11.4: The Legislative Process

As a legislature, Congress’s primary duty is lawmaking. The lawmaking process is long and complex, and not every law follows exactly the same steps. However, in general the legislative process proceeds as described in this section (and summarized in Figure 11.2 below).

Figure 11.2: How a bill becomes a law (simplified)

The process begins when a member of Congress introduces a bill. This bill need not be written by the member who introduces it. Many bills are written by a representative’s or senator’s staff, the president or other executive branch employees, or an interest group, after which they are given to a member of Congress to introduce. Any bill can originate in either the House or the Senate, except for tax bills, which can only originate in the House.

Once a bill is introduced, it is referred to a committee and then a subcommittee for review. These are small groups of members tasked with considering bills proposed on particular topics. (For example, an immigration bill introduced in the House that would change deportation policy might be referred to the House Judiciary Committee. The House Judiciary Committee, in turn, might refer the bill to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.) The subcommittee reviews the bill, amends it as desired, and votes on whether to send it back to the committee. If the vote passes, the full committee gets a chance to review and amend the bill before voting on whether to send it back to the full chamber for consideration.

When a bill is sent by a committee back to the chamber where it originated (after being approved by the Rules Committee, if that chamber is the House), all members of that chamber can debate the bill and propose amendments to it. Eventually, the chamber votes on whether to pass the bill. The same process, from introduction to passage, must occur in the other chamber as well. Typically, the second chamber to consider a bill won’t introduce it until the first chamber has passed it. This allows them to start out with any amendments made by the first chamber (and to avoid wasting their time on a bill that couldn’t pass the first chamber).

The versions of a bill passed by the House and the Senate may differ from one another due to amendments made by the subcommittees, committees, or full chambers. If so, a conference committee of members from both chambers is appointed to reconcile those differences and combine the two bills into one. The reconciled version is then returned to both the House and the Senate. For the reconciled bill to move forward, both chambers must pass it unamended, as an amended bill would have to be re-reconciled with the other chamber’s version.

Once both chambers pass identical versions of a bill, it is sent to the president. The president can choose to either sign the bill or veto it. A signed bill becomes law. A vetoed bill is returned to Congress, where it can still become a law with a two-thirds vote of both chambers to override the president’s veto.

The many steps of the lawmaking process explain why Congress often seems slow or unable to pass laws. There are many ways a bill can fail. Most bills “die in committee” by not clearing the committee or subcommittee stage. Others are voted down by the chamber in which they originate, or pass one chamber but not the other, or are so amended by one or both chambers as to make the two versions impossible to reconcile. Even a reconciled bill approved by both chambers can be blocked by a presidential veto if Congress lacks the two-thirds consent required to override it. Given all of these potential points of failure, members must craft bills carefully so as to avoid displeasing any person or group of people with the power to scuttle them.

Despite these many pitfalls, Congress does in fact pass many laws. Most of the bills that make it through the gauntlet, however, are relatively minor and uncontroversial. The renaming of a post office, the awarding of a Congressional Medal of Honor, or the reauthorization of existing policies due to expire often pass with little fight or fanfare. Major bills—the ones most discussed by politicians and the public alike—have a much harder time, and a much lower success rate, of becoming law.