How A Bill Becomes A Law

The process in which a bill becomes a law can be a lengthy one, it must go through many steps in order to become the law of the land. It is believed that this process should be a matter that every American citizen should be informed of in order to fully understand and appreciate the inner workings of congress with regard to The House of Representatives and the Senate. The steps in which a bill becomes a law is an example of the democratic way of life here in The United States. “The fact that a proposal cannot become a law without consideration and approval by both houses of congress is an outstanding virtue of our bicameral legislative system.” (Sullivan 1-2)

It seems the Founders wanted to make the passage of legislation difficult. The Constitution settles how bills become law in the United States. The procedure is operose and can take significant time to complete. The course materials of week three offer more than enough information on how the procedure works. This essay will, mainly, use the course materials to describe the process of how a bill becomes a law. The process of transforming a bill into a law requires the participation of both the Legislative branch and Executive branch of government.

First, the proposed bill goes through the House of Representatives. Laws begin as ideas. These ideas may come from a Representative, or from a citizen. Citizens who have ideas for laws can contact their Representatives to discuss their ideas. If the Representatives agree, they research the ideas and write them into bills. When a Representative has written a bill, the bill needs a sponsor. The

To prevent from one branch of government having all power, and therefore having tyranny, (Madison FP # 47) Checks and Balances was added to the defenses of the constitution. There are three branches of government: Legislative Branch (Congress), Executive Branch (President), and Judicial Branch (The Courts). These three branches work together to check one another to make sure the power is evenly distributed and balanced, hence the name Checks and Balances. The way it works is that the Legislative Branch (Congress) can check the Executive Branch (President) by approving Presidential nominations, being able to override a President’s veto, and can impeach the President, him or her, from office. The Legislative Branch can check the Judicial Branch by having Senate confirm Presidential nominations and by being able to impeach judges and remove them from office. The President can check the Legislative Branch by vetoing Congressional legislation, and can check the Judicial Branch by nominating judges. The Judicial Branch can check the Legislative Branch by declaring laws unconstitutional, and can check the Executive Branch by declaring presidential acts unconstitutional. (Madison FP # 51) All three branches of government work together to make sure no branch is abusing their limited power, by using the system Checks and

In order to fully comprehend how a bill comes into law we must first explore what a bill is, what party make up congress and what role the president play in passing a bill to a law. To begin, in legal terms, a bill is the form used for most legislation, whether permanent or temporary, general or special, public or private. It can be propose by citizens, the president or congress itself. Next, it moves to Congress. Congress is a legislative body comprising two inner bodies, the Senate and House of Representatives. The current Congressional house is composed of 535 members, 100 senators, 435 representatives and 6 non-voting members. It is also important to mention that the political view of the parties can play an effective of what bills become

When the framers of our revered Constitution came together to produce our governing system, they wanted to avoid the precedent of an all powerful entity that could control its citizens. They broke governments role into three important phases, which were the power to make laws, the power to interpret laws, and the ability to enforce them. To further decentralize these authority holding organizations, they created a system that allowed each of the three sections to have a say in each of the others ability to exercise said authority. This organization of overlapping power is referred to as a checks and balances system and was intended to create three equal powers to govern the United States. Over the years since its

First, the congress can send the bill to the President to be signed and passed into a law. However, if the President vetoes the bill, it is then sent back to congress. Congress can then take a vote on the bill and if two-thirds vote to pass it, the bill is made into a law. Lastly, the President can decide to neither sign the bill nor veto the bill. If this happens when the congress is in session, the bill will become a law after ten days without the President’s signature. (Congressforkids.net)

The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and

According to The House of Representatives (2015) all laws begin as ideas. Once an idea becomes a bill,

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.

There are seven basic steps: Introduction, referral or assignment to house or senate committees, considered in house or senate committees, placement of bill on a legislative calendar, considered on the house or senate floor, signed or vetoed by governor, and lastly the bill does or does not become a law.

A Bill is a formal document on a policy and the proposal for a piece of legislation.

All of the laws in the United States begin as a bill, which must be approved by the Senate, House of Representatives, and the President. The bill stars as an idea from a representative or a citizen who has an idea and tells their representative about the idea. The representative then decides if the idea is

For a bill to become a law it takes more than one step and more than one person deciding, it's not as easy as it seems. First, the legislation is introduced, and then you have the committee action, afterwards floor action, conference committee, the president, and then the bill becomes a law. Some bills will never make it through any of these processes but for those who really want their bill to pass, if they fight for it they just might get lucky. This paper will show you that it takes more than one person and is a long process. Through out this paper I will explain how a bill becomes a law so that you will have a better understanding of the process.

All things first start with an idea. This idea, then becomes an action and this action in turn has a result. This same concept can be applied to the legislative process. The first step begins with an idea, this idea is shared and if it gains the support of the masses this idea will then become sponsored by a representative. Once this idea has sponsorship it then proceeds to the congressional level where this idea gets the new title of a bill. Upon the name change from idea to bill also comes the benefit of becoming a proposed piece of legislation. For a bill this means that it will be sent to both the House of Representatives and Senate awaiting it’s future through debate. If the debate proves favorable for the bill, that is both the House of Representatives and the Senate approve then this bill is sent off to the desk of the president. From the moment the bill arrives at the desk of the president a countdown of ten days begins, this is