How a bill becomes a law: warm-up · Grade 3

The passage and its 4 questions

Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions in full sentences.

• Every law in the United States starts as an idea. The idea might come from a member of
• Congress, from the President, or from ordinary citizens, even students, who write to their representatives. When a member of Congress writes the idea down and introduces it, it becomes a bill.
• Imagine a bill to protect the beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs. A representative introduces it in the House of Representatives. First it goes to a committee, a small group of members who study that subject. The committee asks experts questions and may change the bill's wording. If the committee approves, the whole House debates the bill and votes.
• If more than half of the members vote yes, the bill travels to the Senate, where the same steps happen again. Both the House and the Senate must pass exactly the same version of the bill.
• Next, the bill goes to the President. If the President signs it, the bill becomes a law. If the President rejects it, which is called a veto, the bill goes back to Congress. Congress can still make it a law if two-thirds of both the House and the Senate vote yes. This is one example of checks and balances: no branch gets to decide everything alone.
• Most bills never make it all the way. Many are stopped in committee. That is why people who care about an idea keep writing letters, making calls and sharing facts long after a bill is first introduced.
• 1. Where can the idea for a bill come from?
• 2. What does a committee do with a bill?
• 3. What does the word 'veto' mean in paragraph 4?
• 4. What is the author's purpose: to inform, to entertain or to persuade? Explain.