Comprehensive look at the legislative process

I don't know where I originally found this, but it is a great study graphic about Congress for students of American Government, although with far more details about the little steps through Congress and the language of parliamentary procedure than is necessary in an introductory course.

The legend at the bottom highlights the best aspects of this visual --see "extra information" "chance for failure" and "lobbying opportunity." There are a lot of input points, and a lot of veto points. Those characteristics have positive and negative impacts on both Congress's ability to write quality legislation and its ability to fulfill its representative function in our republic.


The color coding and width of this graphic make it unwieldy for me to use in class, but it is worth a download and a closer look.