I'm Just a Bill

"I'm Just a Bill" is a "Schoolhouse Rock!" segment which first aired in 1975. It is sung by Jack Sheldon (the voice of the Bill) and his son (the boy learning the process). It is about how a bill becomes a law, how it must go through Congress, and how it can be vetoed, etc. The Bill is for the law that school buses must stop at train crossings. In the end, the Bill becomes a law.

In popular culture

The sketch was parodied in "The Simpsons" episode "The Day the Violence Died", in which Krusty the Clown presents "I'm an Amendment to Be," depicting a Constitutional amendment's attempt to ban flag burning. The sketch was later briefly parodied in another Fox produced animated series, "Family Guy". In the episode, "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington", the anthropomorphic legal bill singing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building until he is scooped up by a street sweeper. Sheldon provided the voice of the amendment in both parodies.

2007 reference to the cartoon in the United States Senate

Criticizing a comprehensive immigration reform bill, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)., critiqued the proposed legislation for three hours on May 21, 2007 in front of "a giant picture of a famous scene from Schoolhouse Rock's 'I'm just a bill' skit." [cite news|title=Senate Takes Time Before Vote on Compromise Immigration Reform Bill|date=Monday, May 21, 2007|publisher=Fox News|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274435,00.html] The caption on the picture was "How a Senate Bill Becomes a Law."cite news|title=On Behalf of the 'American People'|author=Dana Milbank|date=May 22, 2007|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052101577.html?hpid=topnews|publisher=Washington Post] Sessions pointed out how the reform bill had proceeded through the Senate in contrast with what educational material like the cartoon had laid out, saying " [ Hugh Hewitt has written that this is] Not what we were taught in grade school, I assure you, and I couldn’t agree more. This is not how the process is supposed to work. We should not be asked to trust our colleagues and vote to put a bill on the floor when we do not know that the bill text is even finalized, that the bill has not been drafted by legislative counsel, the bill has not been introduced or even given a bill number, the committee process was skipped and not followed, a Congressional Budget Office score may not have been requested." [cite news|url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2007_record&page=S6365&position=all|title=Congressional Record - Senate|date=May 21, 2007|page=S6365]

References