Mitch McConnell has devised a new legislative process. We’ll have to see how well it works but teachers of civics may want to think about updating their lesson plans. This could be the new normal or perhaps a political disaster which is never tried again. It’s a bit early to tell.

In the secret Republican plan to change our healthcare system which is currently being developed in the Senate, we may have a new model for legislation. We don’t know yet what the plan is or if this method will be successful.

Just to review the normal system, here is a quote from Scholastic explaining the process for middle school students. Scholastic publishes magazines for students as well as serving as a resource for teachers and other educators. Steps 1-6 involve the House and steps 13 & 14 involve vetoes so I’ll just leave those out for this. But if you are interested in those the above link above will take you to the Scholastic page.

7. Introduced in Senate: A Senator introduces the bill, which is sent to a committee.

8. Committee Action: Same procedure as in the House. If the committee majority votes for the bill, it goes to the whole Senate.

9. Bill Called Up: Majority floor leader decides when the whole Senate will consider the bill.

10. Floor Action: The Bill is debated, and amendments may be added. If a majority votes in favor of the bill, it is returned to the House.

11. Conference Committee: If the House rejects any of the changes, the bill goes to a conference committee of members from both houses. It works out a compromise.

12. Vote on Compromise: Both houses must approve changes made by the conference committee. If approved, the bill goes to the president.

We cannot be sure how the Majority Leader will do this but it is clear that he will allow very limited, if any, time for debate and amendment. It is not clear if he will even allow enough time to fully read the bill. Sometimes debate is extensive and may involve many hearings and continue for months. In this case , it seems we will not have any of that.

Perhaps it is not time change those lesson plans yet. You might want to wait a week or two to see how this plays out.