Why do people create, structure, and change governments? How a Bill Becomes a Law Why do people create, structure, and change governments?

Types of Bills What kinds of bills come before Congress? Congress = Legislative Branch = major job is passing laws. Each session-more than 10,000 bills—proposals for new laws—are introduced. -just a few hundred— actually become law. The process is designed to be long and complicated to make sure that bills are considered carefully.

2 Types of Bills Private bills concern individual people or places. usually deal with people’s claims against the government. Public bills apply to the entire nation and involve general matters such as taxation or farm policy or highway building. Resolutions - These are formal statements expressing lawmakers’ opinions or decisions. Joint resolutions—those passed by both houses of Congress— do become law if they are signed by the president. Congress uses joint resolutions to propose constitutional amendments and to designate money for a special purpose.

From Bill to Law How does a bill become a law? Every bill starts with an idea. Ideas for new bills come from three main sources. Private citizens may suggest bills. Other proposals may come from the president. The third source of ideas is special-interest groups.  Special-interest groups are organizations made up of people who share common interests. -A bill can only be submitted, or offered for consideration, by a member of Congress. member who introduces a bill is known as its sponsor. bill can have more than one sponsor. Every bill is given a title and a number when it is submitted. (During the first session of Congress, the first bill introduced is called S.1 in the Senate and H.R.1 in the House).

Committee Action After a bill is introduced in Congress, it is sent to the standing committee that handles the subject of the bill. Standing committees have life-and-death power over bills. Only if the committee approves a bill will it go to the floor for a vote by the full House or Senate. -If the committee members think that the bill is worth considering, they may hold hearings about it. -After gathering information in hearings, committee members discuss the bill. The committee can take one of five actions on a bill: pass the bill, which sends it to the full chamber make changes to the bill and then pass it and send it to the full House or Senate replace the original bill with a new bill on the same subject “pigeonhole” the bill, which means to ignore the bill and let it die in committee kill the bill outright by having a majority vote against it

Debating a Bill Bills approved in committee are then considered by the full House or Senate. This stage of the process is called the floor debate - members argue the bill’s pros and cons. They also discuss amendments. House accepts only amendments relevant to the bill. The Senate, however, allows riders-completely unrelated amendments-to be added. The way the debate is carried out differs in the two chambers. In the House, the Rules Committee sets the terms for debate. usually puts time limits on the discussion, for example, to speed up action. The Senate, because it is smaller, has fewer rules. Senators can speak for as long as they wish. At times they use this right to filibuster against a bill, or to talk a bill to death. In a filibuster, a senator holds the floor by talking for hour after hour. The goal of a filibuster is to delay a vote on a bill until the bill’s sponsor is persuaded to withdraw it.

Voting and Vetoes After a bill is debated, it is brought to a vote. Voting in the House is done in one of three ways. The simplest is a voice vote. Those in favor of the bill say “Aye” and those against the bill say “No.” The Speaker then decides which side has the most votes. A second method is by standing vote. Those in favor of a bill stand to be counted. Then, those members of the House who are against it stand to be counted. The third method is a recorded vote, in which votes are recorded electronically. The Senate also has three methods of voting: a voice vote, a standing vote, and a roll call. In a roll-call vote, senators respond “Aye” or “No” as their names are called.

A simple majority of all members present is needed to pass a bill. If a bill passes in one house, it is sent to the other. If either the Senate or the House rejects a bill, it dies. The Senate and House must pass a bill in exactly the same form. Sometimes each house passes a different version of the same bill. When this happens, a conference committee usually meets. The committee, which has members from each house, works out compromises on the differences and makes changes to the bill. Both the House and the Senate must then either accept the revised bill just as it is or reject it. After a bill is approved by both houses, it goes to the president. The president may sign the bill and declare it a new law. The president may veto, or refuse to sign, the bill. The president may also do nothing for 10 days. At that point, if Congress is in session, the bill becomes law without the president’s signature. If Congress has adjourned, the bill dies. Killing legislation in this indirect way is called a pocket veto. If the president vetoes a bill, Congress has one final chance to save it. Members of Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of each house. This is not an easy task, though. From 1789 through July 2010, Congress overturned only 109 out of 2,560 vetoes.