The Law-Making Process: How Bills Become Laws

The process of a bill becoming a law is a lengthy one, and it begins with an idea. This idea can come from a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, or be proposed by citizens or citizen groups who recommend a new or amended law to their representative. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee, which will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. The bill is then put before the chamber to be voted on. If it passes one body of Congress, it goes through a similar process in the other body. Once both bodies vote to accept a bill, they must work out any differences between the two versions. Then, both chambers vote on the same version of the bill, and if it passes, it is presented to the President. The President can either approve the bill and sign it into law, or refuse to approve it, which is called a veto. If the President chooses to veto a bill, Congress can, in most cases, vote to override that veto, and the bill becomes a law. However, if the President does not sign off on a bill and it remains unsigned when Congress is no longer in session, the bill will be vetoed by default, which is called a pocket veto and cannot be overridden by Congress.

How a bill is proposed

The process of a bill becoming a law begins with an idea, which can come from a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, or be proposed by citizens or citizen groups. If the idea is valid, a Representative will research and write it into a bill.

Once a bill has been written, the Representative will need to find a sponsor. They will discuss the bill with other Representatives to try and gain their support. Once the bill has a sponsor and the support of other Representatives, it is ready to be introduced.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill is introduced when it is placed in the hopper, a special box on the side of the clerk's desk. Only Representatives can introduce bills in the House. A bill clerk will then assign it a number that begins with H.R. A reading clerk will then read the bill to all the Representatives, and the Speaker of the House will send the bill to a House standing committee.

The committee will review, research, and revise the bill before voting on whether to send it back to the House floor. If the committee would like more information, the bill will be sent to a subcommittee to be closely examined before being sent back to the committee for approval.

The bill is introduced

The process of turning a bill into a law begins with a Congressman or Senator introducing the bill. This is the formal beginning of the process, but the idea for a law can come from anyone, including interest groups, the executive branch, or constituents.

In the Senate, a bill is introduced by placing it on the presiding officer's desk or by formally introducing it on the Senate Floor. In the House, a bill clerk assigns the bill a number, and it is then assigned to a committee. Representatives usually sponsor bills that are important to them and their constituents. They will also try to gain support for their bills in the hopes that they will become laws.

The committee will then debate and mark up the proposed bill. Committee members will vote to accept or reject the changes made during the markup session. The committee will then vote on the bill after it has been debated and/or amended. If the bill is approved by the committee, it is sent to the House Floor for consideration, and floor action begins. Members debate the bill, and following this, the second reading of the bill begins in a section-by-section manner, during which amendments may be offered. At the conclusion of all amendment debates, the bill is read a third time, and the House is then ready to vote on the bill.

The bill goes to committee

Once a bill is introduced, it is sent to a committee. Committees are groups of representatives who are experts on specific topics, such as agriculture, education, or international relations. The committee reviews, researches, and revises the bill before voting on whether to send it back to the House floor.

If the committee requires more information before deciding, the bill is sent to a subcommittee. A subcommittee closely examines the bill and gathers expert opinions before sending it back to the committee for approval.

The committee may also hold hearings, during which the bill is discussed in detail. The committee will seek input from relevant departments and agencies, and may submit the bill to the Government Accountability Office for an official report on the necessity or desirability of enacting the bill into law.

After hearings are completed, the committee will usually consider the bill in a "markup" session. The views of both sides are studied in detail, and a vote is taken to determine the committee's action. The committee may decide to report the bill favorably to the full House, with or without amendments, or unfavorably, or without recommendation.

If the committee votes to report the bill favorably to the House, it may be reported with or without amendments. If the committee has approved extensive amendments, it may decide to report the original bill with an "amendment in the nature of a substitute," which consists of all the amendments previously adopted, or it may introduce and report a new bill incorporating those amendments, commonly known as a "clean" bill.

The committee staff then writes a committee report, which describes the purpose and scope of the bill, and the reasons for its recommended approval. The report is sent back to the whole chamber and is placed on the calendar.

The bill is reported

Once a bill has been introduced, it is referred to a committee. The committee will debate and make changes to the bill, before voting on it. If the bill passes the committee, it moves to the floor of the full Senate for consideration. The Senate decides the rules for debate, including how long the debate will last and whether or not amendments can be made. If the bill passes the Senate, it moves on to the House.

The House has an extra step, where all bills must go to the Rules Committee, which reports it out to the House. If the bill passes the House, with a majority of 238 votes or more, it passes. However, it is very rare for the exact same bill to pass both houses. Usually, the second house will make changes, and the bill will go to a conference committee, made up of members from both houses. The conference committee will attempt to reconcile both versions of the bill and come up with a compromise. If a compromise is reached, the bill is sent back to both houses for a new vote. If it passes, it is sent to the President.

The President has three options: they can sign the bill, in which case it becomes a law; they can veto the bill; or, if it is the end of a congressional term, they can opt for a pocket veto, where they neither sign nor veto the bill, and Congress goes out of session within the next 10 days. If the President chooses to veto the bill, Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. If the President does nothing and Congress remains in session for more than 10 days, the bill becomes a law without the President's signature.

The bill is voted on

Once a bill has been debated and is ready to be voted on, there are three methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives:

Viva Voce (voice vote)

The Speaker of the House asks the Representatives who support the bill to say "aye" and those that oppose it say "no."

Division

The Speaker of the House asks those Representatives who support the bill to stand up and be counted, and then those who oppose the bill to stand up and be counted.

Recorded

Representatives record their vote using the electronic voting system. Representatives can vote "yes", "no", or "present" (if they don't want to vote on the bill).

If a majority of the Representatives vote "yes", the bill passes in the U.S. House of Representatives and is then certified by the Clerk of the House and delivered to the U.S. Senate.

The process for voting on a bill in the U.S. Senate differs slightly. Senators vote by voice, saying "yea" if they support the bill and "nay" if they oppose it. If a majority of Senators say "yea", the bill passes in the U.S. Senate and is then sent to the President.

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