| Legislative Bill: |
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| Bill Attribute: |
Value |
| Bill Title: |
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| Bill Jurisdiction: |
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| Controversial?: |
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| Bill Sponsor: |
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| Sponsor's Party: |
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| Sponsor's Seniority: |
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| Senate Majority Party: |
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| Economic Conditions: |
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| Majority Leader's Decision: |
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| Amended by Committee?: |
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| Killed by Committee: |
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| Committee Vote: |
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| Amended by Senate?: |
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| Tabled by Senate?: |
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| Full Senate Vote: |
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| Temp Majority Leader: |
|
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Bill Flow Chart
|
Exterior Influences
(explanation)
|
This simulation will illustrate the approximate U.S. Senate process for developing and considering legislative bills.
To do this, a single legislative bill representing one of the historic topics will be selected, and its progress followed
through the different possible steps in the Senate process. At each step, you will have the opportunity to make
selections which will affect the bill's path and progress . . . (
more).
Graphics and Bill Data
Also at each step in the simulation, specific relevant information is available for your consideration.
At the top left of each page, a (green) table will display current bill data. Further down the page, a
'bill path' graph will show the current state of the bill relative to its
different possible paths. Below that, a different graph will illustrate the
external influences interested in the progress and treatment of this type of bill.
Senate Organization
The U.S. Senate is organized to ensure the orderly introduction and conduct of its business. The Constitution states
that each of the houses of Congress is to operate under its own set of rules. The Senate's rules and procedures are
very important in comprehending Senate function. They are discussed on a separate page in this site.
About this step
Begin by selecting the topic for this legislative bill by clicking on the topic of choice. You may choose any of the
topics shown in the list below. Press the 'Start Simulation' button when you are ready to begin.
Legislative Bill Flow Chart
(to top)
Exterior influences possibly affecting a legislative bill
(to top)
(explanation)
Explanation - External Influences
(to top)
At each step in the simulation, the above graph will illustrate external influences on the different entities shown in the
Senate. The graph will be specific to the topic you select for the simulated session, and will show in a separate box
organizations which have historically been active in trying to influence this kind of legislation. Active influences will
be identified with a red background, and the relationship arrows will be enlarged and highlighted. Arrow points on the
relationships maust be taken as approximate. Relationships are of course almost always bi-directional, but we like
to emphasize the most important direction. You will see a good example of these highlights and emphases in the graph for
the next step.
Of course, it is not to be pretended that these visual effects are completely representative of the real processs,
nor are they the only important ones. Your imagination and knowledge of human behavior in situations of differing beliefs
and philosophies must be used to help you develop your own understanding of each step, and an appreciation for the
significance of each separate step in the Senate process.
You may observe, after going through a full sequence of the simulation, that at no time do we emphasize the influence of either
the 'voters' or the 'news media' entities. Of course these entities are important and they do have influence. However,
we feel they are more to be considered observers of the action than are political parties and political action groups.
About the Simulation (cont)
(to top)
There is, of course, much more to be said and understood about the operation of the U.S. Senate. In this
simulation, we try to retain focus simply on how the current Senate (circa 2013) functions. Other pages
on this site exist to help you understand the Senate more fully, and to explore problems and possible solutions to
improving functionality.
You may find that opening a second web browser is a good idea. That way, one browser version can be used simply for
exploring the site to find explanations, definitions, That will leave the initial version of your browser solely to
execute the simulation, avoiding loss of place, etc.
Add Your Name
(to top)
As you go through the steps of this simulation, you will be making decisions about your legislative bill which are commonly
made (or at least highly influenced) by the Senate Majority Leader. This person, elected by the members
of the majority party, is easily the most powerful person in the Senate. Consequently, this position is highly
coveted and protected. By experiencing (some of) the alternatives that are available to this leader, and by
imagining how you might use the special Senate rules and procedures to produce the legislation your party desires, you
will begin to appreciate the complexity and exasperations involved in making the Senate process work. You may also develop
ideas about how it might work better.
Consequently, we will show your name (should you enter it) as 'Temp Majority Leader', along with the
other legislative bill data. You will get an opportunity at the end of the simulation to print a copy of all the
bill data your simulation session produced. Nothing produced by your simulation session, including your
name, is stored on our server after the session ends (see further explanation below in
('a Note').
What?
For security purposes, only letters (either upper or lower case), numbers, and underscores ('_') will
be accepted when you
enter your name as 'Temp Majority Leader'.
Also, any characters beyond a count of 20 will be truncated.
a Note:
Please keep in mind that your browser 'session' is timed by our server, and will 'timeout'
in 20 minutes. This means that if the server does not get a request from your browser in 20 minutes, your session
will be closed, and you will be forced to start a new simulation session, losing all of your existing accumulated
legislative bill data. This is no disaster, but can be an inconvenience, particularly if your are doing some
exploring elsewhere on the site, or deep thinking, while running a simulation session. Sometimes 20 minutes
can seem like a pretty short time.
Please be aware that use of the 'Back'
and 'Forward'
buttons on your browser usually does not generate a request from your internet browser to our server. Rather, use
of these (very handy) buttons accesses copies located on your browser in showing a requested page. So when
using these buttons, the 20 minute browser 'session' timeout period keeps ticking.
