Legislation 101

Introducing the Proposed Legislation

The first step in the creation of a new law is that one or more members of the Senate or the House of Representatives must sponsor (put his or her name on) a piece of proposed legislation (a bill they want to become the law). Each proposal is assigned a number, such as S.1 for a Senate bill, or H.R.1 for a bill from the House of Representatives.

Referring it to a Committee

After the bills are introduced, most are automatically referred to a committee with responsibility for that subject (House Armed Services Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee, etc.). This is because there are so many bills being introduced. Basically, they need a filter of experts in the Congress who are more familiar with a certain topic like Defense or Education. The committee's have legislators from both parties and gather information through hearings (like you see on C-Span) and other research. Then the committee "marks up" (edits) the bill, and votes on whether to recommend it. Following a positive vote, the committee creates a report explaining its reasons for supporting the bill. The bill is then sent to "the floor."

Debate

Bills are then discussed and debated on the House and Senate floor. It's during these debates that various amendments are offered. Finally a vote is taken. One important item to note is that the House and Senate bills need to be exactly the same. Since there are hundreds of provisions in both the Senate and House versions, many differences will have to be resolved.

Conference

A conference committee reviews both the House and Senate approved versions of the bill and reconciles the differences between them. An example of this might be if the House authorized $10 million for School X, but the Senate only authorized $8 million. The conferees would discuss it and compromise on a figure. After the Conference Report is finished, the House and Senate must adopt the report and the original bill is reconciled with the agreed changes.

President

After the bill passes both the House and the Senate, the President has ten days (excluding Sundays) to act on the bill. If the President vetoes (disapproves) a bill, both chambers must have a 2/3 majority to override the veto (this almost never happens). If the President signs the bill or fails to act within the 10-day period, it becomes law! Congressional deliberations on legislation, from introduction to enactment, are a lengthy and laborious process. In actuality, only a small number of bills become law.