Congress at Work

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Bills Introduced Often number into the tens of thousands. Only a few hundred become law. Less than 5% of bills introduced become law.

Types of Bills and Resolutions Private Bills Deal with individual people or places Account to for a large number of bills submitted to Congress

Public Bills Deal with matters that apply to the whole nation. These receive the most media coverage Major public bills account for about 30 percent of the bills passed in each term.

Resolutions Deal with unusual or temporary matters. Simple resolutions deal cover matters dealing with only one house of Congress. Not sent to the President because it does not have the force of law.

Joint Resolution Passed by both houses and signed by the President giving it the force of law. May correct an error in an earlier law or appropriate money for a special purpose.

Concurrent Resolutions Covers matters requiring the attention of the House and the Senate, but that do not need laws to solve them. Example: adjournment date for Congress

Riders Provisions attached to bills that covers a different subject than the bill covers If a bill is likely to pass congressman will attach riders to get things for their constituents.

A bill with a lot of riders attached is called a “Christmas Tree Bill”

Why So Few Bills Become Laws? Lawmaking process long and complicated. Congressional studies show over 100 steps are needed to pass a bill into law.

Opponents of a bill have the advantage because they can amend or kill a bill at any point along the way. Bargaining and compromises by supporters in an effort to pass a bill into law slows down the process as well.

Lawmakers often introduce bills they know will never pass in order to gain publicity for themselves or an issue and to score points for reelection, if a bill fails they can always blame others.

Introducing a Bill How Bills Are Introduced Bills begin with an idea submitted by anyone from a private citizen to the President. Bills are written by any number of different people from lawmakers to interest groups.

Introduction of a bill has to be done by a Congressman House- member drops it in the hopper Senate- presiding officer of the Senate recognizes a Senator who then formally presents the bill.

First Reading of the Bill Bill is printed and distributed to all members to read. Bill is given a title and number based on its order of introduction. House- H.R. and number Senate- S. and number

Committee Action New bills are sent to committees, which can then in turn send it to subcommittee. Pigeonholing- Committee chairs can ignore a bill at this stage and let it die Most bills are killed off in this manner, or by majority vote.

Bill can also be recommended for adoption as is, changed, or completely rewritten before being resubmitted to the House or the Senate for more action. Each house as a whole almost always agrees with the committee’s decision and agrees to go along with them.

Committee Hearings Upon decision to act a committees often hold hearings to listen to people with interest in the bill.

This is an opportunity for Congress to gather information on a bill from witnesses, although the majority of the information obtained will be from research done by a committee’s staff.

Hearings are great for public image and relations for Congress members. Also the best point to influence a bill due to publicity factor. Markup Session then occurs Session where committee makes the changes they deem necessary by majority vote.

Reporting a Bill When a bill leaves committee it is sent to the House of origin along with a report that: Explains committee’s actions Describe the bill Lists changes Gives opinions of the committee on the bill

Floor Action Debating and Amending Bills Debating Often many members do not take part in floor debate, because committees have already done this.

Amending Amendments can be proposed by any congressman to the bill at this point after each section of the bill is read, unless the has been a closed rule adopted which forbids the adding of the amendments.

Amendments can be added by a majority vote of the members present. Killing a Bill through Amendments Can slow the process down So many amendments can be added that support for passage disappears.

Voting on Bills To hold a vote a majority of the members must be present and another reading of the bill occurs. How to Vote in the House Voice Vote-members call out “Aye” or “No” and the speaker decides who has the most voice votes.

Standing or division vote- Supporters of a bill stand and are counted, then opponents stand are counted. Recorded Vote- members votes recorded electronically and flashed on a huge display monitor in the House chamber.

How to Vote in the Senate Voice Vote- see above Standing Vote- see above Roll Call Vote- names are called in alphabetical order and Senators reply “Aye” or “No”

Final Steps in Passage of a Bill To become a law a bill must pass both houses of Congress in identical form.

Conference Committee Action If there are two versions of the same bill a committee made up of both House and Senate members is convened to work out a compromise- ends with one bill.

A draft is submitted by a majority of the conference committee and presents it as a conference report to both the House and Senate for approval. If approved it moves on to its next step.

Presidential Action on Bills Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution requires the submission of all bills to the President The President can do several things

To make a law: Sign the bill making it law Hold the bill for 10 days without signing it while Congress is in session and it will become law.

Vetoing The President can refuse to sign a bill and return it to the chamber of congress that it originated in preventing it from becoming law.

Pocket Veto- The President can also hold the bill if Congress will be out of session within 10 days and it will not become law.

Line Item Veto In the mid 1990’s Congress approved a provision that would allow a President to eliminate provisions of a bill without rejecting it as a whole. The USSC found this to be unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York

Congressional Override of a Veto Congress can override a Presidential veto with a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, thereby making the bill a law.

Difficult to override veto because it only takes 1/3 of either house plus one vote to keep a veto from being overridden.

Taxing and Spending Bills

Making Decisions About Taxes House Power Over Revenue Bills House Ways and Means Committee Place where most almost all the important work on tax laws occurs. They are responsible for regulations and rules that become a part of tax law

Who pays what Who gets what deduction How much is paid Until the 1970’s tax bills went to the floor of the House with a closed rule due to their complexity. Since the loss of the closed rule critics have claimed Congressmen have added many amendments (Christmas Tree Bills) to tax bills to appease special interests.

The Senate’s Role in Tax Legislation Senate Committee on Finance Has primary responsibility for dealing with tax matters in the Senate The Senate is viewed as the place to get changes made on tax bills.

Appropriating Money Appropriation Approval of government spending Constitutional Authority The Constitution (Article 1 Section 9) says a law is required in order to appropriate money, thereby giving Congress control of US purse strings.

How Congress Appropriates Money Congress appropriates money in a two step process Authorization Bill Sets up a federal program and specifies how much money may be appropriated for that program. Appropriation Bill

The bill that requests the money needed to fund the federal program enacted under the authorization bill. Appropriations Committees House and Senate both have appropriations committees that share subcommittees and deal with appropriations bills.

Heads of government agencies go before the appropriations committee and testify about their budgets and explain their requests for money. Uncontrollable Expenditures The appropriations committees have no say in money that is required to be spent by previously enacted laws- these are called uncontrollable expenditures.

Influencing Congress

Influences of Lawmakers Personality Some lawmakers are more adverse to risk than others Constituents On matters that effect their constituents Congressmen often vote with the mood back home. On matters of no effect they often rely on personal beliefs or advice of other lawmakers.

Staff Members Often exert influence by controlling the information presented to the member of Congress. Political Parties The Political views of a member’s party can heavily influence their vote. Special Interest Groups Special Interest groups use money to influence Congressional voting.

The Influence of Voters What Voters Expect Keep Home Fires Burning Most voters expect their elected representative to tend to their needs back home. When a conflict occurs national polls show that people want their representative to vote with what his constituents want.

Studies show most people do not track how their representative voted, until it is time for reelection. How to Learn What Voters Want Meet with Constituents Hold meetings back home Letters sent to Offices Many constituents will send letters to congressional offices.

Polling Mail and phone polling Donors Listen to those who give money

Influence of Parties Affiliation and Voting Party affiliation is the best indicator for determining how a member will vote. Party Voting In the House members vote along part lines about 2/3 of the time Senate members are less likely than House members to vote along party lines.

Voting along party lines occurs more on domestic issues than on foreign issues. The Importance of Parties Parties are built around some basic beliefs that will influence how one will vote. Members cannot be experts on all issues so they often fall back on party stance, versus getting expertly informed on every issue.

Parties will pressure members to vote along party lines to accomplish party goals.

Presidential Influence Presidents can bring tremendous public pressure to bear on Congress through the use of media outlets. Presidents can also withhold support for Congressmen’s proposals. Presidents are also seen as the leader of their party and use that position to influence party members.

Interest Groups Hired professionals- lobbyists- will use any number of means at their disposal (information, public pressure, money, etc.) to get lawmakers to support legislation that will benefit their particular group. Focus a lot of their energies at the committee level, where they can effect the most change to legislation.

Political Action Committees (PACs) Political fundraising organizations that give money to candidates who support their interests and positions.

Helping Constituents

Handling Problems Casework- the handling of the problems constituents bring to their congressmen- frustrates many congressmen because people make many requests, both reasonable and unreasonable. Each congressman has caseworkers that try and handle these requests. Casework allows for:

Congressmen to get reelected by meeting the needs of their constituents Oversight of the executive branch and its federal programs Allows average citizen an avenue for dealing with a sometime daunting federal government.

Helping the District or State Public Works Legislation Public Works Bills creates projects (via appropriations bills) that can bring in jobs and billions in revenues to a community. When congressmen arrange to have these projects brought to their district or state it is called pork-barrel legislation.

When two congressmen support pork-barrel legislation for each other it is called logrolling. Winning Grants and Contracts Lawmakers will try and get government contracts and grants directed to their communities to get jobs and money flowing in.

They do this through in-direct means such as campaigning agencies for hearings, organizing constituents, utilizing their power as a voter for appropriation.