--- title: Congress and Parliament: how a law is made — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Congress and Parliament: how a law is made», a lesson of the politics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A law starts as a bill, a plan for a law, and it must pass a series of tests before everyone has to obey it: it is read out, a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/) / Congress and Parliament: how a law is… # Congress and Parliament: how a law is made Lesson 6 of the politics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/0/) — A law starts as a bill, a plan for a law, and it must pass a series of tests before everyone has to obey it: it is read out, argued over, checked line by line by a small group called a committee, changed, and voted on. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/1/) — Picture your class making a rule about phones at lunch: first someone reads it out, then everyone argues, then a few children fix the wording, then the class votes; Parliament and Congress do the same, only slower and more carefully. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/2/) — Both have two parts: the US Congress has the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the UK Parliament has the elected House of Commons, with its green benches and loud "Hear, hear!", and the House of Lords, with red benches and members who are chosen, not voted in. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/3/) — A bill can bounce between the two parts like a ping-pong ball until they agree; in the USA the president can then sign it or veto it, and Congress can still override a veto if two-thirds of both parts vote again. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/4/) — Every MP or member of Congress represents an area, and their job includes listening to everyone there, even a 9-year-old who writes about a dangerous crossing, or the many people who sign an online petition. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/5/) — A bill is a plan for a new law that has not been agreed yet. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/6/) — The US Congress makes the laws and has two parts, the House of Representatives and the Senate; a bill must win a vote in both, and then the president signs it. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/7/) — In the House of Commons, MPs (Members of Parliament), each voted in by one area, debate face to face, with the government on one side and the opposition on the other; the Speaker keeps order and calls "Order!" - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/8/) — Members of the House of Lords, called peers, are appointed, not elected, often as experts or long-serving politicians; they can send a bill back with changes but cannot block the Commons forever. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/9/) — A bill goes through readings (debates), a committee that checks it line by line, and amendments (changes) in both parts before it becomes law. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/10/) — A veto is when a US president refuses to sign a bill; Congress can override it if two-thirds of both the House and the Senate vote for it again. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/11/) — A constituent is a person who lives in the area an MP represents; anyone can write to their MP or member of Congress, including children. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/12/) — Every US state has two senators, big or small, but in the House, states with more people get more members: California has more than fifty, Wyoming has one. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/13/) — When the Commons and the Lords disagree, a bill goes back and forth until they agree; this is called parliamentary ping-pong, and the elected Commons usually gets its way in the end. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/14/) — Whips try to make their party's MPs vote together; an MP who votes against their own party is called a rebel, and it happens in Congress too. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/15/) — In the UK, anyone can start a petition on the Parliament website: at 10,000 signatures the government replies, and at 100,000 it is considered for a debate. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/16/) — A debate on a petition does not mean the law changes; it puts the idea in front of MPs. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/6-congress-and-parliament-how-a-law-is-made/17/) — Some people say the two-part system stops rushed or silly laws; others say it makes things too slow because one part can block what most people want. - ← previous: [President and Prime Minister, White House and Downing Street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/5-president-and-prime-minister-white-house-and-downing-street/) - next →: [The King, the courts and the rules above the rules](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/) - ↑ back to [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/)