Inside the Lawmaking Machine: teacher key

How Laws Are Made, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. A bill moves through hearings, mark-ups and votes before it reaches the president. See each step in Congress, then see how the United Kingdom makes laws.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What happens at a House committee's mark-up session?
   • Members vote on the president's choice
   • Members may offer amendments and vote on the changes (answer)
   • Members write a new Constitution
2. How many votes does Congress need to override a veto?
   • A bare majority of the House
   • A two-thirds vote in each house (answer)
   • A vote of the president
3. What can a conference committee do?
   • Settle the differences and report one identical bill (answer)
   • Sign a bill into law
   • Overturn a law
4. Which two groups in the United Kingdom must approve a bill before it becomes an Act of Parliament?
   • The Senate and the House
   • The House of Commons and the House of Lords (answer)
   • The president and the Supreme Court
5. A bill is tabled in a House committee. What does the page say happens next?
   • No further action on it will happen (answer)
   • The president signs it
   • The Senate votes on it

Words

• amendments: added changes
• veto: saying no
• committee: study group
• override: cancel a veto
• ordinances: local laws