Shelley Moore Capito - Congresswoman

The political process in the United States is a unique system, with a series of checks and balances to ensure that government authority and power is spread across three branches of the federal system: legislative, executive and judicial branches.  The Framers of the Constitution wanted to prevent the consolidation of excessive power in any one individual or branch of government.

The legislative branch is a bicameral system, meaning that it has two chambers: the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.  The Senate has 100 individual seats, each state with two Senators. The House, on the other hand, consists of 435 individual seats, allotted to each state based on population. 

As representatives of their constituents, any member of the House or the Senate can introduce legislation.  Any legislation authorizing government spending, however, must originate in the House, not in the Senate.

Once introduced, a bill is first sent to the relevant congressional committee.  For example, legislation related to the Department of Veterans Affairs would be referred to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.  The leadership of each committee then determines which bills they would like to consider further.  They then hold hearings and allow for amendments to the legislation (known as mark-up) before holding a full-committee vote on the legislation. 

If approved by committee, the majority party leadership - who control the House floor schedule - then makes a decision about whether to consider the legislation before the entire House of Representatives.

If they decide to move forward with a full vote, the House Rules Committee then meets to establish the "rules" for final debate on the measure.  Members of the Rules Committee determine details such as the time allocated for debate, or which additional amendments may be considered by the full House. 

Once "the rules" are determined, the legislation is debated and a vote taken by the entire House.

Any measure approved by a majority of the House is then referred to the U.S. Senate - where it must also be approved - before it can go to the President of the United States for his consideration.

Finally, the President reserves the right to veto legislation, in which case his veto can only be over-ridden with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate.

For further information on the United States legislative process, visit the House of Representatives website here.

Still more information about the legislative process in the House of Representatives - as prepared by the Congressional Research Service - is available here.