How Bills Become Laws Without Presidential Signature

The process of a bill becoming a law is a complex one, and the role of the President is an important part of this. The President has the power to veto a bill, but this can be overridden by Congress. If a bill is not signed by the President within 10 days and Congress is still in session, it will become law. However, if Congress adjourns before this 10-day period is up and the President has not signed, the bill will not become law. This is known as a pocket veto.

Congressional override

In the United States, Congress is the lawmaking branch of the federal government. 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 introduced, it is assigned to a committee, which will research, discuss, and make changes to it. The bill is then put before that 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. If it passes, they present it to the president.

The president then considers the bill. They can approve the bill and sign it into law, or they can refuse to approve it, which is called a veto. If the president chooses to veto a bill, Congress can 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. This action is called a pocket veto, and it cannot be overridden by Congress.

A Congressional override, therefore, is when Congress votes to override a presidential veto, allowing a bill to become a law without the president's signature. This can only occur when the president actively vetoes a bill, and not when a pocket veto occurs. In the case of a pocket veto, Congress must begin the legislative process anew if it still wants to pass the bill.

Pocket veto

A pocket veto is a legislative manoeuvre that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action, thus effectively killing the bill without affirmatively vetoing it.

In the US, if the president does not sign a bill within 10 days of its passage by Congress, it automatically becomes law. However, if Congress adjourns within the 10-day period and the president does not sign the bill, it is automatically vetoed, and the veto is absolute. This latter action is referred to as a pocket veto.

The US Constitution limits the president's period for deciding on whether to sign or return any legislation to ten days (not including Sundays) while the US Congress is in session. A return veto happens when the president sends a bill, along with their objections, back to the house of Congress from which it originated. Congress can override the veto by a two-thirds vote of both chambers, whereupon the bill becomes law.

If Congress adjourns and designates an agent to receive veto messages and other communications, a pocket veto cannot happen. If a bill is pocket vetoed while Congress is out of session, the only way for Congress to circumvent the pocket veto is to reintroduce the legislation as a new bill, pass it through both chambers, and present it to the president again for signature.

In the US, a pocket veto cannot be overridden.

Committee referral

The legislative process is a complex one, and the committee referral stage is an important part of it. Here is an overview of the committee referral process:

Any member of the House of Representatives can introduce a bill at any time while the House is in session. The bill is then assigned a number (e.g., HR 1 or S 1) and referred to the appropriate committee by the Speaker of the House or the presiding officer in the Senate. The referral decision is usually made by the House or Senate parliamentarian. The committee referral process ensures that each bill is sent to the committee with jurisdiction over the relevant subject matter.

Committees play a crucial role in the legislative process. They provide intensive consideration of the proposed measures and serve as a forum for public input. There are currently 20 standing committees in the House and 16 in the Senate, as well as several select committees. Each committee's jurisdiction is defined by the subject matter under the rules of each chamber. For example, the House Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction over matters relating to judicial proceedings, immigration policy, and intellectual property, among other things.

The Speaker of the House may set time limits on committees and refer a bill to multiple committees if different provisions fall under the purview of distinct committees. Bills are placed on the calendar of the committee to which they are assigned. Failure to act on a bill by a committee is often tantamount to killing it. Committees may hold hearings, request comments from government agencies, and make revisions to the bill.

After a committee has completed its work, it reports the bill back to the full chamber, along with a written report explaining the committee's position. The committee report is an essential part of the legislative history of a bill and is used by courts, executive departments, and the public to understand the purpose and meaning of the proposed law.

Presidential approval

Once a bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited—Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill—and by extension, its passage—by refusing to stand down. A supermajority of 60 Senators can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once debate is over, the votes of a simple majority pass the bill.

A bill must pass both houses of Congress before it goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills have the exact same wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Conference Committee is convened, consisting of members from both chambers. The members of the committee produce a conference report, intended as the final version of the bill. Each chamber then votes again to approve the conference report. Depending on where the bill originated, the final text is then enrolled by either the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate and presented to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The bill is then sent to the President.

The President has several options when receiving a bill from Congress. If the President agrees substantially with the bill, they may sign it into law, and the bill is then printed in the Statutes at Large. If the President believes the law to be bad policy, they may veto it and send it back to Congress. Congress may override the veto with a two-thirds vote of each chamber, at which point the bill becomes law and is printed.

There are two other options the President may exercise. If Congress is in session and the President takes no action within 10 days, the bill becomes law. If Congress adjourns before 10 days are up and the President takes no action, then the bill does not become law. This is called a "pocket veto," and if Congress still wants to pass the legislation, they must begin the entire process anew.

Legislative branch

The Legislative Branch, established by Article I of the US Constitution, is comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers.

The process of passing a bill typically begins with a representative sponsoring a bill. The bill is then assigned to a committee for study. If released by the committee, the bill is put on a calendar to be voted on, debated, or amended. If the bill passes by a simple majority, it moves to the Senate. In the Senate, the bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and voted on. If the bill passes in the Senate, a conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The Government Publishing Office prints the revised bill in a process called enrolling. The President then has 10 days to sign or veto the enrolled bill.

If the President chooses to veto a bill, in most cases, Congress can vote to override that veto, and the bill becomes a law. But 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. This action is called a pocket veto, and it cannot be overridden by Congress.

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