Why 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

Most individuals with a general background knowledge of the United States Federal Government system are aware that in order for a bill to become a law, it must first pass a majority vote in Congress. There is, however, a very important step in the legislative process that sometimes goes unnoticed. The committee system of the legislation process ensures that the appropriate attention is given to each bill introduced to Congress. Each member of both chambers are assigned to committees and subcommittees, and are expected to become subject matter experts in their respective roles as committee members.

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

To begin it would be best to understand what a bill is. A bill is a proposal of a law (2). Bills can only emerge in Congress (2). Congress is composed of the House of Representatives and the

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

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

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

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.

The Legislative process is how a bill becomes law. The first step is introducing a bill to Congress. Though anyone can write the bill, only members of Congress can present and introduce it. The bill can go through many changes during its introduction. After introduction, the bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review.