Legislative Agenda Of The House

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)

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

The majority leader and the assistant floor leader are chosen by the majority party as well. The speaker of the House is important in the organization of the House, because they choose committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The president of the Senate is chosen by the majority party. Like the House, they appoint committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The minority party is not left out. They also have a caucus, and a minority leader and assistant floor leader are selected for both houses. The minority caucus also makes committee assignments for member of its’ party. The staffs of both houses are chosen by the majority party leadership and include the Senate secretary, assistant secretary, chief clerk, assistant chief clerk, chaplains, sergeant at arms, pages, and secretaries. Each house has a set of rules and procedures that are adopted at the beginning of each session. There also has to be a certain amount of members present, or quorum, in order to do business.

All laws start as bills. Any one can draft a bill, a congressman, the President, even Mr. Hughes if wanted something accomplished. Anyone can draft a bill, but only a congressman can put the bill into the bill box. From the bill box it is given to the speaker of the house, who decides which committee receives the bill for the lengthy editing process. The real power of the Speaker of the House is deciding which committee gets the bill, whether he wants the bill to pass or be thrown out. Inside the committees there are subcommittees that where a committee is a large idea, like the Senate armed forces Committee, the sub committees such as the seapower committee. after a long editing process the bill is either passed or trashed. if passed and in the house the next committee the bill goes to is the rules committee, where the date and how long the bill is argued for will be decided. If in the senate, the bill will go to the majority and minority leaders, and they decide when the bill will be brought for the entire senate. again it is argued in the senate or the house and it will either be trashed or passed here too. Finally the bill should be a law right, nope, the bill has to be passed in the other house of congress. finally once it has been passed in both compartments, if the wording is not the same a conference committee meets, with representatives from both the house and senate deciding the final wording of the bill, only

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

The Speaker of the House has a variety of responsibilities and duties, which include ruling on procedural matters, recognizing members during debates, sending bills in favor of the committee review, and appointing members to numerous committees. Moreover, in opposition to other state legislatures, The Texas House of Representatives, does not properly recognize the majority nor the minority leaders. The Democratic House Leader and the Republican Chairman, who are elected by their corresponding caucuses are the unofficial leaders.

As mentioned before, getting a federal law passed takes more steps than a state or local law. A member of Congress must first introduce the bill. After the bill is introduced to Congress it is then referred to a committee or multiple committees. The committee that the bill is referred to depends on what committee has jurisdiction over the primary issue of the bill (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). Sometimes the bill is referred to a subcommittee first. According to, “Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process,” once referred to a committee, “The chairman of the Committee determines whether there will be a hearing on the bill and whether there will be ‘mark up’” (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). A “mark up” is when members of the committee meet to offer changes that could be made to the bill. After changes are accepted or rejected, the chairman moves to vote the bill favorably out of committee then the entire body of the committee favorably reports out the bill (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). The third step to making a bill a law is a committee report. In this step, the committee chairman’s staff writes a report of the bill. The report of the bill describes the intent of legislation, the bill’s legislative history, the impact the bill will have on existing laws and programs, and the position that the majority of the members of committee take on the bill (Steps

After introduction of the bill, the referral or assignment to house or senate then takes place. In other words, the bill is assigned to standing committee. The Speaker and Lieutenant Governor appoint committee members and chairs. This gives the presiding officers great power and these vital decisions can

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.).

In addition, each chamber/party has an elected floor leader who are chosen by their associated legislators at the start of each General Assembly. The elected floor leader in the House of Representatives is called the Speaker of the House. The majority party determines who they will nominate for speaker thus meaning the control of the House is generally in the hands of the majority party. Currently, Democrats are the majority party of the House with 67 members. Michael J. Madigan is the current speaker of the House and Barbara Currie is the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives (2015). The majority party will also have a six assistant Majority Leaders and a Party Chairperson. In contrast to having a speaker of the house, the minority party elects a Minority Leader. They also elect two Deputy Minority Leaders, five assistant Minority leaders and a Party Conference Chairperson. The Speaker is in control of the flow of legislation, the schedule for the House, and when or if a bill will be called for a vote. In addition, maintains order on the House floor, decides on parliamentary issues, and works with minority leaders to resolve matters that may block progress in legislation. The elected leader of the Senate is called the President. Similar to the organization of the House, the Senate’s majority party elects a President, six Assistant Majority Leaders, and Majority Party Caucus Chair and the Minority party elects a Minority Lead, five Assistant Minority Leaders, and a Minority Party Caucus Chair. The President has a significant power in determining what legislatures moves from a committee onto the Senate floor (2015). The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate are the most powerful members of the Legislative Branch. These individuals determine if a piece of legislation will move through the law-making process

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

The Organizational Structure of congress in the United Stated is demonstrated through the fact that we have a House and a Senate that are separated from each other. Congress is a very complex structure that possesses many committees that all handle a variety of topics. The United States Senate is composed of only 100 members that serve six year terms. Some refer to the senate as the “upper house”, and only 1/3 of the members of the United Senate are re-elected every two years. The House of Representatives is composed of 435 members that each serve two year terms. The HOR is known as the “lower house” and all 435 members are up for re-election every two years. The top two leadership roles in the Senate are The Vice President of the United States who presides over the Senate, and required to vote when there is a tie in Senate. Also in the case of a death of a president, the Vice president must step up and preside over the nation. The second most vital role in Senate is the President Pro-Tempore. The President Pro-Tempore is the highest ranked senator as elected by the Senate. The top two positions in the House are The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader. The Speaker of the House is arguably the most influential single legislator in both houses. The Speaker presides over proceedings on the House floor, designates which bills go to which committees, designates committee assignments for new members, appoints the party 's other leaders , and

There are committees for different topics of what a bill could be. The bills are sent to the committees by a speaker of the house. Once the bill reaches the Committee, the members decide what to do with it. Now days most bill dies at this stage, meaning that the bill does not pass and becomes a law. Although when it does passed, the committee makes a vote, and it is sent to the next part of the law-making process which is the Rules Committee, who also decide on it through debate, deciding what will good about making the laws, or what could be the negative outcome to it, in this stage the bill could die to. This committee not only can reject or pass the bills, but add amendments, then after their changes are done; they pass the bill to the Senate.