¶ … Bill Becomes a Law Federal laws do not start off as laws, obviously. First, they begin their life as bills introduced by a member of Congress, either in the House of Representatives or in the Congress. The "author" of the bill is said to the be sponsor and there can be a number of sponsors and co-sponsors for a bill.

Once a bill is introduced into the House or Senate, it is assigned a number and passed to a committee, whose job it is to oversee all such bills generated in regards to specific issues. It can happen that one bill will be passed to several committees if it happens that the proposed piece of legislation touches on several issues. The bill can also go to a subcommittee.

This step is followed by the decision by the committee chairman to "mark up" the bill -- which means adding amendments to it. These changes must then be approved or rejected by the committee before the chairman can move to have the bill voted out of committee. If the entire committee votes in favor of the bill, then the bill is sent before the entire House or Senate depending on where it originated.

Now the bill has to be shared, so the committee will also produce a report that notes the purpose of the bill and how it will affect legislation that already is in force. The opinion of the party that is the majority will also be reflected in the report, while the minority opinion can be put forward independently....

The marked-up bill itself is typically included with the report ("The Legislative Process").
Once this report is issued, the leaders of the House and Senate must decide if/when the bill will be debated or amended. A member of the House of Representatives can then suggest an amendment to the bill if the Rules Committee permits it. A Senator, on the other hand, can suggest an amendment to the bill as he or she pleases as long as the amendment "fits" -- which, of course, is an application that is very loosely defined in today's legislative process. Thus, bills can be "rammed" through with various amendments attached that were not part of the original bill but that were added on at the last minute in order to secure votes from other Representatives or Senators who otherwise would not vote for the bill to become law.

And voting is what happens next. Once the bill has been put before the House or Senate, the bill must receive a favorable vote from a majority of the members. In some cases, majority is determined by "voice vote," which indicates the simplicity of the process at this point, which is somewhat incongruous with the formality of the process when the bill is in its initial stages ("Steps in Making a Bill Law: The Federal Legislative Process").

Having successfully "made it" through one chamber of Congress, the bill must makes it way through the other. Both House and Senate must pass…