How a Bill Becomes a Law

Who comes up with ideas for a bill?

Congressman or Senator

What does the Senate consider when forming the rules of a debate?

How long the debate will go on and whether or not there will be amendments.

Once the committee creates a compromise bill, where does it go?

If the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it then sends the bill back to both houses for a new vote. If it passes, then it's sent to the President. And then the President signs the bill.

When the President receives a bill, he or she has three options. What are the three options?

If the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it then sends the bill back to both houses for a new vote. If it passes, then it's sent to the President. And then the President signs the bill. Option 2 is for him to veto the bill and we've gone through all of this for nothing. The 3rd option is only available at the end of a congressional term. If the President neither signs nor vetoes the bill, and then in the next 10 days, Congress goes out of session, the bill does not become a law. This is called a pocket veto, and this is only used when the President doesn't want a law to pass, but for political reasons, doesn't want to veto it either.

Can a bill become a law without the President's signature?

If the President neither signs nor vetoes the law and Congress remains in session for more then 10 days, the bill becomes a law without the President's signature.

How many votes must a bill need in the Senate to pass?

If the bill receives the majority of votes in the House, 238 or more to be exact, it passes.

Once a bill is sent to a senatorial committee, what happens next?

If the markup wins a majority in the committee, it moves to the floor of the full Senate for consideration.

Why is it very unusual to hear of a Presidential Veto or Congressional override?

It doesn't happen that often because if the President knows that 2/3rd of the Congressmen supported the bill, he won't veto it. If Congress knows that they don't have two thirds support, they won't try to override the veto.

Why is it that turning bills into laws so difficult?

It is designed this way so that we don't get a lot of wrongful or dangerous laws.

What does the term "mark up" refer to?

Markup means to vote on it.

Do bills start in the Senate or House of Representatives? Where do revenue bills start?

Most bills can start in either house Revenue bills must start in the House

What does Open Rule and Close Rule mean?

Open rule allows for amendments and a closed rule does not. Open rules make it much less likely for a bill to pass because proponents of the bill can add clauses that will make it hard for the bill's proponents to vote for.

What are "vetogates"?

So, there are many more ways for a bill to be killed than to become a law. These hurdles are sometimes called veto gates. Veto gates make it very difficult for Congress to act unless there's broad agreement or the issue is uncontroversial like naming a post office or thanking specific groups of veterans for their service, which are two things that Congress actually does pretty efficiently.

When the Senate approved bill is sent to the House of Representatives, what committee is it sent to? What does the committee do with the bill?

The Senate version of the bill is sent to the House. The House has an extra step, in that all bills before they go out to the floor of the House must go to the Rules Committee, which reports it out to the House.

Has a President's veto ever been overridden by Congress?

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1953 passed over Truman's veto.

Usually, the 2nd House that receives bill will want to make changes to it. The bill then goes to a Conference Committee (made up of members of both houses). What is the job of a Conference Committee?

The conference committee is made up of members from both houses. The conference committee attempts to reconcile both versions of the bill and come up with a new version, sometimes called a compromise bill.

What is the easiest way to kill a bill? Why do congressmen favor these methods?

The easiest way for Congress to kill bills is to simply not vote on them or even schedule votes for them. This way they don't have to go on record as being for or against a bill, just whether they support having a vote. And constituents rarely check up on this sort of thing.

How many votes must the bill receive in order to go to the President?

The exact same bill has to pass both houses before it can go to the president.

Who or what are most likely to kill bills in the House of Representatives?

The first place that a bill can die is at the hands of the speaker or majority leader, who refuses to refer it to committee. Then the committee can kill the bill by not voting for it at all. And if they do vote and it doesn't get a majority then the bill doesn't go to the floor, and it's dead. The House doesn't have a filibuster but it does have a Rules Committee that can kill a bill by not creating a rule for debate. The entire House can also vote to recommit the bill to committee, which is a signal to drop the bill or change it significantly.