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Puzzling
Evidence
Links to Puzzling Evidence On-Line
.
The
Rules of the Game, How Bills Become Law In connection
with Part 1 of our series, The Constitution in Times of Crisis, "Undue
Process? H.R. 3162, How One Bill Became Law," we thought it would
appropriate to provide some links to information on the Constitution and federal
legislative process. The following links, then, point to a
variety of government resources -- from the Senate, the House, and
elsewhere.
Links to the Home Pages of the Main Branches of
Government
Links to Federal Government Sites on Law and
Legislative Process:
Primary Documents [D], Legislative
Research Information, including Current Legislative Activity [R],
General Information on the Legislative Process [I], and General Resources
[R].
The
Constitution of the United States {Nat'l Archives and Records
Admin.}[D] [R]
A transcription of the complete text of the
Constitution, with hyperlinks to subsequent amendments, as well as
biographies of each of the 39 delegates who signed the
Constitution. There are also sections devoted to a Q&A, an
in-depth look at the Constitutional Convention and the ratification
process, and the biographies of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional
Convention. United
States Code {The Legal Information Institute at Cornell U.} [D] [R]
There
are other version of USC on-line, but this is a definitive resource,
containing various approaches to finding USC statutes, including Titles,
Popular Names, a Search Form using USC 'chapters & verses', and a
general Search Engine. And up-to-date through their links to both
THOMAS {see below} and the Congress's servers. THOMAS
-- U.S. Congress on the Internet [R] [I]
THE comprehensive site
for everything related to Congressional bills. A thorough and
up-to-date site, you can find everything about Legislation, The
Congressional Record, and Committee Information. Each piece of
information offered is thoroughly cross-referenced and hyperlinked to
everything else pertinent, e.g., related Bills, Roll Call Votes, and
even co-ordinated passages in The Congressional Record. An
invaluable resource. There's also a comprehensive section on the
legislative process entitled "How Laws Are Made." {See
below.} U.S.
House of Representatives: The Legislative Process, Tying it All Together
[I]
Provides a brief overview of the legislative process, including
Forms of Congressional Action, Introduction and Referral to Committee,
Consideration by Committee, House Floor Consideration, Resolving
Differences, and the Final Step. THOMAS:
How Are Laws Are Made [I]
A much more in-depth view of all of the
above from THOMAS, a Library of Congress resource for "legislative
information on the internet." Provides 19 comprehensive
hyperlinked chapters on everything from the Sources of Legislation and
Forms of Congressional Action to Calendars, Consideration and Debate,
Presidential Action, Publication of laws. Rules
of the 107TH Congress: U.S. House of Representatives [D] [I]
A
comprehensive look at the rules governing a wide variety of issues --
from Response to Subpoenas to Questions of Privilege, Order and Priority
of Business, Motions and Amendments, Motions Following the Amendment
Stage, Voting and Quorum Calls, Decorum and Debate, and more. U.S.
Senate Learning About the Senate [I]
The Senate's informational
site includes sections on Rules, Process, and an FAQ. There's also
a hyperlinked glossary of key terms and a Leader's Lecture Series,
initiated by Senator Trent Lott and intended to share insights from
Senate leaders on "the Senate's recent history and long-term
practices." The lectures are available as either videos of
the original lectures or in verbatim transcripts. Contributing
lecturers include Senators Mike Mansfield, Robert Byrd, Bob Dole, George
J. Mitchell, and more. Standing
Rules of the Senate - Index [D] [I]
Similar to Rules of the
House, detailed above. Roll
Call Votes - Legislative Activities - Office of the Clerk [R]
The
site of the person responsible for keeping track of what goes on in the
House. The direct access to the Roll Call Votes may be the most
useful and includes Roll Calls from previous Congressional sessions back
to the 101st Congress, 2nd Session (1990). THOMAS:
Legislation related to the attack of Sept. 11, 2001 [R]
THOMAS
has been maintaining this special page, with links to specific
information for Bills & Joint Resolutions Signed Into Law, Other
Resolutions Approved, Legislation With Floor Action, and Legislation
Without Floor Action.
DownStreet's "you can't tell
the players without a scorecard" links ...
And, of course, Vermont's own ...
. About
Links to Puzzling Evidence On-Line
The amount of info on the web is
enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a search can attest to. To put
it all in context, best estimates say that only a fraction -- maybe 20 - 40 % of
what's out there -- is actually making its way to the search engines. Well,
here at DownStreet, we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we
post a few links in Puzzling Evidence to sites that might interest you.
Sometimes the links will be related to one another ... sometimes
we'll just offer up a somewhat random sampling. Sometimes they're about
Vermont sites, sometimes not. Of course, while we can't
vouch for the fact that every link we provide will be of interest to everyone,
we do our best to filter out the noise and the bustle and focus on quality
sites. ... In that light, we hope you enjoy these sites as much as
we have. . *******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to include
them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* .
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