LEG/EX Use this image to help guide you through the questions.

1. Who are these people? Why are they color-coded they way they are?The blue characters represent the Democrats and the red characters are the Republicans. The color scheme originates from Great Britain’s political system.

2. Who are these people? What happens if you mouse over them? What happens if you click on one?These people are sponsors who promote a bill. If you mouse over them, it reveals their name, ideology score, and state. If you click them, it highlights are the bills they are a part of.

3. What are all the blue and red dots all over the screen?Those dots are bills.

4. What is the purpose of all of these committees? The purpose of committees is to look over the bill and help guide it in becoming a law.

Use the link below to answer questions 5 - 7 http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/conference_committee.htm

5. The Senate can pass things via Unanimous Consent. What does that mean in common, ordinary English? (Note: A copy/paste job is no good here...how would you explain it to someone that doesn’t understand anything about our government).Unanimous consent is an agreement amongst all members on anything that requires a yes or no decision.

6. What’s the difference between a Congressional Resolution and a Bill/Law? Does Congress generally pass more resolutions or laws? Replace this text with your answer.

7. What is Conference Committee? Why do some bills pass through Conference Committee and some bills don’t?Replace this text with your answer.

8. What’s your general observation about the number of bills that are introduced vs. the number of bills that become law?Replace this text with your answer.

Mouse over the bills that became laws. Click on one that interests you. You’ll notice bills either start with “HR” for House or “S” for Senate. The number is the # of bill that was introduced during that Congress (so...the very first bill introduced to the House would be HR 1, the second HR 2, and so on...)

Click on the underlined name of the bill. This will open a new tab at Congress.gov.

Read the summary. What was the bill about?Replace this text with your answer.

Use the LEG/EX Filters

The 113th Congress has a reputation of a “Do-Nothing Congress.” Find a Congress earlier in history (perhaps one that had the same party controlled both the HR and S) and compare the stats at the bottom of the page.

Which historic Congress did you select?Replace this text with your answer.

What’s similar between the 113th Congress and the Congress you selected? What’s different?Replace this text with your answer.

Now filter the information by Senators and Representatives. Did either CA Senator (Dianne Feinstien or Barbara Boxer) get bills passed into law. If so, what about?Replace this text with your answer.

Now figure out who your House Representative was in the 113th congress. Did he/she get bills passed into law. If so, what about?Replace this text with your answer.

Bill to a Law InfographicOpen up this infographic

Pay special attention to this icon It shows all the places where bills go to die. Make a list of three in the House and three in the Senate. Example (Committee Work – Mark Up)

House Senate