Listen Carefully
Read Aloud
Congress makes/ federal laws./ A federal law usually applies/ to all states/ and all people/ in the United States./ Either side/ of Congress/—the Senate/ or the House of Representatives/—can propose/ a bill/ to address an issue./
When the Senate proposes/ a bill,/ it sends/ the bill /to a Senate committee./ The Senate committee studies/ the issue/ and the bill./ When the House of Representatives proposes/ a bill,/ it sends/ the bill/ to a House of Representatives committee./ The committee studies/ the bill/ and sometimes makes changes/ to it./ Then/ the bill goes/ to the full House/ or Senate/ for consideration./ When each chamber passes/ its own version/ of the bill,/ it often goes/ to a “conference committee./” The conference committee has/ members/ from both the House/ and the Senate./ This committee discusses/ the bill,/ tries to resolve/the differences,/ and writes/ a report/ with the final version/ of the bill./ Then/ the committee sends/ the final version/ of the bill/ back to both houses/ for approval./ If both houses approve/ the bill,/ it is considered/ “enrolled./” An enrolled bill goes/ to the president/ to be signed/ into law./ If the president signs/ the bill,/ it becomes/ a federal law./
