RESPONSIBILITIES OF

GOVERNMENT AND THE

LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

PURPOSES OF GOVERNMENT
Preamble
Politicians use these ideals to promote their policies and visions for
the country

Identify a position on each issue and match it with a purpose

of government listed in the preamble

SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK

Review / read the lyrics
Watch the video
What was the bill being proposed?
How does pressure form interest groups media political
parties, shape public opinion?

HOW DO POLITICAL PARTIES INFLUENCE?

AT YOUR TABLE>>>>>>>>>>
Use your legislative process chart and place a star next to
each step that may be influence by political parties
---2 minutes
What did you find?
Political parties can influence virtually every step

FLOW CHART QUESTIONS (FROM HANDOUT)

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 af fected?
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? (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? ( Note: The
Framers of the Constitution regarded the power of the purse to be
so impor tant 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 (Ar ticle 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?

Write reflectively in Notebook

answering the following question:
Why must compromise be an
essential ingredient in the legislative
process?