"s a very accurate guide. It takes you step-by-step through the rules under which Congress operates. We hope it will be useful to you in understanding how a bill becomes a law.
A piece of legislation may go through all of the 53 steps shown in the cartoon (and some that aren"t shown) before it becomes law. But most bills introduced in Congress do not become law. As a matter of fact, most bills don"t even receive serious consideration. Getting a bill introduced is only the first step in what can be a long journey through the legislative process.
Introducing A Bill
Ideas for bills come from many sources: constituents, the President, lobbyists, or congressional staff. Any Senator or Representative may introduce a bill. After a bill has been written or "drafted," the member introduces it by formally presenting it to the House or Senate clerk when Congress is in session. In the House, the bill is placed in the "hopper" at the desk of the Clerk; the sponsor of the bill may or may not make a special statement about the bill when it is introduced. In the Senate, the bill may be presented to the Clerk, or the Senator may make a formal statement from the Senate floor to introduce it.
Once a bill is introduced, it is given a number: H.R. _________ (for the House of Representatives) if introduced in the House and S. _________ (for the Senate) if introduced in the Senate. Bill numbers start with H.R. 1 and S. 1 at the beginning of each new Congress and continue in numerical order until the Congress ends two years later.
While a bill is the form used for most legislation, the House and the Senate can also originate resolutions. These are used for special purposes like budget resolutions or constitutional amendments. They are also numbered: for example, S. Con. Res. _________ (for Senate Concurrent Resolution) and H. J. Res. _________ (for House of Representatives Joint Resolution).
Cosponsoring A Bill
When a Senator or Representative introduces a bill, a "Dear Colleague" letter may be sent to other members. The letter explains the bill, what it would do, and why it is important, and asks other members to cosponsor it. An effort to gain cosponsors by calling attention to a bill can help build pressure to move it through the legislative process. A bill has a much better chance of passage if it is introduced by the chair or members of the committee to which it will be referred.
Referring A Bill To Committee
Rules of the House and Senate provide general guidelines for which committee will consider which bill. For example, a bill to change Medicare hospital reimbursement would be referred to the Finance Committee in the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee in the House. Sometimes two committees will have responsibility (or jurisdiction) over subjects in the same bill. In that case, bills may be referred to both committees ("jointly referred").
Committees are the heart and soul of the legislative process. That"s where the legislative work gets done. The House and Senate each have their own system of committees, and each committee has its own subcommittees, procedural rules, and committee chair. The committee chairs play a critical role in determining the fate of legislation. They control both the schedule (calendar) of when and if bills will be considered and the staffing of the committee.
Usually, work on a bill begins in a subcommittee. The subcommittee chair calls hearings to learn more about the effects of the proposed legislation and also to find out who supports and opposes the bill. A record of the hearing is published (available to the public through the Government Printing Office). After hearings, the subcommittee will start "marking up" or rewriting the bill. If the subcommittee votes its approval, the "marked up" bill is sent to the full committee for its consideration. The full committee must then approve the bill, usually after marking it up again.
If a favorable vote is taken, the bill is "reported out" of committee. A written report, which explains the origins, purposes, content, and effect of the legislation accompanies the bill. The committee report also must include information from the Congressional Budget Office on the bill"s estimated cost and its impact on the federal budget.
The reported bill can now be considered by the full House or Senate. If the full committee does not approve the bill, it is usually dead for the rest of that Congress. Most bills die in committee. Even if hearings are held, the committee may fail to act. Once the two-year congressional term ends, all bills that have not become law must be reintroduced to be considered again.
Voting On A Bill
Now, we"ve reached Step #11 on the gameboard: placing the bill on the House or Senate calendar. Bills that make it this far are not guaranteed passage, but they did make it through the critical first phase.
The House and Senate have different rules about how bills are presented to their respective members for debate and voting. But in each case, a schedule is set up for consideration of the bill. The schedule allows for debate and, in some instances, the opportunity to offer amendments. In the House, the Rules Committee sets up the schedule. Those steps are outlined in Steps #12-15 in the cartoon. In the Senate, the leadership (headed by the Majority Leader) sets the schedule.
When a bill is passed by one house of Congress, it is then sent to the other. Usually, it will be referred to committee in the second house. More hearings may be held, and a favorable committee report issued, or the committee may decide to take no action at all. In some cases, the committee process on a given legislative issue occurs simultaneously in the House and the Senate. A bill may pass one house while a similar companion bill is moving forward in the other house at about the same time. A bill can also be placed directly on the calendar in the other house without being referred to any committee, where it will be promptly considered by the whole Senate or House.
Conference Committee
Even after both chambers approve a bill, the legislative process has not ended. If there are any differences between the House and Senate bills (and there usually are), a conference committee is set up to iron out the differences. The conference committee consists of members of both houses (called "conferees"), who are almost always members of the committees that sent the bill to the floor. On important bills like the budget or health care reform, representatives of the House and Senate leadership are likely to be included. Conferees are supposed to deal only with differences between the House and Senate bills; they are not supposed to delete provisions that are identical in both bills or to add new provisions that don"t relate to the differences between the bills. Increasingly, however, they step over these boundaries to develop a compromise that resembles neither of the original bills.
When the conference committee reaches an agreement reconciling the differences between the two bills, a conference report and a final version of the bill are presented to both houses for a final vote. Only after the House and Senate both approve the compromise is the bill sent to the President.
Signing A Bill Into Law
Once the President has received a bill passed by Congress, he may sign it into law or veto it within 10 days. He may also allow the bill to become law without a presidential signature by failing to act within 10 days (if Congress is in session). If he vetoes it, he returns it, along with a statement of his objections, to the house that originated the bill.
If a bill is vetoed by the President while Congress is in session, the members of the house that originated the legislation can vote to override the veto. If two-thirds of the members vote to override the veto, the bill then goes to the other house, where a two-thirds vote by the second house will turn the bill into law without the President"s signature. If either house fails to override by a two-thirds majority, the veto stands.
Using The Legislative Process
For advocates, there are a few steps to pay particular attention to:
When bills are introduced and need cosponsors,
When bills are being considered in committee, and
When bills come to the floor of the House and Senate for voting.
At each of these points, advocates can make effective contacts with their elected representatives