How Bills Become Laws: Understanding The Process

The process of a bill becoming a law is a long and complex one. It involves many steps, from the initial idea to the final enactment, and requires the input of various individuals and groups. The process begins with the introduction of a bill, which can be proposed by a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, or by citizen groups or individuals who petition their representative. The bill is then assigned to a committee, which researches and discusses it before putting it before the chamber for a vote. If the bill passes one body of Congress, it moves to the other body, where it undergoes a similar process. Once both bodies accept the bill, they must reconcile any differences between their versions before presenting it to the President for approval. The President can approve and sign the bill into law or veto it. If the President chooses to veto, Congress can vote to override the veto, and the bill becomes law. However, if the President does not sign off on the bill and Congress is no longer in session, the bill is vetoed by default, known as a pocket veto, which cannot be overridden.

How a bill is 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 suggested by citizens or citizen groups. Citizen groups can petition a bill by recommending a new or amended law to a member of Congress that represents them.

Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. The bill is then put before that chamber to be voted on.

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, 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 House, legislation is handed to the clerk of the House or placed in the hopper. In the Senate, members must gain recognition from the presiding officer to announce the introduction of a bill during the morning hour. If any senator objects, the introduction of the bill is postponed until the next day.

The bill is then assigned a number (e.g. HR 1 or S 1) and labelled with the sponsor's name. It is sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) and copies are made. Senate bills can be jointly sponsored, and members can cosponsor the piece of legislation.

The committee process

Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. There are 20 standing committees in the House and 16 in the Senate, as well as several select committees. Each committee's jurisdiction is defined by certain subject matter under the rules of each House, and all measures are referred accordingly. For example, the Committee on the Judiciary in the House has jurisdiction over measures relating to judicial proceedings, constitutional amendments, immigration policy, bankruptcy, patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

One of the first actions taken by a committee is to seek input from relevant departments and agencies about a bill. Frequently, the bill is also submitted to the Government Accountability Office with a request for an official report on the necessity or desirability of enacting the bill into law. The committee may also set a date for public hearings if the bill is of sufficient importance.

After hearings are completed, the subcommittee will usually consider the bill in a session that is popularly known as the 'markup' session. The views of both sides are studied in detail, and at the conclusion of the deliberation, a vote is taken to determine the action of the subcommittee. It may decide to report the bill favourably to the full committee, with or without amendment, or unfavourably, or without recommendation.

At full committee meetings, reports on bills may be made by subcommittees. Bills are read for amendment in committees by section, and members may offer germane amendments. A vote of committee members is then taken to determine whether the full committee will report the bill favourably, adversely, or without recommendation.

If the committee votes to report the bill favourably to the House, it may report the bill with or without amendments. If the committee has approved extensive amendments, the committee may decide to report the original bill with one 'amendment in the nature of a substitute' consisting of all the amendments previously adopted, or may introduce and report a new bill incorporating those amendments, commonly known as a 'clean' bill.

Final Committee Action

When the committee votes to report the bill to the House, the committee staff writes a committee report. The report describes the purpose and scope of the bill and the reasons for its recommended approval. Generally, a section-by-section analysis sets forth precisely what each section is intended to accomplish. All changes in existing law must be indicated in the report, and the text of laws being repealed must be set out. This is known as the 'Ramseyer' rule. A similar rule in the Senate is known as the 'Cordon' rule.

If, at the time of approval of a bill by a committee, a member gives notice of an intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views, all members are entitled to not less than two additional calendar days to file those views with the clerk of the committee. These views are then included in the report on the bill.

Availability of Reports and Hearings

A measure or matter reported by a committee may not be considered in the House until the third calendar day on which the report of that committee on that measure has been available to the Members of the House. This rule is subject to certain exceptions, including resolutions providing for certain privileged matters and measures declaring war or other national emergency.

Legislative Oversight by Standing Committees

Each standing committee, other than the Committee on Appropriations, is required to review and study, on a continuing basis, the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of the laws dealing with the subject matter over which the committee has jurisdiction. The purpose of this review is to determine whether laws and programs are being implemented and carried out in accordance with the intent of Congress and whether those programs should be continued, curtailed, or eliminated.

Calendars of Business

The House of Representatives has four calendars of business: the Union Calendar, the House Calendar, the Private Calendar, and the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees. When a public bill is favourably reported by all committees to which it is referred, it is assigned a calendar number on either the Union Calendar or the House Calendar, the two principal calendars of business.

Obtaining Consideration of Measures

Certain measures, either pending on the House and Union Calendars or unreported and pending in committee, are more important and urgent than others, and a system permitting their consideration ahead of those that do not require immediate action is necessary. If the calendar numbers alone were the determining factor, the bill reported most recently would be the last to be taken up.

Special Resolution or 'Rule'

To avoid delays and allow selectivity in the consideration of public measures, it is possible to have them taken up out of their order on their respective calendars or to have them discharged from the committee by obtaining a special resolution or 'rule' for their consideration from the Committee on Rules.

Motion to Discharge Committee

A Member may present to the Clerk a motion in writing to discharge a committee from the consideration of a public bill or resolution that has been referred to it 30 legislative days prior. If 218 Members have signed the motion, it is entered in the Journal, printed with all the signatures, and referred to the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees. On the second and fourth Mondays of each month, a Member who has signed a motion to discharge may call up the motion. The motion to discharge is debated for 20 minutes, with half the time in favour and half in opposition.

Motion to Suspend the Rules

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of each week, and during the last six days of a session, the Speaker may entertain a motion to suspend the rules of the House and pass a public bill or resolution. Members need to arrange this in advance with the Speaker. The Speaker usually recognises only a majority member of the committee that has reported or has primary jurisdiction over the bill. The motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill is debatable for 40 minutes, with half the time in favour and half in opposition.

District of Columbia Business

On the second and fourth Mondays of each month, after the disposition of motions to discharge committees, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform may call up for consideration any District of Columbia business reported from that committee.

Questions of Privilege

House rules provide special treatment for questions of privilege, which are classified as questions affecting the rights of the House collectively or the rights, reputations, and conduct of Members individually. A question of privilege has been held to take precedence over all questions except the motion to adjourn.

Voting by the full chamber

Once a bill has been introduced to Congress, it is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 23 House committees, with 104 subcommittees. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialised policy areas. For example, the House Committee on Ways and Means includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.

A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full committee, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear before the committee and provide testimony, and can compel people to appear using subpoena power if necessary.

If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the majority party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away. Others may wait for months or never be scheduled at all.

When the 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.

Referral to the other chamber

Once a bill has been passed by either the House or the Senate, it is referred to the other chamber, where it typically follows the same route through committees and, finally, to the floor. This chamber may approve the bill as received, reject it, ignore it, or make changes to it. If the bill is rejected, ignored, or changed, Congress may form a conference committee to resolve or reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

The conference committee is usually made up of senior members who are appointed by the presiding officers of the committee that originally dealt with the bill. The representatives from each house will work to maintain their version of the bill. If the conference committee reaches a compromise, it prepares a written conference report with recommendations for the final bill. Both the House and the Senate must then vote to approve the conference report. If the conference committee is unable to reach an agreement, the bill dies.

In the case of the House, most bills go to the Rules Committee before reaching the floor. The Rules Committee adopts rules that will govern the procedures under which the bill will be considered by the House. A "closed rule" sets strict time limits on debate and forbids the introduction of amendments. These rules can have a significant impact on whether the bill passes. The Rules Committee can be bypassed in three ways: 1) members can move to suspend the rules (requiring a two-thirds vote); 2) a discharge petition can be filed; or 3) the House can use a Calendar Wednesday procedure.

Presidential approval

The process of a bill becoming a law involves multiple steps, including the requirement of Presidential approval. Once a bill has passed both houses of Congress, it must be presented to the President for approval or veto. The President can approve a bill by signing it, at which point it becomes a law.

The President's signature is not always necessary for a bill to become a law. If a bill sits unsigned on the President's desk for 10 days (excluding Sundays) while Congress is in session, the bill will automatically become a law. This is not the case if Congress is adjourned when the 10 days are up, in which case the bill does not become law. This is known as a "pocket veto".

If the President does not approve of a bill, they must return it to the House in which it originated, along with their objections. The House will then enter these objections on their Journal and proceed to reconsider the bill. If two-thirds of that House still agree to pass the bill, it will be sent, along with the objections, to the other House, which will also reconsider it. If two-thirds of that House also approve the bill, it will become a law.

The time it takes for a bill to become a law can vary. If all parties are in agreement and the President approves, it could take a matter of days. However, the process can also take years, or a bill may never even make it out of committee.

Frequently asked questions