How a Bill Becomes a Law

Bill is drafted An idea is written as a bill Can be written by: A member of the House A member of the Senate Proposed by POTUS An outside group

Introduction Bill is introduced into one house of Congress Only a member of the House can introduce into the House Only a member of the Senate can introduce into the Senate

Committee Assignment A bill is referred to a committee in the house that it was introduced into Bills are assigned to a committee that deals with the content contained in the bill

Committee Action Most bills die here The committee debates the bill Committee adds, subtracts, or amends the bill The committee decides if the bill has enough ability to move forward in the process If it does, the committee recommends the bill for floor action

Floor Action The bill is debated on the floor of the house that it was introduced in The bill is voted on If the bill does not receive a majority, it is defeated

Introduced into the Other House When the bill receives a majority in the house that it was introduced in, it moves to the other house The bill is introduced and sent to committee in the new house

Committee Action The bill goes to committee and the same process happens in the new house

Floor Action Following committee action, the bill is debated on the floor The bill is voted on

Conference Committee When a bill passes both houses, it goes back to the original house it was introduced in If the bill did not change much, it is revoted on in the original house If the bill changed a lot, a Conference Committee is formed with members from both houses The Conference Committee creates a compromise bill between the two houses

Vote on Compromise Both houses vote on the compromise bill created in the Conference committee If the bill receives less than a majority, it dies If the bill receives more than a majority, it is sent to POTUS

Presidential Action POTUS can sign the bill into law POTUS can veto the bill sending it back to Congress POTUS can do nothing and it becomes a law If POTUS does nothing within 10 days before the end of the legislative session the bill dies, known as a Pocket Veto

Veto Override If POTUS vetoes a bill, it isn’t necessarily dead If 2/3 of both houses of congress vote to override the veto, the bill becomes law

Veto History Last Veto was September 23, 2016 Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act Overridden by Congress Obama had 12 Vetoes, 1 was overridden W. Bush had 12, 4 were overridden Clinton had 36 Regular, 1 Pocket, 2 were overridden H.W. Bush had 29 Regular, 15 pocket, 1 was overridden Reagan had 39 Regular, 39 Pocket, 9 were overridden

Let’s Make a Law Get out a sheet of paper Draw a line about 3 inches from the bottom of your paper List 10 problems facing the United States Pick the problem that you think in the most important and circle it Come up with 5 things that can be done by the US government to solve this problem Pick the most realistic 2 things and circle them Writing your law: Come up with a catchy title for your law Briefly describe the problem Identify your two solutions to the problem