How a Bill Becomes Law

With the election of Barack Obama as president we will face some challenges over the next four years that we never thought we would see in our lifetime. With the Congress being controlled by democrats along with a democratic president it will be much easier for them to pass legislation that we may not want to see made into law. In order to stem this process we should know first how this all works.  The President can’t make laws by himself.  His two most powerful tools are the veto and Executive Order. I am sure most of us know the basics of how a law is made but it helps to know the details.

First we will take a look at a how a bill becomes law. A bill can be introduced to either the Senate or House of Representatives by any member of Congress, the President or head of a federal agency. Once this bill is introduced it will be debated on the floor of the House of Congress it was introduced in. After debate the bill is sent to the appropriate Congressional committee for review and revision. A Congressional committee is a group of senators or representatives that are elected or appointed from within each respective House that has knowledge or expertise in the area the committee is responsible for. The public has no say in who is on any given committee. This is all done within. If the committee does not act on the bill it “dies” in committee and there is no further action. Once the committee approves the bill it is returned to the floor of the Senate or House for further debate an approval.

Once a bill comes out of committee and is returned to the floor members can propose amendments to the bill add additional text or otherwise alter the bill. If similar bills are introduced into both the Senate and House a conference committee is formed to reconcile differences in the two bills. Once the conference committee is in agreement the bill is reintroduced to the floor. Usually a bill is introduced in the House of Representatives. Once it has been through committee it is passed to the Senate for a vote. On occasion a bill will be introduced in the Senate and once approved there is passed to the House of Representatives for a vote. Once both Houses of Congress have approved the bill and amendments it is sent to the President.

The President has 3 options once the bill is sent to him. He can sign it and it becomes law. He can send it back to Congress with comments which is called a veto or if he does nothing in ten days the bill automatically becomes law. However if Congress adjourns within this ten day time period and the President doesn’t sign the bill it becomes what is known as a “pocket veto”, meaning it doesn’t become law. If the President vetoes the bill and sends it back to Congress they have two options. They can amend the bill, vote on it again and return it in amended form to the President for his signature or they can override his veto. A veto override requires two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate. It is rare that a veto override occurs. Below is a flow chart indicating the progress of a bill as it passes along the steps of becoming law.

If this whole process seems complicated and daunting to understand it can be, but for the most part it is fairly straightforward. It is our duty and responsibility to know how this process works in order to know what laws our Government is enacting. Congress passes over 500 bills a year that become law. These laws include our tax code, entitlement programs, criminal and civil laws. We don’t normally think of these things as laws but in reality they are. As you can see the President can’t make a law without the approval of Congress. When these bills are traveling through Congress is where we come in as citizens. If we know what they contain and what law they are trying to pass we can comment to our respective Senators and Representatives on how we want them to vote. We also can contact committee member, even though they may not be in our district and make our opinions known to them as well. In my next article we will explore how we as citizens can impact the passage of these laws.