Bill Passage Process

5.4 Legislative Process

How a Bill becomes law

Open Ended

How do you think a bill becomes law?

Poll

What percentage of bills introduced in Congress do you think become laws?

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/statistics

• 79%

• 57%

• 32%

• 10%

Congressional Committees

• proposal is a new idea for a law

• introduced by member of either House as a bill ex. H.R. 1 or S.R. 1 also referred to as a resolution

• then the bill is sent to the corresponding standing committee which best suits the subject of the bill

Congressional Committees

• Standing committees' job to conduct public hearings on the issues regarding the bills before them

• The committee then has several options for the bill 1) recommend the bill in its entire form to the house 2) recommend the bill with changes 3) send the bill on for a vote without its recommendation 4) ignore the bill and let it "die" in committee (fate of many bills especially duplicates)

Congressional Committees

• standing committees then can assign a bill to a subcommittee where subcommittees will study the bill and report to the committee as a whole with recommendations or further actions

• Standing committees are led by the committee chairman or woman, who is the ranking member of the majority party

Congressional Committees

• seniority was used for all Congressional positions until the 1970s and is still primarily used today

• House Rules Committee is one of the most powerful committees in the House as it decides which order bills come to the floor for a vote

Congressional Committees

• Joint committees are committees on which both members of the House and the Senate regularly meet ex. printing, economic, and the Library of Congress

• Conference committees on which both members of the House and the Senate sit - this is used to resolve differenced between House and Senate versions of bills

Congressional Debate and Voting on Bills

• House of Representatives sets limit on debate while the Senate does not

• Filibuster continuous debate in order to prevent a vote

• cloture the process by which a vote is taken to end debate in the Senate and requires 3/5 majority

Voting on Bills

• riders is an addendum placed on a bill which would not likely pass as a bill itself and often have nothing to do with bill

• if neither house passes the bill then it has to be reintroduced at the start of the next Congress

• passed bills goes to the desk of the President to be signed and become law

Presidential Vetoes

• veto is when both houses of Congress pass the bill but the president refuses or declines to sign the bill

• for Congress to veto the President 2/3 of both houses are required override

• does not happen much of the time

• no line item veto