How a Bill Becomes a Law

Thousands of bills are introduced each session ◦6,562 were introduced in the 111 th Congress ◦Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress but ANYONE can come up with an IDEA ◦Only about 10% become law

Types of Bills Private bill: Deal with individual people of places. ◦Examples: peoples claims against the government or their immigration problems (not many)

Types of Bills Public bill: Deal with government matters and apply to the entire nation. Often controversial. ◦Examples: raising/lowering taxes, health insurance, gun control, civil rights, or abortion (30%)

The Process Bills introduced into the House are placed in the Hopper Bills are introduced in the Senate when a Senator is recognized by the presiding officer who then formally recognizes the Bill Bills are given a Title and Number H.R.12 or S.12

Committee Next step is committees! Currently 20 Standing Committees In committees members can choose to kill the bill by: ◦Voting to kill it ◦“pigeonholing” the bill (ignoring it)

Committee Action After Committees choose to accept the bill they can choose to: ◦Completely rewrite it ◦Make changes to it ◦Adopt it “as is”

Committee Hearings Testimony from those in favor and against the legislation. Members of the committee and the public both listen to testimony at this stage. This is the point at which members have the most influence

Markup Sessions After committee hearings the bill is addressed again in committee The bill is reviewed section by section and committee members can choose to make changes. ◦These changes must be approved by a majority

Committee Reports After the markup session committees the bill is READY Sent to the Speaker of the House who sends it to the Rules Committee Bill is put on one of the five calendars  1. Union Calendar (money issues)  2. House Calendar (most other public bills)  3. Private Calendar (Deal with indiv. people or places)  4. Consent Calendar (Unanimous consent to debate)  5. Discharge Calender (petitions to discharge from committee)

Voting! House different procedures ◦1. Voice Vote- all together yell out “aye” or “no” ◦2. Standing/Division Vote- Stand in favor or opposed ◦3. Roll Call- One by one alphabetical “aye or “no” ◦4. Recorded Vote- recorded electronically and displayed on panels (1973) Senate usually votes by voice vote: can request to have it recorded

After the vote After a measure is voted on in one chamber it goes to the other chamber Bills must be passed in identical form in order for the bill to go to the President.

Conference Committee If Houses pass 2 different forms of the bill it will go to a Conference Committee made up of members of both Houses. The members of the conference committee will compromise on changes and send back new forms of the bill for their chambers to vote on. After a bill is passed in identical forms it goes to the President.

President’s Possible Actions President signs the bill-> Law President does not sign the bill after 10 days but Congress is still in session  Law President vetoes the bill President can let a bill sit on his/her desk and refuse to act on it in during the last 10 days Congress is in session  Veto

Congress can override vetoes with a 2/3 vote in both houses.

Line Item Vetoes What is it? ◦Allows President to reject specific lines or items while approving others. ◦Needs a Constitutional Amendment in order to be fully approved. ◦President given some rights in 1996