Subject: U.S. Government, Social Studies
Grade Level: 9-12 and above
Author: Beth Traxler traxleeet@gvltec.edu
Introduction:
Literally thousands of bills are introduced with every new US
Congress, yet only a small fraction actually becomes law. Those
that fail to make it through the process must begin anew with
the convening of the next Congress. Why do some bills successfully
navigate the maze while others fade away into oblivion? Do all
bills go through the same process on their journey? Does the
process itself have anything to do with the success or failure
of legislation? Are the textbook depictions of the process accurate?
Does the process promote or hinder our attainment of a democratic
political system? These questions and more should be of concern
to every American who wishes to be a full participant in the
civic body.
Task:
President Bush signed The Corporate Accountability Bill into
law on July 30, 2002. The bill (HR 3763) had been introduced
in the House of Representatives February 14 of the same year
and passed by the House April 24. The Senate had its own version
of the bill that was far different from that of the House. Few
expected the two chambers to come to agreement before the 107th
Congress adjourned. Yet in the summer of 2002 considerable movement
occurred in a relatively short time that resulted in passage
by the two chambers.
Your task in this assignment is twofold. First you will need
to trace the steps this bill followed through the legislative
maze from its introduction to the president's signature and to
compare that process with the steps described in your textbook.
You will want to identify similarities and differences between
the path of HR 3763 and the path outlined in your text. This
should help you understand the formal steps in the legislative
process.
Secondly, you will want to evaluate the extent to which this
example of the legislative process fulfilled the democratic requirement
of popular sovereignty. Identifying the reasons for passage of
the bill (when last spring many thought it would stall out over
the two chambers' differences) will help you to understand the
extent to which our system rests on popular sovereignty.
You will write two essays, one for each part of the assignment.
The first should be a 200-300 word essay comparing the two processes
(one actual and one theoretical). What steps did the bill follow
and how does that compare with the textbook's description?
Next you will write a 300-400 word essay analyzing the extent
to which our legislative process reflects the concept of popular
sovereignty. This analysis will be based on factors contributing
to the success of HR 3763. Was HR 3763 ultimately successful
because of the influence of popular sovereignty on the legislative
process?
Process:
Part I:
1. Go to http://thomas.loc.gov.
Follow these steps to reach the information you will need to
describe the steps the bill went through:
- At that home page, go to the section labeled Legislation;
select "Public Laws by Law Number."
- This will bring up a new page. There you can select a range
of public laws passed by the 107th Congress. Select the range
107-201 - 107-250.
- This brings up yet another page. Select item number 204,
HR 3763.
- This will bring up a page devoted to the public law for HR
3763 (known as the Corporate Accountability Law). Select the
section called "All Bill Summary and Status Information."
- This will bring up another page that provides the steps the
bill went through to become law. That is found in the section
on that page titled "Status." This is the information you will
use to describe the steps in the process.
2. Read pages 334-338 on "Legislative Responsibilities: How
a Bill Becomes a Law" in your textbook.
3. Compare the steps the bill followed with those described
in the text by answering the following questions:
- To which committee(s) was it referred in the House?
- Did the committee(s) hold hearings?
- Did the committee(s) hold mark up sessions?
- Where did the bill go after committee?
- Did it go to the Rules Committee? If so, what did the Rules
Committee do?
- What happened when it was considered by the entire House?
- Trace the same process in the Senate. Did it go through the
same or different steps in the Senate?
- Did the Senate pass the House bill or amend it by substituting
one of their own?
- Did the bill have to go to a conference committee?
- What happened in the conference committee and afterwards?
- What action did the president take?
- How long did it take for this entire process from the time
it was introduced in the House to when it became law?
4. Now write your first essay comparing the steps the bill actually
followed with those presented in your textbook.
Part II:
1. Read the articles included in the Resources section of this
WebQuest.
2. Identify the reasons offered there for passage of the bill
during the summer of 2002, as well as the level of public support
shown in opinion polls.
3. Reread the section on the democratic principle of popular
sovereignty in chapter one of your text.
4. Now write your second essay. Evaluate the extent to which
popular sovereignty was met with the passage of HR 3763. In answering
this second part you will consider the reasons suggested for
the bill's passage and the level of public support for action.
Resources:
http://thomas.loc.gov
Greenberg, Edward S. and Benjamin I. Page. The Struggle for
Democracy. Fifth Edition. New York: Longman. 2001.
www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020725/4305991s.htm
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/07/31/MN167934.DTL
www.nytimes.com/2002/07/30/business/30CND-BUSH.html
www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A38287-2002Jul20¬Found=true
www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A53943-2002Jul24¬Found=true
www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1217728
www.publicagenda.org/headlines/073002headline.htm
Evaluation:
Your essay for Part I will be evaluated based on the following
criteria:
Category |
Excellent |
Good |
Satisfactory |
Unsatisfactory |
Analysis |
Correctly answers all questions
concerning the steps HR 3763 followed to become law;
identifies all of the ways in which the actual process
followed and deviated from that described in the textbook |
Correctly answers all questions
concerning the steps HR 3763 followed to become law;
identifies the majority of ways in which the actual process
followed and deviated from that described in the textbook |
Correctly answers some of
the questions concerning the steps HR 3763 followed to
become law; identifies some of the ways in which the
actual process followed and deviated from that described
in the textbook |
Correctly answers only a
few of the questions concerning the steps HR 3763 followed
to become law; little discussion of the ways in which
the actual process followed and deviated from that described
in the textbook |
Writing |
Clear, concise, well-organized;
provides transition from steps followed to discussion
of similarities with text description; offers full description
of similarities and differences in process;no errors
in grammar and spelling |
Clear, well-organized; provides
transition in most cases as moves through paper; offers
good description of similarities and differences in process;
makes a few errors in grammar and spelling |
Includes all required elements
of paper, but transitions among them are not always apparent;
more listing rather than true description of differences
between actual and textbook process; writing lacks clarity
in places so that it is difficult to follow the trend
of thought; a few errors in grammar and spelling that
detract from the overall work |
Missing significant elements
of the paper and/or transitions nonexistent; numerous
grammatical and spelling errors that detract from the
overall work |
Your essay for Part II will be evaluated based on the following
criteria:
Category |
Excellent |
Good |
Satisfactory |
Unsatisfactory |
Analysis |
Demonstrates clear understanding
of meaning of popular sovereignty and its relation to
passage of this bill; offers evidence of having read
and understood the web sites provided; uses information
from the web sites to support thesis concerning extent
to which popular sovereignty met |
Demonstrates clear understanding
of meaning of popular sovereignty and its relation to
passage of this bill; offers evidence of having read
and understood some of the web sites provided; uses information
from some of the web sites to support thesis concerning
extent to which popular sovereignty met |
Demonstrates understanding
of meaning of popular sovereignty and its relation to
passage of this bill; some difficulty in reading and
understanding web sites provided; uses information from
some web sites to support thesis, but confusion evident
in use of other information |
Demonstrates understanding
of meaning of popular sovereignty but unclear over its
relationship to passage of this bill; failure to demonstrate
understanding of readings at web sites; inappropriate
use of information from the web sites to support thesis |
Writing |
Clear, concise, well-organized;
develops thesis concerning extent to which passage of
bill supports popular sovereignty; provides transition
from discussion of popular sovereignty to evidence to
support thesis to conclusion; no errors in grammar and
spelling |
Clear, well-organized; develops
thesis concerning extent to which passage of bill supports
popular sovereignty; provides transition in most cases
as moves through paper; makes a few errors in grammar
and spelling |
Includes all required elements
of paper, but transitions among them are not always apparent;
thesis statement lacking in clarity; writing lacks clarity
in places so that it is difficult to follow the trend
of thought; a few errors in grammar and spelling that
detract from the overall work |
Writing Missing significant
elements of the paper and/or transitions nonexistent;
numerous grammatical and spelling errors that detract
from the overall work |
Conclusion:
While the first essay you have written provides you an understanding
of the "steps" a bill goes through to become law, you should
now realize that many factors determine a bill's success. So
few bills succeed in becoming law that you need to be mindful
of the forces that can make or break a bill. As a democratic
nation, we would hope that these factors would reflect the wishes
of the people for that particular policy. Let's hope that you
will continue to follow legislation of interest to you and will
stay alert to ways in which you can help to further the cause
of popular sovereignty in the legislative process.
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