How a Bill Becomes Law on a Federal Level

¶ … Bill Becomes Law

How a Bill Becomes Law

How a Bill Becomes a Law

The Constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three separate, but equal branches. The legislative branch is responsible for the drafting and passage of legislation, or in other words, the Congress creates bills that can ultimately become laws. Since the Congress is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives, legislation can originate from wither of the two, with some exceptions for bills related to the collection of revenue which must originate in the House of Representatives. However, regardless of the origin of the legislation, a bill must pass both chambers of Congress before it can be sent to the Executive branch for ratification. But there are a number of hurdles that bills must overcome before this can happen.

A bill must be introduced by a member of Congress, which includes any member of the House of Representatives or Senate. Once a bill is introduced in either chamber of Congress it must be assigned to a committee for consideration. The committee assigned will be based on the issue at hand which will then assign the bill to a sub-committee which will research the subject, hold hearings with interested parties, and make appropriate changes. The sub-committee will then vote on the bill and if they pass it with a simple majority it will then return to the full committee, which may repeat the process of researching information, holding hearings, and making changes. The full committee will then vote "to decide if the bill will be 'reported out' of the committee for consideration by the entire legislative body." ("How a Bill Becomes Law")

Once a bill has moved out a committee, it can enter the full legislative body for consideration. In the House however, it must first go through a process in the Rules Committee which will set the rules for the debate on the bill. Whether or not a bill actually comes before the entire legislative body is almost entirely up to either the Speaker of the House or the Majority Leader of the Senate; each of which hold the power to schedule a bill for consideration. "A common tactic for 'killing' a bill is to delay scheduling of the bill so it will not be voted on." ("How a Bill Becomes Law") But if a bill is scheduled for debate in either the House or the Senate the bill will be debated and amendments may be offered. Once the bill is complete it will be voted on by the entire chamber and if passed, must go to the other legislative body for a repeat of the entire process. In short, the bill must go through a number of steps and be passed in both the House and the Senate.

However, the bill that passes the one chamber may not be the same as the bill which passes the other chamber and so a conference between House members and Senators will be scheduled to work out the differences; which usually take the form of particular amendments that individual members may have added. Once these issues are resolved, the committee will issue a report on the compromise legislation and each chamber must then vote on the conference report. A simple majority is necessary in each chamber for the bill to be passed and "ready to be enrolled for presentation to the President." (Sullivan, p.41)