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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[lue]

well it's been fun everyone but the clock has strucken twelve midnight in Washington so NO MORE SEX FOR ANYBODY

but you can console yourself knowing it's what Santorum would have wanted

Darn, it's just kinky now .

[FearfulJesuit]

A sudden bout of sanity from...Paul Ryan?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Welp, time for Ryan to become a Marxist RINO significantly ahead of schedule.

[misko27]

RINOs are okay, but kids love DINOs, and if you're a bird watcher, if you look carefully around the capitol building, you may get to see a SPINO (Speaker In Name Only)

[lue]

I have to say I applaud Paul Ryan for doing this House-side, fighting against the prevailing winds of the Tea Party. Aside from the Maine Senator, I don't recall hearing of other Republican congressmen who have been pushing concrete plans (instead of just saying "I would vote for a clean CR if one came up", for instance).

I also wish more news articles would provide direct links to the actual poll data. I'd rather not go on a hyperlink walk to the news article that does have such a direct link.

Spoiler: Marginally Related (click to show/hide)

Reading this:

—but it is far better than default.

Made me realize that, because raising the debt ceiling is opt-in, you could say that default is the default condition of the US gov't debt.

Also, since we shorten Democrats to Dems and Republicans to GOP, it's only fair we shorten Tea Party to TP. Who's with me?

[Max White]

Why are Republicans GOP?
You guys don't have a house of representatives do you? I thought your lower house was just a lower house without special name... Do you get to vote on it? How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

Or is there some other reason why 'reps' was taken?

[GlyphGryph]

We have a Senate and a House of Representatives, yes. Bicameral legislature. Senate was intended to be the upper house, and represents states. The other house represents individual districts and has a lot more folks in it.

They are both democratically elected in pretty much the same way now, though, except the Senate gets more strong representation from smaller states.

Basically, the system the founders wanted is long, long past, and instead we've got a bunch of populist crap that leads exactly to the sort of stuff we've seen lately...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Why are Republicans GOP?

Grand Old Party. It's their nickname, in spite of the fact that the Democrats are the older party.

You guys don't have a house of representatives do you?

Yes, yes we do. There is the House of Representatives, and then there is the Senate.

I thought your lower house was just a lower house without special name...

No, it's official name is the House of Representatives.

Do you get to vote on it?

All seats in Congress are democratically elected.

How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

That way madness lies.

Or is there some other reason why 'reps' was taken?

What?

[Max White]

We have a Senate and a House of Representatives, yes. Bicameral legislature.

Fun fact: To most people in the rest of you world you have a President who personally writes all legislation with a quill on parchment and has a time turner as it is the only way one man could ever produce that much paperwork.

It makes perfect sense when you think about it, why else do all your presidents age about fifteen years a term?

[Aqizzar]

How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

So absolutely obligatory.

[lue]

Why are Republicans GOP?
You guys don't have a house of representatives do you? I thought your lower house was just a lower house without special name... Do you get to vote on it? How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

Or is there some other reason why 'reps' was taken?

GOP = Grand Old Party. I don't know why either. (Oh wait, here it is!)

And yes, our lower house is in fact call the House of Representatives, although its nickname is "the House", not "the Reps". However, "reps" is more reminiscent of the House or the people elected to it than Republicans.

And yes, we elect everyone in Congress. (Although popular vote of Senators wasn't enacted until Amendment 17)

Article 1 Section 7 outlines the process in 18th Century legalese. To summarize:

• One house (hereafter house #1) of Congress goes through their various procedures to introduce a bill to the floor for a vote. If it passes by simple majority it goes on to house #2. If it fails that vote, You have failed bill! TRY AGAIN.
• House #2 votes on it as well. If it passes by simple majority it goes to the President. If it fails that vote, You have failed bill! TRY AGAIN.
• If the President signs the bill into law, You have law! STOP HERE. If the President vetoes the bill, it goes back to house #1 (along with whatever the Prez says he objected to). If the President neither signs nor vetoes the bill for ten days (Sundays excepted), see this sublist:
  
  • If Congress is in session after the ten day period, You have law! STOP HERE.
  • If Congress is not in session after the ten day period, then this is a pocket veto. For what happens now, see this sublist:
    
    • If "agents" have been set up to receive communication for Congress, then the pocket veto is treated as a normal veto, delivered complete with the written objections to the "agents". The next step in the main list occurs once Congress reconvenes.
    • If there are no agents for the President to return the bill to, You have failed bill! TRY AGAIN.
• House #1 mulls it over a bit, taking the President's objections into consideration, and vote again. If the vote passes by 2/3 majority, it goes to house #2, along with Prez's objections. If this vote fails, You have failed bill! TRY AGAIN.
• House #2 mulls it over a bit as well, and takes a vote. If the vote passes by 2/3 majority, You have law! STOP HERE. If the vote fails, You have failed bill! TRY AGAIN.

That's basically it. I hope this colorful guide helps you. (Note: The reason why I say House #1 and House #2 is because who starts the process depends on what type of bill it is; the House is supposed to start budgetary bills, for instance. (see the Article 1, Section 7, Clause 1))

How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

So absolutely obligatory.

I believe every American thinks of this video whenever someone asks how a bill becomes law .

We have a Senate and a House of Representatives, yes. Bicameral legislature.

Fun fact: To most people in the rest of you world you have a President who personally writes all legislation with a quill on parchment and has a time turner as it is the only way one man could ever produce that much paperwork.

It makes perfect sense when you think about it, why else do all your presidents age about fifteen years a term?

Don't sweat it, plenty of Americans think it's all on the President too (they know of Congress, of course, but they tend to act like the President has puppetmaster levels of control over it at times).

EDIT: Whoops, completely forgot the pocket veto. It gets a little wonky though, so don't twist yourself into knots over it (hell, nobody's quite sure how a pocket veto ever becomes undeliverable to Congress, but that's a separate legal matter...)

[misko27]

A law is approved by both houses of Congress (with a few rare exceptions, approvals and such), and signed by the president. The House is strictly majority, while the Senate requires some compromise if you don't have 60 votes (This is called a "supermajority"). A bill must be passed by both houses, which means if they pass two separate versions of a bill for example, they need to meet to work out the differences. The President may Veto, sending a bill back to Congress for to see whether they can override it, which requires 2/3 of both houses. The President can't introduce laws on his own, but if he wrote up a law and suggested it be taken a look at, it would be. Usually a sub-committee votes on it and then introduces it.

How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

So absolutely obligatory.

That was exactly what I expected it to be.

[Aqizzar]

How does a bill become a law?!?!?!?

So absolutely obligatory.

I believe every American thinks of this video whenever someone asks how a bill becomes law .

The irony being that it says almost nothing about how bills become laws, and doesn't mention the rather important if rarely seen veto-override power.  Certainly doesn't say anything about how the Congress actually does business in terms of letting a bill come up for vote.

The House is strictly majority, while the Senate requires some compromise if you don't have 60 votes (This is called a "supermajority").

Should be noted, this is not a Constitutional rule.  This is the infamous "filibuster", a procedure allowed by the Senate since the Constitution empowers each chamber on how to make it's own rules of debate.  It's become a de facto rule since 2007, when the Republican party vowed the filibuster absolute every bill that they don't agree with, and in some cases even the ones they do.

It's worth noting, part of the reason why we even have the Constitution that we do is because the system of government America had before that, the Articles of Confederation, created a government that was constantly paralyzed because it required a super-majority vote to do almost anything.

[lue]

The House is strictly majority, while the Senate requires some compromise if you don't have 60 votes (This is called a "supermajority").

Should be noted, this is not a Constitutional rule.  This is the infamous "filibuster", a procedure allowed by the Senate since the Constitution empowers each chamber on how to make it's own rules of debate.  It's become a de facto rule since 2007, when the Republican party vowed the filibuster absolute every bill that they don't agree with, and in some cases even the ones they do.

It's worth noting, part of the reason why we even have the Constitution that we do is because the system of government America had before that, the Articles of Confederation, created a government that was constantly paralyzed because it required a super-majority vote to do almost anything.

Ah yes, the good ol' Articles of Confederation. I don't know how we were supposed to survive without a President to blame for everything .

And yeah, both Houses operate on a simple majority basis. The Senate however has a delay-votes-on-bill-turned-increase-vote-threshold rule that gets used way too much nowadays. But the Senate does not, constitutionally, operate on a 60 vote basis.

EDIT: Also, I don't think we've mentioned the lovely and weird pocket veto yet. I updated my handy-dandy guide a couple posts up when I realized I missed it too .

[GlyphGryph]

Should be noted, this is not a Constitutional rule.  This is the infamous "filibuster", a procedure allowed by the Senate since the Constitution empowers each chamber on how to make it's own rules of debate.  It's become a de facto rule since 2007, when the Republican party vowed the filibuster absolute every bill that they don't agree with, and in some cases even the ones they do.

There are actually a variety of filibuster rules that congress CAN decide to follow - the particular filibuster allowed by their current rules is a different beast from the one most people imagine, and I've honestly got no idea why the Senate inflicted it on itself since it basically is just "a super-majority support or don't care about this bill" rule.