How does a bill become a law?

How does a bill become a law?

• I need to know after the committee chosen by the leader of the Senate or the House of Representatives revises and decides that the bill will be voted in the whole body, how many people are needed to make the bill be passed on to the other house? 1/2 or 2/3?

• Answer:

  How a bill goes through Congress and becomes a law can be a very complex procedure, or it can zip through Congress if it is considered very important that it be enacted. Basically, here are the steps from bill to law. In the House, any member may introduce a bill by dropping it into a box, called a hopper. In the Senate, a member may introduce a bill after being recognized by the presiding officer and announcing the bill’s introduction. (Bills dealing with raising money must originate in the House of Representatives.) The bill is then given a prefix and a number. H.R. 33 would be House Resolution 33 and S.B. 44 would be Senate Bill 44. Once a bill is introduced, it goes to a committee for study. The committee in the Senate or the House basically do the same thing, that is they study the bill, hold hearings on the content of the bill, send it to a subcommittee if they feel it necessary for more study, and then vote on it and report it to the floor of the Senate or House where it is placed on the calendar for action. The House and Senate then debate the bill and vote on whether to pass or reject the bill. Most bills never get out of commitee. Once a bill is passed by either house, it has to be in the exact same language and set up. If a bill passes the Senate but it is not exactly as the one that passes the House, a conference committee is created to work out the final wording of the bill. It then goes back the each house where it is voted on again in its new form. The bill is then sent to the President. The President can sign the bill into law, veto it and return it to Congress with his objections to the bill, or do nothing. If he vetoes the bill, the Congress may override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. It then becomes law without the approval of the President. The President has ten days to sign or veto the bill. If, after ten days, Congress is not in session, the bill does not become law. This is known as a pocket veto. All revenue bills must start in the House of Representatives. Represenatives do not have unlimited time to talk on the floor. They can be over-looked or given a time limit by the rules of the House of the Speaker of the House. Senators have no time limits and may talk indefinately unless there is a cloture vote in which other members of the Senate vote to halt discussions of the current item before the Senate.