The Journey Of A Bill To Law

Creating laws is the most important job of the U.S. House of Representatives. All laws in the United States begin as bills, which are proposals for a new law or a change to an existing law. The idea for a bill can come from a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, or be proposed by citizens or citizen groups. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee, which will research, discuss, and make changes to it. The bill then goes through a process of research, discussion, changes, and voting in both the House and the Senate. If the bill passes in both chambers, it is presented to the president, who can approve and sign it into law, or veto it. If the president chooses to veto a bill, Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law.

A bill is drafted and introduced

A bill is a proposal for a new law or a change to an existing law. The idea for a bill can come from a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, be proposed during their election campaign, or be petitioned by citizens or citizen groups. Once a bill is drafted, it must be introduced. If a Representative is the sponsor, the bill is introduced in the House. If a Senator is the sponsor, the bill is introduced in the Senate.

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 U.S. House of Representatives. When a bill is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill clerk assigns it a number that begins with H.R. A reading clerk then reads the bill to all the Representatives, and the Speaker of the House sends the bill to one of the House standing committees.

In the Senate, the bill is submitted to clerks on the Senate floor. Upon introduction, the bill will receive a designation based on the chamber of introduction, for example, H.R. or H.J.Res. for House-originated bills or joint resolutions and S. or S.J.Res. for Senate-originated measures. It will also receive a number, which is typically the next number available in sequence during that two-year Congress. Once a bill is introduced, it can be found on Congress.gov, which is the official government website that tracks federal legislation.

Once the bill is introduced, it is referred to a committee. Both the House and Senate have various committees composed of groups of Congress members who are particularly interested in different topics such as health, agriculture, education, or international affairs. When a bill is in the hands of the committee, it is carefully examined and its chances of passage by the entire Congress are determined. The committee may even choose to hold hearings to better understand the implications of the bill. Hearings allow the views of the executive branch, experts, other public officials, supporters, and opponents of the legislation to be put on the record. If the committee does not act on a bill, the bill is considered to be "dead".

The bill is assigned to a committee

Once a bill has been introduced, it is assigned to a committee. Both the House and the Senate have committees that are composed of groups of Congress members with a particular interest or expertise in a specific topic, such as health, agriculture, education, or international affairs and relations.

The committee will carefully examine the bill, and its chances of passage by the entire Congress are determined. The committee may hold hearings to better understand the implications of the bill and to put the views of the executive branch, experts, other public officials, supporters, and opponents on the record. If the committee does not act on a bill, it is considered "dead".

Subcommittees are organised under committees and have further specialised knowledge on a certain topic. Committees may refer bills to a subcommittee for study and hearings. The subcommittee may make changes to the bill and must vote to refer it back to the full committee.

Once hearings and subcommittee reviews are completed, the committee will meet to "mark up" the bill. They make changes and amendments before recommending the bill to the "floor". If a committee votes against reporting legislation to the full chamber of Congress, the bill dies. If the committee votes in favour of the bill, it is reported to the floor. This procedure is called "ordering a bill reported".

The bill is voted on

Once a bill has been introduced, assigned to a committee, and reported, it is put before the chamber to be voted on. There are three methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives: viva voce, division, and recorded. In the case of a viva voce vote, the Speaker of the House asks the Representatives who support the bill to say "aye" and those that oppose it to say "no." For a division vote, the Speaker asks those Representatives who support the bill to stand up and be counted, and then those who oppose the bill to do the same. Finally, for a recorded vote, Representatives record their vote using the electronic voting system, and can vote "yes", "no", or "present" if they don't want to vote on the bill. If a majority of Representatives vote "yes", the bill passes in the House of Representatives and is then sent to the U.S. Senate.

In the Senate, 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 Senate and is ready to be sent to the President.

The bill is sent to the President

Once a bill has been approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is sent to the President for review. The President has three options:

• Sign and pass the bill, which becomes a law.
• Refuse to sign, or veto, the bill. The bill is then sent back to the House of Representatives, along with the President's reasons for the veto. If the House and the Senate still believe the bill should become law, they can hold another vote on the bill. If two-thirds of the Representatives and Senators support the bill, the President's veto is overridden and the bill becomes a law.
• Do nothing, which is known as a "pocket veto". If Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law after 10 days. If Congress is not in session, the bill does not become law.

The bill becomes law

The Legislative Process

The legislative process is the procedure through which a bill becomes a law. It involves several stages, including the introduction of the bill, its referral to a committee, voting by the full chamber, referral to the other chamber, and finally, referral to the President.

Once a bill has been approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is sent to the President for review. The President has three options: they can sign and pass the bill, in which case it becomes law; they can veto the bill, sending it back to Congress with their reasons for doing so; or they can do nothing, which is known as a "pocket veto". If the President chooses to veto the bill, Congress may attempt to override the veto. If two-thirds of both the House and the Senate support the bill, the President's veto is overridden, and the bill becomes law.

In most cases, for a bill to become law, it must be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the President. However, if Congress is in session and the President does not sign or veto the bill within ten days, the bill will automatically become law.

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