"Explain the legislative process and the relative importance of key individuals and groups in that process. What happens to most bills? Describe the procedure by which a bill becomes law.”
Congress’s agenda is a crowded one, with about 11,000 bills being introduced in each Congress. A bill is a proposed law written and idealized with precise, legal language. Anyone can draft a bill but only members of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration. A bill has to go through many steps in both the House and the Senate until it can reach the President’s hand, which he can sign or veto. Throughout the legislative process, there are also many important groups and individuals who highly influence the outcome and results of the process.
Article 1, Section 1, of the United States Constitution states that “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.” The House of Representatives is made up of over 400 elected members who each represent their state in proportion to the state’s total population. The Senate has over 100 senators, with 2 representing each state. The process of government by which bills are considered and laws are enacted is called the “Legislative Process”. The introduction of a bill to Congress is the first step in the Legislative Process. Anyone can propose an idea for a bill, however; only members of the House or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration. After being introduced, a bill is sent to the suitable committee to be reviewed. A committee’s and subcommittee’s numbers and forms are modified with each new Congress as required for the effective consideration...
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...e are other people’s opinions that we rely upon and trust. Since interest groups and lobbyists contribute to campaigns, people are more likely to listen to their campaign donors rather than to others.
In sum, a bill has to climb a lot of steps to get to the Capitol building in Washington. Bills are mostly introduced as a favor to a group or a constituent. While some are quickly killed, others alter the course of our nation. There are countless influences on this legislative process which include the president, party members, and lobbyists and interest groups. Without bills and laws, we would be unable to strengthen civil obedience, politics, economics and society. Without laws, our nation would descend into chaos. Although there are laws that are redundant, there are many others that are necessary for the safety of our citizens and the stability of our government.
The law making process is a lengthy process. First, a representative must have an idea for a new law and they become the sponsor of this bill. The representative must present to the bill to the Clerk of the House if it is in the house (H.R. Bills), or in the Senate (S Bills). The Government Printing Office, GPO, then prints the bill and distributes it to each representative. The Speaker of the House, for further study, then assigns this bill to a standing committee within the house. The standing committee studies the bill and its contents and has two options, either to release the bill with a recommendation to pass it or lay it aside so it cannot be voted on. If the bill is released, it may be voted on or sent into debate within the house and needs a majority vote for the bill to move onto the Senate. Within the Senate, the bill must go through one of the Senate’s sixteen standing committees, and as with the House of Representatives, the bill is either released or pigeonholed. If it is released, a simple majority passes the bill. The bill takes another step into a conference committee, which is made up of members of the Hou...
Most individuals with a general background knowledge of the United States Federal Government system are aware that in order for a bill to become a law, it must first pass a majority vote in Congress. There is, however, a very important step in the legislative process that sometimes goes unnoticed. The committee system of the legislation process ensures that the appropriate attention is given to each bill introduced to Congress. Each member of both chambers are assigned to committees and subcommittees, and are expected to become subject matter experts in their respective roles as committee members.
The procedure for approving a bill and making it a law involves many steps. The following description is a short summary from “How Our Laws are Made”, an in depth description of the legislative process that can found on the website of the Library of Congress. After a bill is drafted, a member...
Bureaucratic agencies give information on the subject of the bill pressuring the congressional committees to listen to the interest groups and to pass the legislature.
Contrasts in the lawmaking methodology utilized as a part of the House and Senate reflect the distinctive size of the two chambers and individual terms of its parts. In the House, the dominant part gathering is inflexibly in control, stacking advisory groups with lion 's share party parts, and utilizing principles to seek after enactment supported by its parts. In the Senate, singular parts are better ready to hold up the procedure, which prompts lower similarity costs, however higher exchange costs. The complication of the lawmaking procedure gives rivals different chances to murder a bill, making a solid predisposition for the present state of affairs.
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
The Legislative Branch is Congress, which has just two branches - the House of Representatives and the Senate. To understand the power held by the Legislative Branch, we should refer to the Constitution itself. Per Section 8 of Article I, Congress may only act within the powers granted to them explicitly in the Constitution, these are called enumerated powers. But this doesn’t mean the powers granted to them were diminutive. The entire legislative power was constitutionally delegated to Congress. The House and Senate serve, for the most part, to work together (though not necessarily in harmony) on passing laws, and both House and Senate must approve all bills. The framers began with the forming Article I: The Legislative Article for a simple reason; law making is an extremely important function for our government. I believe they dug their heels in here first because they intended for it to be the longest, most thorough article in the Constitution, and every word truthfully serves a divine purpose of laying out the structure of how our Legislative Branch should run. With a mere 2,...
The first factor that seems to have influenced the operations of Congress is the committee system. Congress has four different types of committees. The four committees are the joint committees, conference committees, standing committees, and select committees. The standing committee has an influence on Congress because of the fact that they have jurisdiction over all the bills of a given type. Select committees, however, influence congress because since they study and investigate rather than consider legislation, congress has to take into consideration of who is making sure that they have to make careful decisions with these operations with according to what is considered “right and wrong”. The joint committee has to give a full congressional overview to a complex subject to Congress and to the public. This influence congress because again it shows Congress that they are being watched and cannot make any decisions that might seem unfair or unfit. Both houses because they were created to make sure that both the House and the Senate agree on passing a bill, or for them to produce a version that would pass the Conference committee influences co...
Instead of a bill being pushed through one singular body, it must pass two distinct bodies before potentially becoming law. The two bodies also provide a layer of security in regards to corruption. If one house is held by many corrupt members, it is extremely unlikely for the other one to also be as corrupt. Publius states that the crucial role of the Senate under the Constitution is to secure that any law passed is represented by a majority of the people and the states. The House of Representatives represents the people, while the Senate represents the states. The Senate prevents larger states from always killing legislation introduced by smaller states, and gives each state equal say. This is the crucial role of the Senate; to act as a check on the House of Representatives and give representation to the
Despite American author Mark Twain’s insistence that the members of Congress are idiots, the legislative body of the United States of America holds quite a bit of power. Although the powers of Congress, as granted to them in the Constitution of the United States, have remained the same, the importance placed on those powers has changed overtime, lessening for some, and rising for others.
The road a bill takes to becoming a law is a long and tedious process. First, the proposed bill goes through the House of representatives. Once the bill has been approved by the House, it is then begins its journey through the Senate. After the bill has been endorsed by the Senate, the houses of congress then meet in conference committees to prepare the bill to be sent to the White House. To summarize, the path the bill takes to become a law is a fairly complex impediment.
First, in the long process of a bill becoming a law is introducing a bill. After someone from Congress in either chamber has come up with an idea for a bill they must introduce it. For members of the House of Representatives this is easy. All they have to do is put their idea in a mahogany box at the front of the chamber called the hopper. Now for a Senator to introduce a bill they must either hand it to the clerk of the Senate or they must talk about it in a presentation to their peers in a floor speech. Sometimes though Senators can cut down this process by adding their bill as an amendment to legislation that is already being processed. This saves them a lot of time. Also, new ideas for bills are labeled depending on what chamber they come from. Bills from the house will always be labeled with an H.R. with its number behind it. Well bills from the Senate will always be labeled with an S. followed by its number.
West Virginia Legislature. (2011). How a bill becomes a law. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from
Before a law is passed it spends a great deal of time in the hands of officials in Congress, and even