Narrative

Nonfiction

A DAY IN
THE SENATE
by TERRY MILLER SHANNON

PAIRED
A New President Takes Office
READ

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 STRATEGIES & SKILLS
Comprehension Vocabulary
Strategy: Ask and Answer amendments, commitment,
Questions compromise, democracy,
Skill: Cause and Effect eventually, legislation,
privilege, version
Vocabulary Strategy
Latin Roots Content Standards
Social Studies
Civics and Government

Word Count: 856**

Photography Credit: (t) Photodisc/Punchstock, (c ) Brand X Pictures/PunchStock, (b) AP Images

**The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in captions,
labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not included.

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by
any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, network storage or transmission, or
broadcast for distance learning.

Send all inquiries to:

McGraw-Hill Education
Two Penn Plaza
New York, New York 10121

ISBN: 978-0-02-119091-1
MHID: 0-02-119091-7

Printed in the United States.

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 Essential Question
Why do we need government?

A DAY IN
THE SENATE
by TERRY MILLER SHANNON

Chapter 1
Meet a Senator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2
Working Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 3
A Senate Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Respond to Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PAIRED
A New President Takes Office 16
READ
Ingram Publishing/SuperStock

Glossary/Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Focus on Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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 Chapter 1

MEET A SENATOR

Senators do important work. They write laws

that make our country better. They pass laws to
build new highways and to improve schools.
Senators work in the Senate. The Senate and
the House of Representatives make up Congress.

(t) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (c) Wetzel and Company, (b) Brand X Pictures/PunchStock
Congress is the part of the government that
makes the laws.
We need legislation, or laws, to help the
country run well. Laws give us rules to follow.

Senators work in
the Capitol building
in Washington, D.C.

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 Candidates meet
voters in their state
to try to win a seat Who Can Become
in the Senate. a Senator?

• A senator must be
Senators make new at least 30 years
laws. They also change old.
• The senator must
laws to make them
live in the state he
work better. or she represents.
• Senators make a
Voters elect, or
commitment to
choose, senators to serve for six years.
represent their state.
There are two senators
(t) Kelvin Ma/ZUMA Press/Newscom, (cr) Wetzel and Company

from each state in the Senate.

Let’s look at a day in the Senate.

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 Many senators start their days by meeting with
the people who work for them. People who work
for senators are called staffers.
Staffers do many kinds of jobs. For example,
they help find information for senators. If the
senate is talking about a new highway, staffers find

(bkgd) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (br) Wetzel and Company

out how much it will cost. They find out how it
will change the lives of people living nearby.

U.S. Capitol Map

Key
U.S.
U Capitol
Supreme
S
Court
C
Senate
Buildings
Libraries of
Congress
Congessional
Office Buildings
Capitol
Reflecting Pool

The senators’ offices

are in the Senate buildings.
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 Staffers for Senator Olympia
pi
Snowe of Maine (far left)
do many jobs to help her.

Senators and staffers talk about the day ahead

at their morning meeting. Most senators go to
committee meetings each day. A lot of work of
the senate’s work is done in these small groups.
Some committees look at education issues.
(t) MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA/Newscom, (cr) Wetzel and Company

Other committees look at how the government

spends money.

STOP AND CHECK

Why do we need laws?

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 Chapter 2

WOR K ING TOGETHER

After meeting with his or her staff, a senator

might go to a committee meeting. These take place

(t) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (cl) Wetzel and Company, (bc) Architect of the Capitol
in the Capitol buildings. Senators work on new
bills at a committee meeting. A bill is a law that
has not been passed by Congress yet.
The education committee might talk about a bill
that makes class sizes in schools smaller. The bill
wants to limit class size to only 18 students.

Senators may ride the

subway to travel between
the Capitol buildings.

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 The people who agree with the bill say that
smaller classes will help students with their
reading skills. If the bill is passed, more teachers
will be needed.
The committee wants more information.
Education experts talk to the committee and
tell them that smaller classes help students learn
to read.
Next, the committee might add amendments,
or changes, to the bill.
The committee has to vote on whether to send
the bill to the full Senate. Then all the senators
can talk about the bill.
A senator asks a
question during a
committee meeting.
(cr) Wetzel and Company, (b) Benjamin J. Myers/CORBIS

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 After a committee meeting, senators can take
a lunch break. They don’t have to go far to eat.

(c) Senator Jeff Bingaman, (br) Wetzel and Company

The Capitol and its buildings are like a small
city. There are cafeterias, a gym, and even
a barbershop.

Having everything in the

Capitol buildings saves
people a lot of time.

STOP AND CHECK

What does a committee do?

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 The History of the Capitol

A view of the Capitol

in 1856 after the dome
had been taken down.

In 1793, the building of the Capitol began. The

Senate wing was finished in 1800.

British soldiers set fire to the Capitol during the

War of 1812. The building was repaired. It held
the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the
Supreme Court. By 1850, it was too small for the
(bkgd)) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (t) Architect of the Capitol, (cr) Wetzel and Compnay

senators and representatives.

In the 1850s, the dome was taken down. A new

dome was built.

Today the House of Representatives and the

Senate meet in the Capitol building.

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 Chapter 3

A SENATE VOTE

After lunch, the senators might meet in the

Senate Chamber to talk about laws and vote on bills.
Senators have the privilege of speech and debate.
This means that they can speak freely in the
chamber.

Ingram Publishing/SuperStock
Senate Pages

Senate pages deliver

messages and documents
around the Capitol. Pages
are high school students
who work in Congress.
They must be at least 16
years old.

Pages go to a school at
the Senate in the morning.
They work at the Capitol
in the afternoon.

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 When senators vote on a bill, a person writes
down their vote.
After a bill is approved in one house, it must be
voted on in the other house. The Senate and the
House of Representatives can both suggest bills.
(c) Wetzel and Company, (cb) JOSHUA ROBERTS/X01909/Reuters/CORBIS

Both houses must approve the final bill.

Sometimes the Senate and the House of
Representatives can’t agree on a bill. They form a
committee together to solve any differences.

This page met

President Obama.

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 Bills are often changed. The final law might
be a different version of the bill.
Bills are changed because people have different
ideas. People might need to compromise, or
change their views, so that the bill is approved.
A bill is sent to the president after the Senate
and the House of Representatives have approved
it. The bill becomes a law when the president
signs it. The president can refuse to sign a bill.

(c) Gerald Herbert/AP Images, (br) Wetzel and Company

Compromise is necessary for

most bills to be passed.

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 Visitors watch the
senators at work from
the Senate gallery.

Another important part of a senator’s day

is meeting with people from his or her home
state. These people can ask the senator questions
and share their ideas. Sometimes senators also
meet with some of the school groups that visit
Congress.
(t) AP Images, (cl) Wetzel and Company

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 A senator’s day might end with a flight home.

(c) Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc./Sharon Farmer, photographer, (bl) Wetzel and Company
There they meet with voters. This is how senators
stay in touch with the people they represent
and their issues. Then those issues are taken to
Washington, D.C., and eventually become law.

STOP AND CHECK

How does a bill become a law?

Voters share their concerns with

senators at public meetings.

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 Summarize Cause Effect

Summarize the work a senator

does in A Day in the Senate. Use
your graphic organizer to help.

Text Evidence
1. How do you know A Day in the Senate is
an informational text? GENRE

2. Reread page 7. What happens after a

committee agrees to a bill? CAUSE AND EFFECT

3. Look at the word elect on page 3. It contains

the Latin root lect, which means to choose.
What does election mean? LATIN ROOTS

4. Write about how senators work with other

people to make laws. How do they reach
agreement? WRITE ABOUT READING

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 Compare Texts
Read about Inauguration Day when a new
president’s new term begins.

A New President
Takes Office

The United States is a democracy. This means

the country is governed by the people. The
president leads the country.
A president is elected every four years. The
president officially becomes the president on
Inauguration Day.
The inauguration takes place in front of the
Capitol. It is usually held outdoors.
(t and b) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (bl) Jae C. Hong/AP/CORBIS

President Barack
Obama took the
oath of office on
January 20, 2009.

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 More than a million
people may go to the
presidential inauguration.

The new president takes the oath of office

on Inauguration Day. The president promises to
“preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States.” Then the new president gives
a speech.
(t) Joseph Sohm/Visions of America/CORBIS, (cl) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock

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 Presidents talk about their goals for the
country in their speeches. In 1861, Abraham
Lincoln said, “… no State upon its own mere
motion can lawfully get out of the Union … You
have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the
Government, while I shall have the most solemn
one to preserve, protect, and defend it.”
At the time, some states in the south wanted
to break away from the United States. President
Lincoln was telling them that he would do
anything to keep the country together.

This illustration

(cl) Bettmann/CORBIS, (cr) Ingram Publishing/SuperStock

shows Abraham
Lincoln taking the
oath of office.

Make Connections
Why is Inauguration Day held? ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Compare the role of a senator in A Day in the

Senate with the role of a president in A New
President Takes Office. TEXT TO TEXT
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 Glossary
bills (bils) proposed laws that have not yet been
passed by Congress (page 6)

committee (kuh-MI-tee) a small group of lawmakers

who consider bills in a specific area (page 5)

House of Representatives (HOWS uhv re-pri-ZEN-

tuh-tivs) one house of Congress; works with the
Senate to write and pass the country’s laws
(page 2)

oath (ohth) a solemn promise (page 17)

Senate (SE-nuht) one house of Congress; works with

the House of Representatives to write and pass
the country’s laws (page 2)

Index
Capitol, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 17 Obama, Barack, 16
Inauguration Day, 16, 17 Senate pages, 10
Lincoln, Abraham, 18 staffers, 4, 5
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 Purpose To find out why people run for
public office

Procedure
Step 1 In a small group, make a list of your local
school board members. You can find this
online or ask at the school office.

Step 2 Write a short letter or e-mail to each board

member. Ask him or her to say why he or
she ran for office. Show your letter or e-mail to
your teacher before you send it. Make sure that
each person gets only one letter or e-mail.

Step 3 With your group, look at the letters or

e-mails you received. Make a chart or graph
to show the results. Discuss the results with
the class.

Step 4 Write a letter or e-mail of thanks to the

school board members who replied.

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 Literature Circles
Nonfiction

Text Structure
How does the author organize information
in A Day in the Senate?

Vocabulary
What new words did you learn in A Day
in the Senate? What helped you understand
their meaning?
What are the key words in this text that relate
to the topic?

Conclusions
What conclusions can you draw about the kinds
of people who run for public office?

Author’s Purpose
Why do you think the author wrote A Day
in the Senate?

Make Connections
What other elected jobs do you know about?
How are they similar to, or different from,
a senator’s or a president’s job?

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