So, how does a Bill become Law? To watch the famous kids' classic video (on you tube) called,
"I'm just a Bill" Click here
- 1. Someone comes up with an idea and contacts his or her Congress person (a member of the
House of Representatives). The Representative understands the need for such a idea and believes
that it should become law. The Representative will then write up the idea, sponsor the idea, and
introduce it to a Committee. This committee is a committee which specializes in similar ideas. So if
the idea is about protecting natural resources then it will go to the Committee on Natural Resources.
That Committee will be part of the House of Representatives since a Representative is submitting the
Bill to Committee . If the committee approves of the Bill then goes to the House if a Representative,
because that's where it came from. That chamber has to vote on the Bill.
- 2. The House has to pass it by more than half of the voting membership (the same would happen if
it started in the Senate) So in the house it has to receive at least 218 (out of the normal 435) "Yays".
- 3. Now the Bill goes to the other Chamber. So, it started in the House it has to go to the Senate.
There, it has to go through the proper Senate Committee and be approved by that committee. Then
the committee will send it to the Senate to have it voted on. All Senators have to vote and 51 have to
vote "Yay" to pass the Bill through.
- 4. Now that the Bill has gone through both the House Committee and the House has passed it and
now that both the Senate Committee and the Senate passed it. The Bill goes to the President to be
signed into law.
The President has the power to Veto the Bill and thereby say no to Congress. Then the bill goes
back to it's Sponsor to be re-written, re-configured, or amended. Then it will have to repeat the above
process.
If the President Vetoes a Bill then the Bill will go back through the system but will need to have 2/3 of
the votes in each Chamber to override the Presidential Veto. So 290 members of the House or
Representatives would have to be in favor of the Bill and 67 Senator would have to also be for the
Bill. Then the President's Veto would no longer be valid.
Often a Bill will go to Committee and the Committee will request the Bill to be amended before being
approved and submitted to the Sponsor's Chamber (House or Senate). Either Chamber can return
the Bill to the original sponsor for amending purposes. If a Chamber votes the Bill down then it dies.
A Bill can die in Committee or in a Chamber. The Sponsor will often try to have a member of the
opposite party to co-sponsor the Bill. This would be to try to have a by-partisan Bill and therefore
increase the potential passing of the Bill in question.
Remember that Politics is often complex and therefore the above description of how a Bill becomes
Law may be a bit simplistic. To see where I found the above mentioned information and to learn
more: Click here.
By the way, as of 03/22/2010, there are 430 voting members of the House of Representatives. To see
the list from Wikipedia, click here.
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