how a bill becomes a law. first steps bill is assigned to a committee in subcommittee, a bill goes...
TRANSCRIPT
How a Bill Becomes a Law
First Steps
Bill is assigned to a committee
In subcommittee, a bill goes through the following phases:
Phase 1: Hearings (pros and cons are given to the bill, usually by the supporters or opponents)
Phase 2: Markup (changes are made to the document
Phase 3: Report (Vote on whether to send it back to standing committee)
House Rules Committee
Rules Committee determines what order bills are debated, as well as the rules for the debate
Chose to have a closed rule, which limits the floor debate and amendments to a bill
Chose to have an open rule, which allows floor debate and introduction of amendments
Speaker of the House has a lot of power with the Rules Committee and can help set schedule and rules
House and Senate: Floor Debate
Using the Power of Recognition (no one can speak unless first recognized by either the Speaker or the majority leader), bills go through three main parts:
general debate on the bill
debate and voting on amendments to the bill
voting on the final passage of the bill
House Floor Debate:
Short time to debate - normally only one hour for both pros and cons; give some floor time to colleagues who want to speak on the bill
Senate Floor Debate
Luxury of more time, so Senators can speak for endless time if no limit established
leads to filibusters (prolonged debate and other delaying tactics aimed at blocking a bill favored by the majority of lawmakers)
1917 - Senate adopted the cloture rule, which requires 3/5th of the Senators support to end the debate
Senators can put a hold on bills before debate that basically shows the intent to filibuster
Amendments to the Bill
House can vote on any changes to the bill, and amendments have to be relevant to the content of the bill
Senate doesn’t have this rule, so riders are often added to bills that have nothing to do with that bill; riders can create a Christmas Tree Bill because of all the added amendments for special interests
Voting on a Bill
3 ways votes can be cast:
Voice vote
Standing vote
Roll-call vote - each member casts vote either when called or electronically
Voting Pressures Representatives and Senators face several
pressures when casting votes:
pressure from constituents and own personal views
pressure from interest groups
pressure from party leaders
pressure from collegues to “trade” votes (logrolling)
Final Steps
Eventually, the House and Senate must vote and pass the identical bill
if different forms of the bill pass, then the Conference Committee is formed to work out a compromise
Bill must then pass an up-or-down vote in both houses (as it is - no changes allowed)
President’s role
President has 10 days to either:
sign the bill into law
veto the bill
take no action; it becomes a law after 10 days of no action if Congress is in session; if not, then the bill dies (Pocket veto)
Congress then has a chance to override the veto with 2/3 majority vote in both houses