Laws are first drafted by either a Member of the House of
Representatives or Senate. This draft is called a bill. It is a
fairly complicated and rather lengthy process for a bill to become a
law. Outlined below is a brief explanation of that process. For more
information and a more detailed description, see the How
Our Laws Are Made page compiled by the office of the
Parliamentarian.
A bill is a written draft of an idea on how to change a law, fix
it, or enact a new one. As any bill that is passed will have an
impact on thousands of American, the language is chosen carefully
and often in consultation with experts. Most of the time a
Representative will take his or her bill to a non-partisan office
called the House or Senate Legislative Counsel. An attorney who
specializes in the legal issues involved in drafting a bill will be
on staff to help Representatives with the actual language.
Once the bill is written, the Representative will sign the bill
and place it in "the hopper" (the actual box where newly
drafted bills are placed) for introduction. After the bill is
"dropped" (placing the bill in the hopper) it is assigned
a number. Bills from the House of Representatives are numbered H.R.
1 and up and bills from the Senate are numbered S. 1 and up. Other
forms of legislation are resolutions, the non-binding expression of
Congress' opinion. These are titled H.Res (House resolutions) or
S.Res (Senate resolutions) respectively.
The next step in the process is committee action. There are
usually two steps in committee action: hearings and markups. A
hearing is when Congress invites people to come and testify on the
public record with their views of the pending bill or issue. The
second phase of the committee process is the markup. The markup is
when the Committee actually writes a bill, line by line. The
Chairman of the committee or subcommittee will provide the starting
legislation, something called the Chairman's mark. The Chairman's
mark usually makes changes to the original bill based on concerns
brought up at hearings or by individual Members. At a markup, the
Committee goes through the bill, line by line, and Members can offer
amendments or ask the Committee's staff counsel to clarify certain
provisions. This is usually done in open session. Votes are held on
amendments, and a vote is finally held on whether or not to report
the bill to the House. Then the staff will write the Committee
report. If there is opposition to the legislation, individual
Members can add their own "additional views" or
"dissenting views" to the committee report.
After a bill has been reported out of committee, it will go to
the Rules Committee for a hearing. The Rules Committee literally
determines how the bill will be considered on the floor of the House
(i.e. how long the debate will last, what amendments will be
offered, etc.). Non-controversial bills often skip this procedure
and are considered under Suspension of the Rules. Suspension bills
are only considered for 40 minutes, they can't be amended, and
require a 2/3 vote for passage.
Once on the floor, the bill is debated, any amendments are
offered and voted on, and a vote is taken on whether or not to pass
the bill. Any Member of Congress can come to the floor and speak on
a bill, subject to the time restrictions for debate imposed by the
Rules Committee.
If the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill,
the legislation will be brought to a conference committee to have
the differences resolved. Once the House and Senate have both passed
identical versions, it is submitted to the President for signature.
Congress normally knows what the President's reaction to the bill
will be. Once the President receives a bill for approval he then has
two options, he can sign it, in which case it becomes law, or veto
it. After the President has vetoed a bill, he must submit his
objections to Congress. If Congress still wants to enact the bill,
then two thirds of the House and Senate must approve the bill,
thereby overriding the President’s veto.
For more information, please consult the following sites:
- How
Our Laws Are Made
This is an extremely detailed and comprehensive look at
the legislative process compiled by the office of the
Parliamentarian.
- "I'm
Just A Bill"
The famous song from Schoolhouse Rock that chronicles a bill's
passage. Complete with lyrics and audio file!
- About Our
Government
The House of Representative Educations Resources page has a
large amount of comprehensive information about the US
Government. It also has links to official documents
(Constitution, Declaration of Independence) as well historical
information.
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