Making a Bill a Law



Elected by members of the majority party
Next in line of succession
Most important legislative position


Leader of the senate when the VP is not there
Next in line after the Speaker

Leaders of each party in each House

Serve as a link between the leaders & the rank
and file members of Congress
Dick Durbin
Jon Kyl
Steny Hoyer
Kevin McCarthy




Chosen from majority party
Longest serving member of the committee from
the majority party
Chairman decides: when they meet, bills to
take up, whether or not to hold public
meetings, call witnesses
They then steer the debate and manage the bill





Most work is done in committees
Standing committees – permanent committees
where bills are sent
19 in House; 17 in the Senate
Representatives usually serve on 1 o2
Senators usually serve on 3 or 4


House- Rules, Ways & Means, Appropriations,
Armed Services, Judiciary, International
Relations
Senate- Foreign Relations, Appropriations,
Finance, Judiciary, Armed Services



Most standing committees have subcommittees to split up the work
When a bill is introduced the Speaker or the
President Pro Temps steers the bill to the
appropriate committee
The House Rules committee determines which
bills that make it through committees actually
make it to the floor of the House for a vote




Select (special) committee- set up for specific
purpose & a limited time
Usually formed to investigate a specific matter
Joint Committee- one composed of both houses
Conference Committee- temporary joint
created to reach a compromise on a bill passed
through the chambers with different versions.
Must be identical to be sent to President



Public- applies to nation
Private- certain persons or places
Bills can be presented by members of the
legislative branch, the executive branch, or
regular citizens






Measure dealing with only one house, not a
binding Law
Joint Resolutions- similar to bills when passed;
they have the force of law; usually temporary
Concurrent Resolutions- House and Senate act
together; do not have the force of law
Riders- a provision that is attached to a larger
measure. Sponsor hopes it will “ride” through
with the main bill. Might not be passed on its own.
If President wants the main bill passed will have to
pass the “riders” along with it
Usually deals with $$$$$ “earmarks” or “pork”



Most bills die in committee- “pigeonholed”
Discharge petition- Any member can request
that a dead bill be brought to the floor
Rarely used or successful





Report the bill favorably as is to floor for a vote
Pigeonhole
Report the bill in amended form
Report the bill unfavorably to the floorcommittee does not want to be responsible for
the death of the bill
Report a committee bill- new bill or several
bills put together





The Rules committee ultimately decides what
bills go to the floor
Suspend the Rules- happens when Congress
wants to fast track a bill
Quorum-a majority of the House needs to be
present to vote on a bill
Committee of the Whole- House becomes a
committee to work on a bill as a whole then
will reconvene to vote on the bill
Speaker allots a certain amount of time to
debate each bill brought to the floor



Voice votes
Standing votes
Computerized Votes- Aye, Nay, Present
Engrossed- the bill is printed in its final form
Speaker signs it and sends it to the Senate




Basically the same rules as the House with a
few exceptions
Senate rules are less formal than the House
Bills are called to the floor at the discretion of
the Senate Majority Leader
Debate is the biggest difference between the
two chambers




Debate is mostly unrestrained
Voting does not take place until a unanimous
consent is given
“Two Speech Rule”- on Senator can speak more
than twice on a specific measure on the same
legislative day
“Filibuster”- talking a bill to death. A group of
Senators who do not want a bill passed can
continue speaking until the bill is dropped or
changed to suit those Senators




They will also use motions, quorum calls, or
other manuevers to stall the vote on a bill
which will likely pass
Huey Long in 1935-15 hours-Washington
phone book and recipes
Glenn Taylor in 1947-8 hours- Family, fishing,
Wall Street
Strom Thurmond-1957-24 hours- trying to stop
the Civil Rights Acts of 1957



Over 200 bills have been killed by filibusters
Many bills are not even brought to floor due to
threat of filibuster
Cloture-passed in 1917- must have a vote of 60
Senators “super-majority”- then bill must be
brought to floor after 30 hours





Once a Bill has passed in identical form in both
the House and Senate the President acts
Sign the bill into law
Veto- may be overridden with 2/3 vote of both
houses
President could just ignore it and then it will
become law in 10 days; not Sundays
Pocket Veto- if Congress adjourns within 10
days of submitting the bill and the President
does not act on the bill, it dies there