Questions tagged [legislative-process]
Questions about the processes to create laws in different jurisdictions.
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Who limits what sensitive/secret information is shared with the US House Armed Services Committee? Can they get whatever they want for "oversight"?
Background; elected officials considered "vetted" by election and receive no formal background check before receiving sensitive/secret information
Politico's January 5, 2023 Speaker debacle ...
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Why not require a three-fifths majority to pass a bill in the US Senate instead of using a filibuster?
From my reading on the filibuster, I get the impression that the filibuster in the US Senate today is equivalent to requiring a three-fifths majority. Why doesn't the Senate just change the rule to ...
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Why were there no objections to the public release of the former US president's tax records at the House Ways and Means Committee meeting?
In the PBS NewsHour's December 20, 2022 video WATCH LIVE: House committee votes on release of Trump's tax returns it appears, if I understand correctly, that there were no objections heard to making ...
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In India, can cabinet ministers vote in the house that they are not part of?
Cabinet ministers are allowed to visit either of the houses - Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha - to discuss and debate the various bills. After the discussion when the bill goes to the division of votes, do ...
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The House has passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act [closed]
What happens now? When will the Senate vote on it? And if the Senate passes, what happens then?
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Did the German Bundesrat ever have a vote with deliberate invalid votes?
The German Bundesrat contains representatives of the governments of each of the 16 Bundesländer (states). Certain laws from the federal government also need to pass a vote of the Bundesrat.
Each state ...
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Is there any good source of Hungary's legislative statistics?
Specifically, I am interested in figuring out the following pieces of information:
How many times have the parliament voted on legislative acts since the Orban government since 2010;
How many acts ...
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How frequent are publicly known quid pro quo legislative promises, similar to the pipeline deal with Manchin?
It was recently announced that Manchin voted for the Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for easier permits for the Mountain Valley pipeline. Are such publicly known deals commonplace in Congress? ...
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Can I see the expected future actions on a bill?
The Congress.gov site provides with detailed and up-to-date information about bills. However, I fail to find the information about any planned/anticipated actions related to an arbitrary bill, e.g. ...
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How many pieces of US legislation passed with a supermajority in both houses of Congress without being vetoed
To override a U.S. presidential veto requires a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress. According to this Wikipedia page, this has happened 111 times. What I'm having trouble finding is: ...
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What would stop a representative democracy becoming a dictatorship?
In a representative democracy, those elected pass laws for the country. If a political party had a majority in the relevant legislature(s), could that party use its majority to write a law that ...
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Origin of bill "urgency" in the Philippines, how does it work and how widespread is it in other democracies?
From the Philippine News Agency's December 30, 2021 article Duterte signs law creating Department of Migrant Workers
The creation and establishment of the Department of Migrant Workers is one of ...
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Why do some German MPs hold cards up whenever there is a vote in the Bundestag?
You can see here for example https://youtu.be/mKn4Pi3qXjU?t=3594 that members of the Bundestag holding cards up during a vote on a bill. Is this a special kind of voting? How does it work?
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How much power does the Senate Majority Leader have?
Following this question: Why is the Senate leader allowed to decide which bills to vote on? - how much power exactly does Senate Majority Leader have?
Let's suppose that the Senate is split 51-49 ...
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What would happen if Senators boycotted the Impeachment Vote
I know it would take a 2/3rds majority vote in the Senate to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. But what if a substantial number of Senators boycotted the trial, and declined to ...
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Why are congressional votes not secret?
In general, a person in the United States has the right to vote. As far as I can tell, this vote is private—no one else knows who you voted for. Why are the votes in congress public? Wouldn't it help ...
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Why do Senators and Representatives miss so many votes?
We send these people to Washington to do one main job: to vote on bills to make them laws. For example, in the 115th Congress, 33 Representatives and three Senators missed 10% or more of votes, across ...
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What's (roughly) the smallest percentage of the US population that through its Senators has successfully blocked a piece of legislation?
According to some US constitutional pundits, in theory,
senators representing about 11 percent of the population can filibuster a bill or those representing about 16 percent of the population can ...
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What constitutes a vote for or against a motion in Congress?
In the UK, Members of Parliament vote on things by shouting either ‘aye’ or ‘no’, and when the winner is not clear it will go to division. I understand the US takes a lot of cues from Parliamentary ...
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Why don't governments vote on one-off events where the decision is a matter of opinion?
Novak Djokovic recently entered Australia and encountered problems with his visa. He had apparently received a medical exemption to enter Australia, bypassing Australia's strict COVID restrictions, ...
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Is there any political party in a EU country that has a leadership that virtually bypasses secret voting by asking its MPs not to vote?
Romanian opposition failed once again to overthrow the Government in 2019. This came as no surprise. However, the main party in power requested its members not to vote at all.
The trick is that the ...
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In Muslim-minority countries, is it unusual for Muslim MPs or lawmakers to vote in favour of gay marriage or related legislation?
In Did all of Germany's Muslim MPs voted in favor of same-sex marriage? on Skeptics.SE, someone was surprised by a claim that Germany's Muslim MPs voted in favour of gay marriage.
I wasn't that ...
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What would happen if commons and lords votes on bills were made anonymous? [closed]
In the UK and other countries it is the job of the party whip to ensure that MPs vote on bills in line with party policy. This effectively means the majority party leadership decide which bills become ...
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Do Representatives from the US House of Representatives have to vote for President?
In a situation outlined in the 12th amendment where
" and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having
the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for
...
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Does it matter what is said on the US Congress floor?
It seems like bills are only put up for vote when the votes for and against are known beforehand. So, does it matter what they debate about during the actual sessions of Congress? Is it purely for ...
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Are House and Senate "debates" pointless, aside from some PR value? [duplicate]
I watch the House and Senate "debate" periods on bills and wonder who they are talking to and what is the point, aside from the later video clips. Has any Senator or Representative ever ...
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What parts of Biden’s proposals could be eligible for budget reconciliation?
President Biden addressed a joint session of congress on April 29 and proposed vast new federal social programs such as free community college and subsidized childcare for low-income and middle-class ...
CommunityBot
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Does any country have a viable 'limited filibuster' that allows minority party to selectively prevent only those laws they most dislike?
In the USA the filibuster allows minority parties to prevent passing of bills by the party in power, and is so effective at it that some would argue little get's done in congress since the minority ...
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What other countries besides the US have mechanics that allow the minority to block legislation? [duplicate]
Filibustering gives disproportionate leverage to minorities in the Senate. These, in turn, lead to bills not passing or often not even getting past subcommittees. Are there any other instances of this ...
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Do any legislative branches besides the US have a tradition of voluntarily requiring more than 50% of the votes to pass a law?
In the US Senate there's a peculiar tradition where 60 out of 100 votes are required to overcome filibuster, even though constituonally speaking 51 votes (or 50 votes plus the vice president's tie ...
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Legality of "seat sharing" in congressional districts
Define a "shared" congressional district system to be one where in any district the top two candidates are elected and each get a fractional vote in Congress according to their share of the ...
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Continuing Resolution majority necessary?
I have a fair understanding of the appropriations process but what I have trouble with is finding information about what kind of consensus is needed for a CR to pass Congress. Is it by simple majority,...
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What danger(s) does Chuck Schumer see in using reconciliation to increase debt limit?
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that if Congress does not raise the debt limit by mid-October, 2021, the U.S. could default, which could have macroeconomic implications.
The Senate minority ...
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Isn't 50 +1 not enough to increase the debt ceiling and avoid a government shutdown
Currently, the Senate is split 50/50 but the Democrats have the presidency or they have a slim majority in the Senate.
My question is do the Democrats need a Republican vote to increase the debt ...
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How does voting in the US Senate work?
There were a number of confirmation hearings in the Senate where Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote. That part is clear to me from the Constitution.
Impeachment is ...
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What is the purpose of the motion to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was agreed to, in the first Senate session?
As visible in yesterday's Congressional Record, there are a number of uncontroversial motions made by the majority leader which passed by unanimous consent. After the motions pass, he moves to "...
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What does it mean to send a resolution "over, under the rule"?
This is in the congressional record from yesterday:
RESOLUTION OVER, UNDER THE RULE—S. RES. 18
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I have a resolution at the desk.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will ...
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Are records of legislative processes publicly available and if so, how does one find their uncut versions?
On Dec 4 the U.S. Congress agreed on H.Res. 758 (Strongly condemning the aggression of the Russian Federation against neighbouring countries).
The resolution mentions that
Malaysia Airlines ...
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What is a Star Print?
I asked a question about how a bill can die after being reported by committee as favorable, and receiving no subsequent vote in the receiving chamber. After some further digging, I found that it died ...
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Committee power of Congress
Which committee has the power to prevent legislation from moving forward in the legislative process by not considering it? Or, what kind of power do standing committees have to do so?
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Why is Spain not legislating vaccine-status check measures, after executive attempts to impose those were defeated in courts?
According to The Local (ES):
The reasoning of [Spanish] judges, both regional and national, is that having to prove Covid vaccination, testing or recovery status to enter a bar or visit a museum ...
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What is Uniform Civil Code?
India wants to bring Uniform Civil Code into the country. Current Narendra Modi Government has mentioned in their manifesto as well for the implementation for the UCC. One of the state in Goa has ...
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Why doesn't the Texas legislature nuke the quorum?
The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature finds itself unable to pass a voting bill due to State Democrats refusing to participate in the meetings, leading the state to lack a quorum. The GOP has made ...
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Least amount of time US government needs to pass a law?
Assuming control of both House and Senate, but this is a bill opposed by opposition, and leaving aside fast-track procedure what is the fastest this can be done?
I am thinking this is dependent on gag ...
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Name for a popular measure added to a bill for the purpose of later attacking those who vote against that bill?
I personally always call this a kittens-are-cute bill. The basic idea is that Party A wants to pass a certain bill, but they know it's wholly unacceptable to Party B. So what they do is add some (...
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What happens in the event of a tie in the Welsh Senedd?
The results of the recent UK elections have confirmed the continuation of a Labour government in the Senedd, winning 30 out of 60 seats.
This is one seat short of a majority, so what happens in the ...
CDJB♦
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How do members of extremely large political bodies 'learn the ropes'?
The classic example is the New Hampshire State House, which is (in)famous for having an large number of members with a fairly high turnover rate, many of whom completely lack political experience and ...
CDJB♦
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Has any recent Republican legislation been blocked solely by the filibuster?
The primary argument against reforming or abolishing the Filibuster seems to be that if (realistically, when) Republicans take control of the government again, there would be nothing keeping them from ...
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Is there any publicly available draft of the American Jobs Plan beyond the fact sheet on whitehouse.gov?
The whitehouse released this fact sheet on the American Jobs Plan. However, there are several ambiguities in the plan so I am trying to find a more detailed draft of the plan. The House of Reps has ...
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Understanding Texas legislative process
If a Bill passes the Senate in Texas, does that mean it becomes law as the next step?
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