Congress: The Five Steps In The Legislative Process

There are thousands of bills that the Congress has to consider throughout the year. There are never a lot of bills that actual get to the President’s desk for the final approval because the bills go through so many committees before they ever can reach the President. There is a long process of the Legislative Process. First, the bill has to be introduced. Not just anyone can introduce a bill for consideration; only a member of Congress, House, or Senate can suggest a bill. Whoever introduces that bill becomes the bills “sponsor”, and the others who support or want the bill are known as “cosponsors”. After the bill has been introduced, it is assigned a number and then printed in the Congressional Record. The second step in the Legislative Process is that

the bill has to go through committee consideration. The bill is sent to many House Committees or Senate Committees, depending on what type of bill it is and what kind of rules it has also. The third and fourth step of the Legislative Process is the actions of the Committee and the Subcommittee review. Its starts off with the committees considering the bill.

It is as simple as, if they like the bill, it moves on. If they do not like the bill, it is thrown out. Then the committees that liked the bill send the bill to subcommittees to further analyze it. With the fifth step, if the subcommittees decide they want to continue with a bill, they send it back to the full committee. The sixth step is the committee’s action and the reporting of the bill. The full committee will look over the subcommittee’s ideas for the bill, and then if they like them, they will hold more public hearings and vote of the reporting of the bill. If it passes the vote, it will move on to step seven. This means that a publication of the bill has to be done including all the information about the bill and what it is supposed to do. Step eight is when the bill will be placed on the legislative calendar for “floor action”. Step nine and ten of the legislative process is the debate of the bill and voting of the bill. When the bill is debated and gets approved, the full membership will vote for or against the bill. Once the bill is approved, it is sent to another chamber of Congress, where they will do the same thing and that is known as step

eleven. Step twelve is a conference committee. This is members of both of the chambers that moved the bill forward. The committee works on compromising the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. If they come to a conclusion, the bill is in step thirteen, and that is where the bill becomes “enrolled” and sent to the President. The president can approve it by signing it to make it a law, or he can wait ten days while the congress is in session and it will become a law, or he can veto the bill. If the President doesn’t take action on the bill and the congress’s session ends, the bill died. Lastly, the congress and override the President’s veto only by 2/3 vote by member of the Congress.