It 's The Law?

Anyone can write a bill not just a member of congress. Any citizen, group or organization can “draw” up a bill. The right to petition is guaranteed by the first amendment. These bills are usually written in the form of a letter. It is estimated that more then 15,000 bills are introduced to The House of Representatives and the Senate each year. Each one is then assigned to a committee after it is given a number. 22 of these committees belong to The House of Representatives and 15 to the Senate. The majority of all laws originate in The House of Representatives.

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

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

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.

Otto von Bismarck once said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” The arduous process that a bill undergoes in order to become a law may seem grueling and pointless; however, the processes high caliber of difficulty allows for the extreme prestige and exclusivity of bills that are passed. Because the process is so exhausting, and filibusters, subsequently requiring a super-majority vote to pass a bill, have always been such a threat in Congress, historically, bills that attempt to reform sensitive issues have not fared well in the legislative branch. However, when Congress does pass controversial laws, it then also faces the task of effectively enforcing them. But, when the process is carried out to

A Bill has a number of stages that it goes through before it is presented to the Queen to be signed. It starts off as a discussion in the House of Commons, and if decided to be an effective new policy idea then it is sent off

A. The first step in the legislative process is the introduction of a bill to Congress.

If both the Senate and the House pass the bill, it is then sent to the president for his signature leading to the bill becoming a law (United States Senate, n.d.).

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

Congress must always sponsor this bill before it is introduced to the House or Senate. Several drafts may even be composed by Congress, citizens of society, lobbyists, and coalitions. Primarily though, the President is the main source when it comes down to proposing one. The four forms of congressional action process as bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions and simple resolutions. The introduction of a bill is the first step in the federal process is the referral to a standing committee where they have the power to delay, block or expedite

In the Senate, member can speak as long as they want. Once the debate is over the Senate will then vote on the bill. If fifty-one members vote in favor of the bill then it will be passed. The bill will then move on to a conference committee, which is made up of member from each House. The committee works out any differences between the House and Senates versions of the bill. The revised bill will then be sent back to both Houses for their final approval. Once approved, the bill is printed by the Government Printing Office in a process called enrolling. The clerk from the introducing house will certify the final version.

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

At any point along this crucial route of pre-legislative stages the idea to become a bill has no guarantee as it can be rejected or amended or be ranked too low a priority to continue. However, for those ideas that do pass the Government, the Bill will bring it substantial resources to make sure it happens. The Bill then goes through the stages in the legislative process but do not necessarily follow the same route. The first stage is called Introduction or the First Reading of the Bill.

In S. Pearl Sharp’s poem titled “It’s the law: A Rap Poem” she discusses how we enforce so many different types of laws, but we don't enforce love. She portrays the idea that we should not have to have laws to protect us from each other. Sharp instructs the reader to take care of themselves and take care of others. She writes with the theme that we should all love one another and live by the golden rule.