Dysfunction Function: Charting the Ideal and Real Legislative Process

Feb 23, 2010 — New York Times

By Dinah Mack And Holly Epstein Ojalvo

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Civics

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

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Overview | How does the way Congress was designed to function differ from how it actually operates? How do bills really become laws? What factors contribute to congressional gridlock? In this lesson, students chart the basic process of how a bill becomes a law, and then consider Senator Evan Bayh’s criticisms of the Senate. They then dig into a current piece of legislation, and create a detailed flow chart showing the complexity of the real process. Finally, they create “political trees” for members of Congress, showing key relationships, connections and interests.

Materials | Computers with Internet connection, projector, poster board or oversized paper sheets, markers, research materials

Warm-up | Show “I’m Just a Bill” from the Schoolhouse Rock series, and/or hand out copies of the lyrics (you might even lead a sing-a-long).

Then hang a piece of poster board or large sheet of paper on the board (or use a SmartBoard), and tell students to draw on “I’m Just a Bill” and their prior learning so that the class can work together to create a flow chart of how a bill becomes a law. This flow chart should show the basic process in which bills are developed, written, voted upon and enacted. Invite students to call out ideas, and act as the scribe to create the flow chart.

Here is an example of what the completed flow chart might look like (note that you can click on each step to reveal an explanation). You may even wish to briefly compare the completed class chart with this one.

When the basic flow chart is complete, ask students: Do all bills follow these steps exactly to get considered, voted on and, potentially, enacted? What other factors are at play in the legislative process? Have you heard anyone say that Congress is “broken” or “dysfunctional” or suffering from “gridlock”? What do you think that means? What recent legislation have you heard about? Have news reports about the status of that legislation reflected the basic lawmaking process?

Related | In the Op-Ed “Why I’m Leaving the Senate,” Senator Evan Bayh explains his recent announcement that he would not seek re-election after 12 years of serving as a U.S. senator from Indiana. In the piece, Mr. Bayh characterizes the Senate as dysfunctional:

Challenges of historic import threaten America’s future. Action on the deficit, economy, energy, health care and much more is imperative, yet our legislative institutions fail to act. Congress must be reformed.

There are many causes for the dysfunction: strident partisanship, unyielding ideology, a corrosive system of campaign financing, gerrymandering of House districts, endless filibusters, holds on executive appointees in the Senate, dwindling social interaction between senators of opposing parties and a caucus system that promotes party unity at the expense of bipartisan consensus.

Read the entire Op-Ed with your students, using the question below.

Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:

1. What are some of the challenges that Senator Bayh feels “threaten America’s future”?

2. According to Senator Bayh, what are some of the “many causes for the dysfunction”?

3. In Mr. Bayh’s opinion, how does the Senate differ now that from the time his father, Birch Bayh, served from 1963 to 1981?

4. What changes does Mr. Bayh suggest that would make the filibuster a more effective tool to create consensus?

5. What does Mr. Bayh state is required from both Congress and the public to keep the country from peril?

You may also wish to show students the video “Senator Evan Bayh Won’t Seek Re-election,” in which Mr. Bayh elaborates on his feelings and thoughts about what’s wrong with the Senate.

RELATED RESOURCES From The Learning Network

* Lesson: All Those in Favor

* Lesson: Pay to Play?

* Lesson: A Life in Politics

From NYTimes.com

* Times Topics: U.S. Senate

* The Caucus: 111th Congress

* Week in Review: “Does Washington Need Fixing?”

Around the Web

* Congress Link

* Congress.org

* The Center on Congress: How Congress Works

Activity | Explain to students that they will choose a specific bill – currently under consideration or recently enacted – to research, and then make another flow chart, this time with more detail and attention to the various twists and turns in the legislative process, including, as far as possible, “backroom” politics and negotiations.

You might have pairs or small groups each do their own research and flow chart on the same legislation. Or you might assign each group a portion or aspect to research (perhaps taken from Senator Bayh’s list of “dysfunctions”), and then create one class-wide flow chart.

For example, to track the recent jobs bill that advanced through the Senate, students read the article “In Passage of Jobs Measure, a Glimpse of Bipartisanship” along with the Caucus blog posts on its proposal and how it progressed, and the editorial “How Not to Write a Jobs Bill.”

Additionally, they read the actual bi-partisan bill or a summary of the bill, and read other reports and analysis, such as Politico’s coverage. Students can also watch C-Span clips showing parts of Senate sessions and other coverage of the jobs bill.

For a slightly more complex task, students might track the route of health care reform legislation, perhaps starting here, including the February 25, 2010 health care summit and its aftermath. Other resources for charting the health care bills include the interactive feature Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals, Times Topics: Health Care Reform, the Prescriptions blog and the “living story” The Struggle Over Health Care.

In addition to the links provided in Related Resources above, other helpful resources for students include these:

* Project Vote Smart provides voting records, issue positions and other information on lawmakers and lawmaking, along with a glossary of terms.

* The United States Senate site’s section on legislation and records, which provides full-text and summaries of bills.

* The United States House of Representatives site, which provides current House proceedings, information on the legislative process and a full list of committees.

* The C-Span Congressional Chronicle archives shows Congress deliberating on bills.

Tell students to be sure to include in their flow charts not just official acts, such as sub-committee meetings and votes, but also public statements made by political party leaders and members of Congress, as well as expert analysis, to get at the political issues like partisanship that are at play in the process.

When the flow charts are completed, display and discuss them and what they reveal about the political forces that affect the lawmaking system. Ask: Is it easy to pass a bill through Congress? Do the political parties need to work together to ensure that progress is made? What safeguards are put in place to make sure that bills are discussed and challenged before they are passed? Should there be reforms made in Congress to make it easier to create change? If so, what reforms would you support, and why?

Going further | Individually, students choose one member of Congress to research, and then create a “politics tree” for their senator or representative, showing his or her background, political relationships, affiliations, major campaign donors, “pet” issues and relevant lobbies, seniority, and so on. They might read the Times Magazine article “Where Scott Brown is Coming From” as inspiration.

Students tracking the health care debate read the article “Up Next! On Live TV! A Battle Over … Health Care?” and then watch the live broadcast of the discussion on February 25, 2010. While they watch, students should record their impressions on language, tone and bi-partisan cooperation.

Standards | From McREL, for grades 6-12:

Civics

1. Understands ideas about civic life, politics, and government

2. Understands the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited governments

3. Understands the sources, purposes, and functions of law, and the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the common good

13. Understands the character of American political and social conflict and factors that tend to prevent or lower its intensity 14. Understands issues concerning the disparities between ideals and reality in American political and social life

18. Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights

20. Understands the roles of political parties, campaigns, elections, and associations and groups in American politics

29. Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy

Language Arts

1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process

2. Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing

3. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions

4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes

Behavioral Studies

1. Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior

2. Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function

4. Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions

Life Skills: Thinking and Reasoning

3. Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences

6. Applies decision-making techniques