Public Policy

How the Legislative Process Works

This page was created to help you better understand the process that happens for legislation to become law in this country. As the National Federation releases action alerts and other updates on federal legislation, you can always refer back to this page to get a clearer sense of what stage in the legislative process the bill you care about is in.

I.         Sponsorship

Anyone can write a bill. In order for a bill to be introduced into one of the chambers, it must first get sponsorship from a Senator or Congressman. It only needs one sponsor to be introduced, however, the more legislators that co-sponsor the bill, the more likely it will advance through the legislative process. A bill may originate in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. If it is introduced in the House, the bill is labeled “H.R.” followed by its bill number. If it is introduced in the Senate, it is labeled “S.” followed by its number.

II.         Referral to Committee and Subcommittee

The bill is then referred to one of the 20 committees in the Senate or one of the 21 in the House of Representatives. Each committee is responsible for different subject matter of bills. For example, a Senate bill about education would be referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Chairman of the committee would then refer the bill to a particular subcommittee that would do work on the bill. The Senate HELP Committee has three subcommittees, including the Subcommittee on Children and Families.

III.         Public Hearings

If a bill is important or controversial enough, the committee or subcommittee will set a date for a public hearing. Anyone can attend a hearing, and it is a good opportunity for interested persons to learn more about the bill, hear witness testimony, and find out which legislators support it and why. Witnesses submit a written statement of their testimony before the hearing, and during the hearing speak a summary of their arguments before the committee. Each committee member is then given five minutes to question the witness.

IV.         Mark-Up

After the hearing, the subcommittee meets to discuss the bill and make any changes or amendments to it. Then they vote on whether or not to recommend the bill to the full committee. If the bill does not pass out of the subcommittee, the bill dies. They can also “table” the bill, which postpones action indefinitely.

V.         Committee Action

At full committee meetings, members discuss reports on bills that were submitted by the subcommittee. The committee can make more amendments to the bill, order further studies, call for more hearings, or proceed to a vote. Members vote to either: a) report the bill to the House or Senate, b) table it, or c) reject it—though this is rare, since tabling a bill is usually effective in killing it.

VI.         Scheduling Floor Action

If the full committee votes to report the bill to the whole chamber (House or Senate), then it is placed on a calendar in chronological order. However, there are certain rules that allow the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader to determine which bills come to the floor and when that happens.

VII.         Debate

Once a bill does finally come to the floor, there are rules that determine how debate happens and for how long it will continue. More amendments can also come up.

Voting

A bill needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and 218 to pass in the House. However, in rare circumstances this is not necessarily the case.

IX.         Referral to Other Chamber

Once a bill passes out of the House or Senate, it is referred to the other chamber and this whole process repeats itself. For example, if a bill was first introduced in the House and passes, it then goes to the Senate. The Senate could choose to reject it, ignore it, pass it without changes, or pass it with changes.

X.         Conference Committee Action

If the other chamber passes the bill, they then refer the bill back to the originating chamber. So using the same example above, if the Senate passes the House bill, they send the bill back to the House. If the Senate only had minor changes to the bill, the House can agree to the changes and quickly send the bill to the President to sign. However, if there were major changes to the bill, then both chambers have to put together a special committee of legislators who try to figure out how to get the bill into a version that both chambers can agree to. This is called a conference committee. If the conference committee can’t come to agreement, the bill dies.

XI.         The President’s Actions

If both chambers can come to agreement on the conferenced bill, then it finally goes to the President’s desk. He has several options.

• If he approves of the legislation, he signs it and it becomes law.
• If he doesn’t approve of the legislation, he can veto it.
• If he takes no action on it, and if after 10 days the Congressional year hasn’t ended yet, the bill automatically becomes law.
• If he takes no action on it, and if Congress’s second year has ended, it’s considered a “pocket veto”, and the bill does not become law.

XII.         Legislative Veto

Congress can override a veto, but that takes a 2/3 vote of the members who are present.  One chamber can vote to override a veto using a type of bill called a simple resolution, or both chambers can override it using a type of bill called a concurrent resolution.