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This episode of Crash Course is brought to you by Squarespace
本集速成课程是由Squarespace为您带来的
Hi, I'm Craig, and this is Crash Course: Government and Politics,
嗨，我是克雷格，这是《政府和政治速成课》
and today, I've got my work cut out for me
今天，我有我的工作要做
because I'm going to try to do something that every single social studies teacher in the US has tried to do, even though there is a perfectly good cartoon you could just show
因为我要做的是美国所有的社会研究老师都在做的事，即使有一个很好的漫画你可以展示
It's from the '70s
那是70年代的事了
It's catchy
很吸引人
It's fun
且很有趣
That's right, today we're going to learn how a bill becomes a law
是的，今天我们将学习法案如何成为法律
But we're not going to be able to license the Schoolhouse Rock song
但是我们不能授权学院派摇滚
I'm just a bill, yes, I'm only a - you know what has a bill? An eagle
我只是一个法案，是的，我只是——你知道什么是法案吗?一只鹰
Okay, I think the only way we're going to possibly be able to compete with Schoolhouse Rock
好吧，我认为我们能和学院派摇滚竞争的唯一方法
is to jump right into the Thought Bubble with our own cartoon
就是用我们自己的漫画直接进入思想泡沫
And to stop talking about Schoolhouse Rock
不要再谈论学院派摇滚了
So let's start at the very beginning, which in this case is a Congressman or a Senator introducing a bill
让我们从最开始讲起，在这个例子中是一个国会议员或参议员提出一个议案
The real beginning is when he or she has an idea for a law
真正的开始是当他或她对法律有了一个想法
And even this might come from an interest group, the executive branch, or even the constituents
甚至这可能来自一个利益集团、行政部门、甚至选民
But the formal process begins with the legislator introducing the bill
但是正式的程序从立法者提出法案开始
After it's introduction, bill is referred to a committee
提出之后，法案被提交给一个委员会
Although most bills can start in either house, except for revenue bills, which must start in THE House,
虽然大多数法案可以在任何一个议院开始，除了收入账单，必须在众议院开始，
let's imagine that our bill starts in the Senate, because it's easier
我们假设我们的法案在参议院开始，因为它更容易
Congress has the power to make rules concerning the Armed Forces,
国会有权制定有关军队的规则，
so let's say this is a bill about naming helicopters
假设这是一份关于直升机命名的法案
Anywho, this bill would be referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee,
无论谁提出，这个法案都将提交给参议院军事委员会，
which would then write up the bill in formal, legal language, or markup, and vote on it
然后，参议院军事委员会会用正式的、合法的语言或标记来写法案，并对此进行表决
If the markup wins a majority in the committee, it moves to the floor of the full Senate for consideration
如果加价在委员会中赢得多数席位，就会转移到参议院全体会议审议
The Senate decides the rules for debate –
参议院决定辩论规则
how long the debate will go on and whether or not there will be amendments
辩论将持续多久，是否会有修正案
An open rule allows for amendments and a closed rule does not
开放规则允许修改，而封闭规则不允许修改
Open rules make it much less likely for bills to pass
开放规则使得法案通过的可能性大大降低
because proponents of the bill can add clauses that will make it hard for the bill's proponents to vote for
因为该法案的支持者可以添加条款，使法案的支持者很难投赞成票
If opponents of our helicopter name bill were to add a clause repealing the Affordable Care Act or something,
如果反对我们的“直升机名字法案”的人要添加一个条款来废除《合理医疗费用法案》之类的，
some supporters of the bill probably wouldn't vote for it
那么该法案的一些支持者可能不会投赞成票
If a bill wins the majority of the votes in the Senate, it moves onto the House
如果一项法案在参议院赢得多数选票，它就会进入众议院
Thanks Thought Bubble
谢谢，思想泡泡
We're going to have to go the rest of the way without fancy animation
剩下的部分，我们就不需要花哨的动画了
But I could sing it
但我能唱出来
Laaaa- I'm not going to sing it
啦啦啦——我不会唱的
I'm not going to use a funny voice
我不会用滑稽的声音
The Senate version of the bill is sent to the House
参议院的议案被提交给众议院
The House has an extra step, in that all bills before they go out to the floor of the House must go to the Rules Committee, which reports it out to the House
众议院还有一个额外的步骤，那就是所有法案在提交众议院之前必须提交给规则委员会，而规则委员会则向众议院报告
If a bill receives the majority of votes in the House, 238 or more to be exact, it passes
如果一项法案在众议院获得了238票甚至更多的多数票，它就会通过
YAY! Now, this is important
耶!这很重要
The exact same bill has to pass both houses before it can go to the president
同样的议案必须在参众两院获得通过才能提交给总统
This almost never happens though
但这几乎从未发生过
Usually the second house to get the bill will want to make some changes to it,
通常得到法案的第二个议院会想要对它做一些修改，
and if this happens, it will go to a conference committee, which is made up of members of both houses
如果发生这种情况，法案将被提交给一个由两院议员组成的会议委员会
The conference committee attempts to reconcile both versions of the bill and come up with a new version, sometimes called a compromise bill
会议委员会试图调和两种版本的法案，并提出一个新版本，有时被称为折衷法案
Okay, so if the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it then sends the bill back to both houses for a new vote
好的，所以如果会议委员会达成妥协，它会把议案送回两院重新投票
If it passes, then it's sent to the President
如果它通过了，那么它就会被送到总统那里
And then the President signs the bill, boom, done
然后总统签署了法案，完成了
That's the only option
这是唯一的选择
Oh, no, there's two other options, actually
哦，不，实际上还有两种选择
Option 2 is for him to veto the bill and we've gone through all of this for nothing
第二种选择是让他否决这项法案，而我们已经毫无理由地经历了这一切
The 3rd option is only available at the end of a congressional term
第三种选择只有在国会任期结束时才有
If the President neither signs nor vetoes the bill,
如果总统既不签署也不否决该法案，
and then in the next 10 days, Congress goes out of session, the bill does not become a law
然后在接下来的10天里，国会休会，该法案就不会成为法律
This is called a pocket veto, and is only used when the President doesn't want a law to pass, but for political reasons, doesn't want to veto it either
这就是所谓的“口袋否决权”，只在总统不想通过法律时才使用，但出于政治原因，他也不想否决
Congress can avoid this all together by passing bills and giving them to the President before that 10 day period
国会可以通过法案，并在这10天期限之前交给总统，从而避免这一切
If the President neither signs nor vetoes a law and Congress remains in session for more then 10 days,
如果总统既没有签署也没有否决一项法律，而且国会的会期超过10天，
the bill becomes a law without the President's signature
那么该法案在没有总统签署的情况下成为法律
So that's the basic process,
这是最基本的过程，
but there is one wrinkle, or if you want to be all Madisonian about it, check, on the president's power
但还有一个问题，如果你想成为麦迪逊主义者的话，看看总统的权力
If Congress really wanted a bill and the President has vetoed it,
如果国会真的想要一个法案，而总统否决了它，
they can override the veto if it gets a 2/3rd majority in both houses on a second vote
那么众议院在第二次投票中获得2/3的多数，他们可以推翻否决
Then the bill becomes a law over the President's signature
然后该法案就成为总统签署的法律
This is really rare, but it does happen once in a great while
这种情况很少见，但确实偶尔会发生
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1953 passed over Truman's veto
1953年的《塔夫脱-哈特利法案》推翻了杜鲁门的否决
I like to call it the Tartley Act
我喜欢叫它塔特利法案
Shorten it
缩短它
It's a portmanteau
这是一个多用途的
It doesn't happen that often because if the President knows that two thirds of the Congressmen supported the bill, he won't veto it
这种情况不会经常发生，因为如果总统知道三分之二的国会议员支持这项法案，他不会否决它
And if Congress knows that they don't have two thirds support, they won't try to override the veto
如果国会知道他们没有三分之二的支持，他们就不会试图推翻否决
Nobody wants to try something and fail in public, right?
没有人想在公共场合尝试某件事却失败了，对吧?
Except for me obviously, if you look at my other YouTube channel, WheezyWaiter
除了我，如果你看看我的另一个YouTube频道WheezyWaiter
So there you have it, how a bill becomes a law
这就是法案如何成为法律
I'll admit, the process is a little cumbersome, but it's designed that way so that we don't get a lot of stupid or dangerous laws
我承认，这个过程有点麻烦，但它是这样设计的，这样我们就不会有很多愚蠢或危险的法律
Still this doesn't quite explain why so few laws get passed
然而，这并不能完全解释为什么通过的法律如此之少
Bills have a very high mortality rate, and it's way more common for a bill not to become a law than to become one
法案的死亡率很高，法案不成为法律比成为法律更常见
The main reason is that there are so many places where a bill can die
主要的原因是有很多地方的法案可能会被废除
The first place that a bill can die is at the murderous hands of the speaker or majority leader, who refuses to refer it to committee
法案的第一个死亡地点是议长或多数党领袖的毒手，他们拒绝将法案提交给委员会
Then the committee can kill the bill by not voting for it at all
然后，委员会可以通过完全不投票否决该法案
And if they do vote and it doesn't get a majority then the bill doesn't go to the floor, and it's dead
如果他们真的投票了，但没有得到多数支持，那么法案就不会付诸表决，它就死了
In the Senate the murderous leadership can kill a bill by refusing to schedule a vote on it
在参议院，凶残的领导层可以通过拒绝对一项法案进行投票来扼杀它
And any senator can filibuster the bill which is when he or she threatens to keep debating until the bill is tabled
任何参议员都可以阻挠议案的通过，也就是他或她威胁要继续辩论，直到议案提交
It's a bit more complex than that, but the filibuster rules have changed recently, so hopefully we won't have as many filibuster threats in the future
比这要复杂一点，但是拖延战术的规则最近已经改变了，所以希望我们在未来不会有那么多的拖延战术威胁
The House doesn't have a filibuster but it does have a Rules Committee that can kill a bill by not creating a rule for debate
众议院没有长篇大论，但有一个规则委员会，可以通过不制定辩论规则来否决议案
The entire House can also vote to recommit the bill to committee, which is a signal to drop the bill or change it significantly
整个众议院也可以投票将法案重新提交给委员会，这是一个放弃法案或大幅修改法案的信号
And of course if either house fails to give a bill a majority of votes, then it dies
当然，如果任何一个众议院都没有给一个法案以多数票，那么它就会消亡
This applies to compromise bills coming out of conference committees too
这也适用于会议委员会提出的妥协议案
Even if a bill gets a majority in both houses then there's that whole veto thing that the President can do
即使一项法案在参众两院都占了多数，那么总统也可以否决所有的议案
Remember? So, there are many more ways for a bill to be killed than to become a law
还记得吗?因此，一个法案被否决的方式比成为法律的方式多得多
These hurdles are sometimes called veto gates
这些障碍有时被称为否决门
They can't call 'em Bill Gates because that's a person
他们不能叫他们比尔盖茨，因为那是一个人
Veto gates make it very difficult for Congress to act unless there's broad agreement
否决门使国会很难采取行动，除非有广泛的共识，
or the issue is uncontroversial like naming a post office or thanking specific groups of veterans for their service, which are two things that Congress actually does pretty efficiently
或者这个问题没有争议，比如指定一个邮局，或者感谢特定的退伍军人团体，因为他们的服务，这两件事国会实际上做得相当有效率
Think of all the post offices that aren't named
想想所有没有命名的邮局
You can't think of one, can you? Name it
你想不出一个，是吗？给它命名
You can't
你不能
It's not named
并未被命名
Veto gates are purely procedural, which means they don't draw a lot of attention from the media
否决门纯粹是程序性的，这意味着它们不会吸引媒体的太多关注
The easiest way for Congress to kill bills is to simply not vote on them or even schedule votes for them
国会否决议案最简单的方式就是不投票，甚至不安排投票
This way they don't have to go on record as being for or against a bill, just whether they support having a vote
这样，他们就不必公开表示支持或反对某项法案，只要他们是否支持投票就行了
And constituents rarely check up on this sort of thing
而选民很少会对这类事情进行核实
So I hope I managed to do a good job of both explaining how a bill becomes a law and why it's difficult for most bills to pass
所以我希望我能很好地解释法案是如何成为法律的，以及为什么大多数法案很难通过
And I hope I looked good doing it, as well
我希望我做的看起来也不错
This might be frustrating but it's strangely comforting to consider that Congress and the government as a whole were designed to make it difficult to get things done
这可能令人沮丧，但奇怪的是，考虑到国会和政府作为一个整体的目的是让事情难以完成，这让人感到安慰
A single super-powerful executive like a king can be very efficient, but also tyrannical
一个像国王一样的超级强大的行政人员可以非常高效，但也可以专制
We don't like tyrannical around here
我们不喜欢这里的专制
The founders set up these structural hurdles of the bicameral Congress and the presidential role in legislation to reduce the likelihood that authoritarian laws would pass
开国元勋们为两院制国会和总统在立法中所扮演的角色设置了这些结构性障碍，以降低威权法律通过的可能性
Congress added procedural hurdles like committees and filibusters for the same reason
出于同样的原因，国会增加了委员会和阻挠议事的程序障碍
You can argue that Congress has become dysfunctional,
你可以说国会已经功能失调了，
but looking at the process of lawmaking, it's hard to argue that this isn't by design
但看看立法的过程，很难说这不是故意的
So next time someone accuses you of being difficult, you just say, “I was behaving in a senatorial manner”
所以，下次有人指责你很难缠的时候，你就说，“我是在参议院做事”
Thanks for watching
感谢收看
I'll see you next episode
下节课见
Crash Course Government and Politics is produced in association with PBC Digital Studios
政府与政治速成班是与PBS数字工作室联合制作的
Support for Crash Course US Government comes from Voqal
美国政府对速成课程的支持来自Voqal
Voqal supports nonprofits that use technology and media to advance social equity
Voqal支持利用技术和媒体促进社会公平的非营利组织
Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org
在voqal.org了解更多关于他们的使命和倡议
Crash Course was made with all of these nice people、
速成班是所有这些善良的人做的
Thanks for watching
感谢收看
