How a Bill Becomes Law

How a Bill Really Becomes a Law

Laws are first drafted by either a Member of the House of Representatives or Senate. This draft is called a bill. The process for a bill becoming a law can be very long, and most bills do not make it. For example, in the 109^th Congress (from 2005-2006) there were 6,436 bills introduced in the House of Representatives, but only 316 bills were passed by both chambers and signed by the President to become law. Outlined below is a brief explanation of that process. For more information and a more detailed description, see the How Our Laws Are Made page compiled by the office of the Parliamentarian.

A bill is a written draft of an idea on how to change a law, fix it, or enact a new one. As any bill that is passed will have an impact on thousands of Americans, the language is chosen carefully and often in consultation with experts. Most of the time a Member of Congress will take his or her bill to a non-partisan office called the House or Senate Legislative Counsel. These are the lawyers employed by Congress to help us write the law. An attorney who specializes in the legal issues involved will be on staff to help Members with the actual language.

Once the bill is written, the Representative will sign the bill and place it in “the hopper” (the actual box where newly drafted bills are placed) for introduction. After the bill is “dropped” (placing the bill in the hopper) it is assigned a number. Bills from the House of Representatives are numbered H.R. 1 and up and bills from the Senate are numbered S. 1 and up. Other forms of legislation are resolutions, the non-binding expression of Congress’ opinion. These are titled H.Res (House resolutions) or S.Res (Senate resolutions) respectively.

The next step in the process is committee action. Both the House and the Senate are divided into committees, whose members specialize in specific issue areas. These committees take a first look at bills and provide their opinion to the rest of the Members. There are usually two steps in committee action: hearings and markups. A hearing is when Congress invites people to come and testify on the public record with their views of the pending bill or issue. The markup is when the Committee actually examines a bill, line by line. The Chairman of the committee or subcommittee will provide the starting language, something called the Chairman’s mark. The Chairman’s mark usually makes changes to the original bill based on concerns brought up at hearings or by individual Members. At a markup, the Committee goes through the bill, line by line, and Members can offer amendments or ask the Committee’s staff to clarify certain provisions. This is usually done in open session. Votes are held on amendments, and a vote is finally held on whether or not to report the bill to the House. Committees do not pass legislation only the full House or Senate can do that but they will vote on what recommendation to send to the rest of the chamber. Then the staff will write the Committee report, which you can think of as the committee’s letter to the rest of the Members, explaining the bill and its provisions. This can sometimes run over 600 pages long! If there is opposition to the legislation, individual Members can add their own “additional views” or “dissenting views” to the committee report.

After a bill has been reported out of committee, in the House it must go to the Rules Committee for a hearing. The Rules Committee gets to decide how the bill will be considered on the floor of the House (i.e. how long the debate will last, what amendments will be offered, etc.). This is an important step because if you want to change the bill but the Rules Committee writes a rule that doesn’t allow you to introduce an amendment, there is very little you can do about it. Non-controversial bills often skip this procedure and are considered under Suspension of the Rules. Suspension bills are only considered for 40 minutes, they can’t be amended, and require a 2/3 vote for passage.

Once on the floor, the bill is debated, any amendments are offered and voted on, and a vote is taken on whether or not to pass the bill. Any Member of Congress can come to the floor and speak on a bill, subject to the time restrictions for debate imposed by the Rules Committee.

If the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill, the legislation will be brought to a conference committee to have the differences resolved. Once the House and Senate have both passed identical versions, it is submitted to the President for signature. Congress normally knows what the President’s reaction to the bill will be. Once the President receives a bill for approval he then has two options, he can sign it, in which case it becomes law, or veto it. After the President has vetoed a bill, he must submit his objections to Congress. If Congress still wants to enact the bill, then two thirds of the House and Senate must approve the bill, thereby overriding the President’s veto.

For more information, please consult the following sites:

How Our Laws Are Made
This is an extremely detailed and comprehensive look at the legislative process compiled by the office of the Parliamentarian.

Tying It All Together: Learn about the Legislative Process
A basic summary of Congressional Procedure

“I’m Just A Bill”
The famous song from Schoolhouse Rock that chronicles a bill’s passage. Complete with lyrics and audio file!

About Our Government
The House of Representative Educations Resources page has a large amount of comprehensive information about the US Government. It also has links to official documents (Constitution, Declaration of Independence) as well historical information.