Essay 8

Essay 8





A: The majority party in the United States House of Representatives has several advantages when it comes to getting a bill passed into a law. To begin with, the majority party also controls the rules committee. The rules committee in turn controls the floor procedures. This allows the majority to control when and how things go down. If they feel they don't have the proper amount of support to pass a bill, they have the ability to put off the decision process until further support is gained. This allows the majority to choose the time that's best for them to get a bill passed, and decreases their chance of the bill not being passed.





B: Although the House and the Senate are similar, they do have a few major differences that make their votes sometimes independent. The filibuster rule is one of these differences. In the Senate, a simple majority isn't enough. For a bill to become a law in the Senate, it has to get a majority vote unless a filibuster is enacted. A filibuster is a senator or group of senators ability to talk on any subject for any amount of time unless stopped by a two-thirds vote of the senate. What this does is take up floor time and discourage bills from being passed. For the past decade, almost every major proposed bill has needed to have at least 60% vote to be considered for floor vote. Even if a filibuster is unsuccessful it still takes up floor time.




C: After a bill gets passed in one house, it doesn't necessarily get passed in the next. After one house votes a bill through, the bill gets sent to the other house where it is then decided on. The other house can either vote it through, modify it, or reject it completely in which case it dies. If one house votes a bill through, there is only 1 of 3 ways in which the original bill gets passed by both sides. The other two account for why a bill can be passed in one house but not the other. Another reason a bill may not be passed by both houses is because of the filibuster rule. The House of Represenatives can pass a bill with a 51% majority and thats a pass. However, the Senate may get the 51% but not the 60% needed to end a filibuster, that is if one is enacted. Either way it is possible for a bill to be passed in one house but not the other. After being passed by both houses, there is still a chance the President will veto and it will die that way.