Vocabulary List

to draft - планувати

checks and balances – контроль і рівновага

entity – сутність, icтотa

amendment - поправка

to guarantee – гарантувати

grievance – скарга

abuse – зловживання

levy – збирати

court of appeal – апеляційний суд

impeachment – звинувачення у державній зраді

trial – судова справа

plaintiff – позивач

lo implement - виконувати

Text III. How a bill becomes a law

When a Senator or a Representative introduces a bill, he sends it to the clerk of his house, who gives it a number and title. This is the first reading, and the bill is referred to the proper committee.

The committee may decide the bill is unwise or unnecessary and table it, thus killing it at once. Or it may decide the bill is worthwhile and hold hearings to listen to facts and opinions presented by experts and other interested persons. After members of the committee have debated the bill and perhaps offered amendments, a vote is taken; and if the vote is favorable, the bill is sent back to the floor of the house.

The clerk reads the bill sentence by sentence to the house, and this is known as the second reading. Members may then debate the bill and offer amendments. In the House of Representatives, the time for debate is limited by a cloture rule, but there is no such restriction in the Senate.

The third reading is by title only, and the bill is put to a vote, which may be by voice or roll-call, depending on the circumstances and parliamentary rules.

The bill then goes to the other house of Congress, where it may be defeated, or passed with or without amendments. If the bill is defeated, it dies. If it is passed with amendments, a joint Congressional committee must be appointed by both houses to iron out the differences.

After its final passage by both houses, the bill is sent to the President. If he approves, he signs it, and the bill becomes a law. However, if he disapproves, he vetoes the bill by refusing to sign it and sending it back to the house of origin with his reasons for the veto. The objections are read and debated, and a roll-call vote is taken. If the bill receives less than a two-thirds vote, it is defeated and goes no farther. But if it receives a two-thirds vote or greater, it is sent to the other house for a vote. If that house also passes it by a two-thirds vote, the President's veto is overridden, and the bill becomes a law.

Should the President desire neither to sign nor to veto the bill, he may retain it for ten days after which time it automatically becomes a law without signature. However, if Congress has adjourned within those ten days, the bill is automatically killed, that process of indirect rejection being known as a pocket veto.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. In what way does a Senator or a Representative introduce a bill?

2. What is the first reading of a bill?

3. In what case is the bill sent back to the floor of the house?

4. What is the second reading?

5. What is the time for debate in the House of Representatives limited by?

6. What is the third reading?

7. When does the bill go to the other house of Congress?

8. When does the bill die?

9. In what case must a joint Congressional committee be appointed?

10. What is the bill sent to the President for?

11. What does "to override the President's veto" mean?

12. In what case does the bill automatically become a law?

13. What is "a pocket veto"?