How a Bill Becomes a Law

Thousands of bills are introduced each session◦6,562 were introduced in the 111th Congress

◦Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress but ANYONE can come up with an IDEA

◦Only about 10% become law

Types of Bills

Private bill: Deal with individual people of places. ◦Examples: peoples claims against the government or their immigration problems (not many)

Types of Bills

Public bill: Deal with government matters and apply to the entire nation. Often controversial. ◦Examples: raising/lowering taxes, health insurance, gun control, civil rights, or abortion (30%)

The Process

Bills introduced into the House are placed in the Hopper

Bills are introduced in the Senate when a Senator is recognized by the presiding officer who then formally recognizes the Bill

Bills are given a Title and NumberH.R.12 or S.12

Committee

Next step is committees!Currently 20 Standing Committees In committees members can choose to kill

the bill by:◦Voting to kill it◦“pigeonholing” the bill (ignoring it)

Committee Action

After Committees choose to accept the bill they can choose to:◦Completely rewrite it◦Make changes to it◦Adopt it “as is”

Committee Hearings

Testimony from those in favor and against the legislation.

Members of the committee and the public both listen to testimony at this stage.

This is the point at which members have the most influence

Markup Sessions

After committee hearings the bill is addressed again in committee

The bill is reviewed section by section and committee members can choose to make changes.◦These changes must be approved by a majority

Committee Reports

After the markup session committees the bill is READY

Sent to the Speaker of the House who sends it to the Rules Committee

Bill is put on one of the five calendars 1. Union Calendar (money issues) 2. House Calendar (most other public bills) 3. Private Calendar (Deal with indiv. people or places) 4. Consent Calendar (Unanimous consent to debate) 5. Discharge Calender (petitions to discharge from

committee)

Voting!

House different procedures◦1. Voice Vote- all together yell out “aye” or “no”◦2. Standing/Division Vote- Stand in favor or

opposed◦3. Roll Call- One by one alphabetical “aye or

“no”◦4. Recorded Vote- recorded electronically and

displayed on panels (1973)Senate usually votes by voice vote: can

request to have it recorded

After the vote

After a measure is voted on in one chamber it goes to the other chamber

Bills must be passed in identical form in order for the bill to go to the President.

Conference Committee

If Houses pass 2 different forms of the bill it will go to a Conference Committee made up of members of both Houses.

The members of the conference committee will compromise on changes and send back new forms of the bill for their chambers to vote on.

After a bill is passed in identical forms it goes to the President.

President’s Possible Actions

President signs the bill-> LawPresident does not sign the bill after 10

days but Congress is still in session LawPresident vetoes the bill• President can let a bill sit on his/her desk and

refuse to act on it in during the last 10 days Congress is in session Veto

Congress can override vetoes with a 2/3 vote in both houses.

Line Item Vetoes

What is it?◦Allows President to reject specific lines or items

while approving others.◦Needs a Constitutional Amendment in order to

be fully approved.◦President given some rights in 1996