The U.S. House of
Representatives --
The Legislative Process
- "All Legislative Powers herein granted shall be
vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
(Article I, Section 1, of the United
States Constitution)
The chief function of Congress is the making of laws. The
legislative process comprises a number of steps, and much
information is available from this page concerning the
legislation introduced and considered in the 105th Congress.
To help you understand the information and how it
interrelates, a very brief overview of the legislative process
within the House of Representatives is presented below. There
are many aspects and variations of the process which are not
addressed here. A much more in-depth discussion and
presentation of the overall process is available in How
Our Laws Are Made. Most of the information presented below
was excerpted from that Congressional document.
Forms of Congressional Action
The work of Congress is initiated by the introduction of a
proposal in one of four principal forms: the bill, the joint
resolution, the concurrent resolution, and the simple
resolution.
- Bills
-
- A bill is the form used for most legislation, whether
permanent or temporary, general or special, public or
private. A bill originating in the House of
Representatives is designated by the letters
"H.R.", signifying "House of
Representatives", followed by a number that it
retains throughout all its parliamentary stages. Bills
are presented to the President for action when approved
in identical form by both the House of Representatives
and the Senate.
-
- Joint Resolutions
-
- Joint resolutions may originate either in the House of
Representatives or in the Senate. There is little
practical difference between a bill and a joint
resolution. Both are subject to the same procedure,
except for a joint resolution proposing an amendment to
the Constitution. On approval of such a resolution by
two-thirds of both the House and Senate, it is sent
directly to the Administrator of General Services for
submission to the individual states for ratification. It
is not presented to the President for approval. A joint
resolution originating in the House of Representatives
is designated "H.J.Res." followed by its
individual number. Joint resolutions become law in the
same manner as bills.
-
- Concurrent Resolutions
-
- Matters affecting the operations of both the House of
Representatives and Senate are usually initiated by
means of concurrent resolutions. A concurrent resolution
originating in the House of Representatives is
designated "H.Con.Res." followed by its
individual number. On approval by both the House of
Representatives and Senate, they are signed by the Clerk
of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. They are
not presented to the President for action.
-
- Simple Resolutions
-
- A matter concerning the operation of either the House
of Representatives or Senate alone is initiated by a
simple resolution. A resolution affecting the House of
Representatives is designated "H.Res."
followed by its number. They are not presented to the
President for action.
For more information on bills and resolutions see Forms
of Congressional Action in How
Our Laws Are Made.
Introduction and Referral to Committee
Any Member in the House of Representatives may introduce a
bill at any time while the House is in session by simply
placing it in the "hopper" provided for the purpose
at the side of the Clerk's desk in the House Chamber. The
sponsor's signature must appear on the bill. A public bill may
have an unlimited number of co-sponsoring Members. The bill is
assigned its legislative number by the Clerk and referred to
the appropriate committee by the Speaker, with the assistance
of the Parliamentarian. The bill is then printed in its
introduced form, which you can read in Bill
Text. If a bill was introduced today, summary information
about it can be found in
Bill
Status Today
An important phase of the legislative process is the action
taken by committees. It is during committee action that the
most intense consideration is given to the proposed measures;
this is also the time when the people are given their
opportunity to be heard. Each piece of legislation is referred
to the committee that has jurisdiction over the area affected
by the measure.
For more information on this step of the legislative
process see Introduction
and Reference to Committee of How
Our Laws Are Made.
Consideration by Committee
- Public Hearings and Markup Sessions
-
- Usually the first step in this process is a public
hearing, where the committee members hear witnesses
representing various viewpoints on the measure. Each
committee makes public the date, place and subject of
any hearing it conducts. The Committee
Meetings scheduled for today are available along
with other House
Schedules . Public announcements are also published
in the Daily Digest portion of the Congressional
Record.
A transcript of the testimony taken at a hearing is
made available for inspection in the committee office,
and frequently the complete transcript is printed and
distributed by the committee.
After hearings are completed, the bill is considered
in a session that is popularly known as the
"mark-up" session. Members of the committee
study the viewpoints presented in detail. Amendments may
be offered to the bill, and the committee members vote
to accept or reject these changes.
This process can take place at either the
subcommittee level or the full committee level, or at
both. Hearings and markup sessions are status steps
noted in the Legislative Action portion of Bill
Status.
- Committee Action
-
- At the conclusion of deliberation, a vote of committee
or subcommittee Members is taken to determine what
action to take on the measure. It can be reported, with
or without amendment, or tabled, which means no further
action on it will occur. If the committee has approved
extensive amendments, they may decide to report a new
bill incorporating all the amendments. This is known as
a "clean bill," which will have a new number.
Votes in committee can be found in Committee Votes.
If the committee votes to report a bill, the Committee
Report is written. This report describes the purpose
and scope of the measure and the reasons for recommended
approval. House Report numbers are prefixed with "H.Rpt."
and then a number indicating the Congress (currently
105).
For more information on bills and resolutions see Consideration
by Committee in How
Our Laws Are Made.
House Floor Consideration
- Consideration of a measure by the full House can be a
simple or very complex operation. In general a measure
is ready for consideration by the full House after it
has been reported by a committee. Under certain
circumstances, it may be brought to the Floor directly.
- The consideration of a measure may be governed by a
"rule." A rule is itself a simple resolution,
which must be passed by the House, that sets out the
particulars of debate for a specific bill -- how much
time will allowed for debate, whether amendments can be
offered, and other matters.
- Debate time for a measure is normally divided between
proponents and opponents. Each side yields time to those
Members who wish to speak on the bill. When amendments
are offered, these are also debated and voted upon. If
the House is in session today, you can see a summary of Current
House Floor Proceedings .
- After all debate is concluded and amendments decided
upon, the House is ready to vote on final passage. In
some cases, a vote to "recommit" the bill to
committee is requested. This is usually an effort by
opponents to change some portion or table the measure.
If the attempt to recommit fails, a vote on final
passage is ordered.
Resolving Differences
- After a measure passes in the House, it goes to the
Senate for consideration. A bill must pass both bodies
in the same form before it can be presented to the
President for signature into law.
- If the Senate changes the language of the measure, it
must return to the House for concurrence or additional
changes. This back-and-forth negotiation may occur on
the House floor, with the House accepting or rejecting
Senate amendments or complete Senate text. Often a
conference committee will be appointed with both House
and Senate members. This group will resolve the
differences in committee and report the identical
measure back to both bodies for a vote. Conference
committees also issue reports outlining the final
version of the bill.
Final Step
- Votes on final passage, as well as all other votes in
the House, may be taken by the electronic voting system
which registers each individual Member's response. These
votes are referred to as Yea/Nay votes or recorded
votes, and are available in House Votes by Bill number,
roll call vote number or words describing the reason for
the vote.
- Votes in the House may also be by voice vote, and no
record of individual responses is available.
- After a measure has been passed in identical form by
both the House and Senate, it is considered
"enrolled." It is sent to the President who
may sign the measure into law, veto it and return it to
Congress, let it become law without signature, or at the
end of a session, pocket-veto it.
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