Who Can Send Bills To The President's Desk?

In the United States, the lawmaking branch of the federal government is Congress. A bill is a proposal for a new law or a change to an existing law. 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. If the bill passes one body of Congress, it goes to the other body to go through a similar process of research, discussion, changes, and voting. 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 can approve the bill and sign it into law, or they can refuse to approve a bill, which is called a veto. If the president chooses to veto a bill, in most cases, Congress can vote to override that veto, and the bill becomes a law.

Bills are introduced by a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate

In the House, the Speaker refers the bill to all committees with jurisdiction over the provisions in the bill, as determined by the chamber's standing rules and past referral decisions. Most bills fall under the jurisdiction of one committee. If multiple committees are involved, each committee may work only on the portion of the bill under its jurisdiction. One of those committees will be designated the primary committee of jurisdiction and will likely take the lead on any action that may occur.

In the Senate, bills are typically referred to the committee with jurisdiction over the issue that predominates in the bill. In a limited number of cases, a bill might not be referred to committee but instead be placed directly on the Senate Calendar of Business through a series of procedural steps on the floor.

Bills are assigned a number and a sponsor

Once a bill has been introduced, it is assigned a number by the Clerk of the House. Bills originating in the House of Representatives are designated by "H.R." followed by a number, while Senate bills are designated by "S." followed by a number. The bill is also labelled with the name of its sponsor, the member who introduces the bill for consideration.

In the House, the sponsor's signature must appear on the bill. A public bill may have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, who sign onto a bill to demonstrate their support. In the Senate, bills can be jointly sponsored.

The bill is then sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) and copies are made.

Bills are sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) and copies are made

Once a bill has been introduced, it is sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) where copies are made. The GPO is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government, and its activities are defined in the public printing and documents chapters of Title 44 of the United States Code.

The GPO was created by a congressional joint resolution on June 23, 1860, and began operations on March 4, 1861, with 350 employees. It reached peak employment in 1972 with 8,500 employees, but this number has been steadily declining due to the shift from paper to electronic document distribution. The GPO occupies a large red brick building on the corner of North Capitol Street NW and H Street NW in the District of Columbia, where it has been since its inception.

The GPO produces and distributes information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including the official publications of the Supreme Court, the Congress, the Executive Office of the President, executive departments, and independent agencies. It also prints US passports for the Department of State, as well as Trusted Traveler Program cards for the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection.

The GPO contracts out much of the Federal government's printing but prints the official journals of the government in-house. It is also responsible for the dissemination of information through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Cataloging and Indexing Program, and the Publication Sales Program.

The Director of the GPO is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director then selects a Superintendent of Documents, who is in charge of the dissemination of information at the GPO.

Bills are referred to a committee by the Speaker of the House or the presiding officer in the Senate

Once a bill has been introduced, it is assigned to a committee. The Speaker of the House or the presiding officer in the Senate refers the bill to the appropriate committee. The referral decision is often made by the House or Senate parliamentarian.

Bills are referred to committees so that committee members can research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. Committees are panels of members from both parties who are experts on topics such as agriculture, education, or international relations. Committees provide the most intensive consideration of a proposed bill and are a forum for the public to be heard. There are 20 standing committees in the House and 16 in the Senate.

The Speaker of the House may refer a bill to multiple committees for consideration of those provisions of the bill within the jurisdiction of each committee. The Speaker may also place time limits on the committees' considerations of bills. In the Senate, introduced measures and House-passed measures are referred to the one committee of preponderant jurisdiction by the Parliamentarian on behalf of the Presiding Officer.

In the House, if a bill is not released by the committee, it is considered to be killed. A discharge petition signed by a majority of the House membership (218 members) is required to release a bill from committee without a proper committee vote.

Bills are sent to the House floor for debate and voted on

Once a bill has been introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. The bill is then put before the chamber to be voted on. If the bill passes one body of Congress, it goes to the other body to go through a similar process of research, discussion, changes, and voting.

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.

House Floor Consideration

Consideration of a measure by the full House can be a simple or very complex operation. In general, a measure is ready for consideration by the full House after it has been reported by a committee. Under certain circumstances, it may be brought to the Floor directly.

The consideration of a measure may be governed by a "rule". A rule is a simple resolution that must be passed by the House and sets out the particulars of debate for a specific bill—how much time will be allowed for debate, whether amendments can be offered, and other matters.

Debate time for a measure is normally divided between proponents and opponents. Each side yields time to those members who wish to speak on the bill. When amendments are offered, these are also debated and voted upon. After all debate is concluded and amendments decided upon, the House is ready to vote on final passage. In some cases, a vote to "recommit" the bill to the committee is requested. This is usually an effort by opponents to change some portion or table the measure. If the attempt to recommit fails, a vote on final passage is ordered.

Voting

Votes on final passage, as well as all other votes in the House, may be taken by the electronic voting system which registers each individual member's response. These votes are referred to as Yea/Nay votes or recorded votes, and are available in House Votes by bill number, roll call vote number, or words describing the reason for the vote.

Votes in the House may also be by voice vote, and no record of individual responses is available.

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