* The more we understand how congress works, the better we, as citizens, are able to in influence the laws it creates. *
1. In order for a bill to be created the idea must be drafted by a Senator or Representative. A bill must be sponsored by a Representative or Senator.
2. Legislative process begins when a bill is introduced to the House or the Senate by a sponsoring Representative or Senator.
3. The bill is referred to the House and Senate committee which deals with this specific kind of legislation. Every year thousands of bills die right here in committee. If the proposed legislation receives strong support from the members of congress, a subcommittee hearing will begin.
4. When the hearing begins, the subcommittee invites testimony from interested parties.
5. After gathering information from these hearings, legislators hold subcommittee. Next the bill goes to full committee for further markup.
* Letters to a subcommittee or full committee are most influential just before these markup procedures.
6. The full committee may approve the bill and recommend passage or it may kill the bill by taking no action.
7. Once the bill reaches the floor, members either accept the committee recommendation or offer amendments. When all amendments are accepted or rejected, a vote for final passage is taken.
8. Conference committee irons out the differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate bills on the same topic. If the conference committee cannot agree the bill dies. Compromising differences results in what is called a conference bill.
9. The new legislation is then sent back to both the House and the Senate for a final vote. If the bill passes it is sent to the President. The President can either sign the bill or veto the bill. If the bill is vetoed, Congress has one final chance to put the bill into law. A presidential veto can be overturned by a two thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
MacMillan/McGraw-Hill. Civics Responsibilities and Citizenship. Glencoe Division, Westeville, Ohio, 1992.