The Pros And Cons Of A Bill: Two Houses Of Congress

Each time a bill is sent to become a law it always becomes a hasseling process where if an individual really wants it he or she will fight for it. This process can take months or even years to even come close to finishing, sometimes the bill at the end isn 't entirely what it originally was. Like everywhere in the world if a person or group wishes to get something done, connections are the easiest path to achieve what one wants. By connections I mean the more powerful and influencial people you know the better chance one has to look better among the rest. In this quick essay I 'll be explaining the process from when a bill is born and passes to be a law or to see when it dies.

Various actions can occur once a bill passes through the first house and awaits approval by the second. The course materials point out that if one chamber passes the bill the other may: pass the bill as it stands, send the bill to a committee, reject the bill, or ignore the bill (Unit 3 the Congress, 11). If referred to a committee, that committee would: examine the bill, change the bill, or both. If rejected, the rejecting chamber will apprise the other chamber of its act. If ignored, the ignoring chamber would press forward with its work on that chamber’s particular version of the bill.

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

Once the bill reaches its date, the members initiate a debate regarding the proposed legislation (“The Legislative Process,” 2014). At this time, amendments may be approved and the bill is voted on by the members. If the bill is passed, it is referred to the other chamber and undergoes the same process. If the bill is accepted by both the House and Senate, it is sent to the President. The President has the option to approve or veto the bill. If signed by the President, it becomes law. Congress may try to override the President’s veto by two thirds vote of the members (“The Legislative Process,” 2014).

Now that the bill has been passed through the House, it is ready to go through the proceedings of the Senate. First, the bill is again introduced but now by a senator who must be recognized by the presiding officer and announce the introduction of the bill. A bill that has passed either house of congress is sometimes called an act, but the term usually means legislation that has passed both houses and become a law. Secondly, the Vice President of the US, who is the presiding officer of the Senate, assigns the proposed law to a committee for further study ( the Senate has about 15 standing committees). The committees or one of its subcommittees studies the bill and may hold hearings. The committee may approve the bill as is, revise the bill, or table the bill. Now the bill goes to the Senate to await its turn on the Senate floor. Normally the bill is considered as introduced unless the bill is urgent in which case the leaders of the majority party might push it ahead. At this time the Senate considers the bill. Here senators can debate a bill indefinitely, unless voted otherwise. When there is no further discussion, the Senate votes. Most bills must have simple majority to pass. At this point of development, the process is especially exemplary because the bill in the Senate is now considered by debate to better illustrate its strengths and/or weaknesses. To summarize, the bill has now been passed by both houses of congress.

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

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

The legislation was originally submitted on February 7, 2017 and sent to the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee. On April 6, 2017 it was submitted from the subcommittee to the House Veterans Affairs committee for a full voice vote. In order for the bill to become a law, an idea must be presented to a member of Congress. There may be a companion bill, one in the House one in the Senate. There are several steps in passing legislation and many areas where a bill could fail. Associations and lobbyist are often involved in drafting legislation. They are also involved in lobbying members. The bill is then sent to a specific committee for the first review where either changes or made or the bill is rejected. If a bill is accepted, it is sent out from the committee to full House or Senate vote. If it passes, it will go to the opposite side of the legislative branch for a second vote. The bill most be voted on in the same way in both chambers in order to be passed. If a bill passes both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it goes to the President to be signed and made a law. If the President veto’s the bill, a two-thirds majority can override the president and make the bill a law without him or her. Every bill has a two -year deadline to either pass or die by default. The speaker of the House of Representative is in charge of the agenda for the House to vote on. Although the Vice President is the “President” of the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader sets the agenda for the

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.).

The bill will be sent to a committee and the committee will typically hold a hearing on the bill (Krutz and Waskiewicz). The bill will then enter the markup stage for amending and approving. Following, the bill will go through the House Committee on Rules to establish rules of the debate and move to the floor for amendments and debates. The House will hold a vote and if passed, will move to the Senate. After reaching the Senate, the bill is placed on a calendar for debate and voted on. If the bill from the House and Senate appear different then the first chamber could accept the second chambers bill or further amend the second chambers bill. If neither of those options work it will be sent to the conference committee for negotiations. Once complete, the bill will arrive at the president for signature or

Bills may be addressed and generated from anyone in the two bicameral chambers. Bills are passed from one chamber to the next, each chamber must approve of the bill for it to become law. For example, bills being introduced from one chamber to the next needs to meet the requirements like “filing the required number of copies of the bill with the chief clerk of the house” (Ch. 4). There is an unrestricted introduction of a bill during the first 60 days of a regular session in the house. Once the bill has passed the 60 day regular session period “the bill must have at least two-thirds of voting from the legislative members” (Ch.

To get a better idea of how a bill gets passed into law, I will play the role of a member of the House of Representatives with an idea to make public colleges tuition free. I have written a proposed idea of how I would like the college tuition of public Universities to be free with stipulations and requirements to the American citizen looking to broaden their education and create job skills. With the bill planned out and me being a member of the House of Representatives, I am going to introduce this bill in the House. Now it is important to remember that anyone can draft a bill but only a member of Congress can introduce bills. After the bill has been introduced it goes to a committee, where at this point it will be determined if this bill has any chance of being passed. If the bill is brought to the committee and they happen not to act on the bill, then unfortunately the bill would be considered dead. Most bills after this point can be referred to a sub-committee where the

After discussion of a bill, the bill is introduced to the House who is then assigned a H.R number and then the bill is introduced to Senate and the receive a S number. When a bill is introduced it is different then when a bill is enacted into law.

But the bill can also be brought to the floor if a large amount of the Senate chooses it to. Then there is the debate, The Committee of the Whole debates and amends the bill, but they can not pass it. They will decide how much time each person will get to debate the bill. The bill will then go back to the house to be voted on; there must be two hundred and eighteen members present to have a final vote. If for some reason there is not enough members the House will be adjourned or the Sergeant at Arms will go get them.

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