How do members of congress decide how to vote

Resources for this lesson are available in print and digital form. A free teacher account is required to access them. Skip to main content. Students will be able to: Identify the constitutional powers of Congress Describe factors that members of Congress consider when deciding how to vote on a bill Simulate the decision making process of voting as a member of Congress. Downloadable Resources Resources for this lesson are available in print and digital form.

Branches of Power. Learn to control all three branches of the U. Making Laws. Do you ever wish you could make the rules? Well, there are people whose job it is to make the rules for this country.

These rules are called laws, and the people who make them are members of Congress. In this WebQuest, you'll get an introduction to your members of Congress and what they do. A bill is drafted or proposed by a member of Congress, the White House, or a federal agency, but it does not become an official bill until it is introduced in either the House or Senate by a member of Congress. The bill is then referred to the appropriate standing committee with jurisdiction over the subject matter of the legislation and then assigned to subcommittee for mark-up.

If the bill is successfully voted out of committee then it will be sent to the House Rules Committee for a rule, or submitted for unanimous consent in the Senate.

Debate is limited in the House pursuant to the rules. The Senate places no limits on debate, bringing about the possibilities of a filibuster and cloture proceedings.

Voting on legislation can be done by voice vote or pursuant to roll call. A conference committee is called if differences exist between the House and Senate versions of a bill and the report of the conference committee must be approved by both chambers before it is sent on to the president.

The president may sign the bill into law or veto the legislation. A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. How Congress Decides What sorts of influences inside and outside of government determine how members of Congress vote on legislation?

Philadelphia, New York: Da Capo Press, Jared Sparks, ed. Boston, Featured Search Historical Highlights of the House. Learn about Foreign Leader Addresses. Featured Search the People of the House. Majority Leaders. Bean Soup! Featured Black Americans in Congress. Featured Mace of the U. House of Represen- tatives.

House Trivia Timeline. Featured Resources for National History Day The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors , the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

The Electoral College consists of electors. A majority of electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators. Read more about the allocation of electoral votes.