How Congress Works

Congressman Ted Deutch is a leading voice on issues related to the financial security and health of America's retirees, the security of Israel and Middle East policy, and economic policies that create jobs and grow the middle class. During the 112th Congress, the influential Strengthen Social Security coalition endorsed the Preserving our Promise to Seniors Act, Ted's legislation to improve benefits for all retirees and protect Social Security for generations to come. Most recently, two pieces of legislation he authored, the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act and the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act, have been incorporated into a larger, bipartisan package of sanctions aimed at thwarting Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program. Click here for more details on Ted's positions and work in Congress.

Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation 

Before a proposed piece of legislation can be considered by the House of Representatives, it must first be sponsored by a Member of Congress (either a Member of the House or a Member of the Senate). Members of Congress who are not the primary sponsor of a piece of legislation may express their strong support for a certain bill by becoming a co-sponsor. Here are pieces of legislation sponsored and cosponsored by Congressman Deutch.

Committees
The House of Representatives divides its work among over twenty permanent committees. Normally, before a piece of legislation is considered by the House, it has been reviewed by at least one of the committees and a report is issued by that committee describing the legislation and indicating (on section-by-section basis) how the proposed statute changes existing statutes. These are the committee reports of the current Congress.

Proceedings of the House 
The Congressional Record is the official transcript of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. The full text of the Congressional Record is pubilshed the day after each meeting of the House or Senate. A summary of what is happening currently on the Floor of the House is also available as the debate occurs.

Rules and Precedent of the House
The House Rules and Precedents are the official documents that spell out the process by which legislation is considered by the House and its committees; as well as specifying the authority of the officers and committees of the House. Several collections of material explaining the rules and precedents are available through the House Rules Comittee: General Parliamentary ProcedureHouse Committee ProceduresHouse Floor Procedures, and House and Senate parliamentary procedure.

Legislative Process
Tying It All Together: Learn About the Legislative ProcessHow Our Laws Are Made, and Enactment of a Law are publications that discuss the steps of our Federal lawmaking process from the source of an idea for a legislative proposal through its publication as a statute. A kid's version of How Laws Are Made is also available.

Roll Call Votes
The record of how each Member of the House voted on each vote where the vote was conducted electronically is available. These are the roll call votes.

Federal Laws
The U.S. Code is the official compilation of the current Federal statutes of a general and permanent nature. The Code is arranged according to subject matter under 50 subject headings ("titles"). The Code sets out the current status of the laws, incorporating all amendments into the text. Prior to being added to the U.S. Code, individual laws are published in pamphlet form as "slip laws" which are later collected together in chronological order (not in subject order) as the Statutes at Large.