The Legislative Branch
Chapter 4 Section 6
Congress at Work – Making Laws
The Legislative Branch
Objectives:
* Explain the first steps in the introduction of a bill to theHouse.
* Describe what happens to a bill once it is referred to acommittee.
* Explain how House leaders schedule debate on a bill.
* Explain what happens to a bill on the House floor, andidentify the final step in the passage of a bill in
the House.
* Describe how a bill is introduced in the Senate.
* Compare the Senate’s rules for debate with those in theHouse.
The Legislative Branch
The First Steps
•A bill is a proposed law presented to the House of Representatives orSenate for consideration.
•Most of the bills introduced in either house do not originate withmembers themselves.
•Many of the important bills are born somewhere in theexecutive branch.
•Business, labor, agriculture, other special interest groupsor even private citizens often draft measuresbecause they think there should be a law.
The Legislative Branch
•Bills for raising revenue must originate in the House ofRepresentatives.
•Thousands of resolutions and measures are introducedeach year.
•Public Bills are measures applying to the nation as a whole– i.e. tax measures.
•Joint Resolutions are similar to bills and when passed havethe force of law. – i.e. presidential inaugurationceremonies.
•Concurrent Resolutions deal with matters in which theHouse of Senate must act jointly i.e. foreign affairs.
–When passed, they do not have the force of laws and do notrequire a President’s signature.
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•Resolutions are often called“simple resolutions”
–They usually deal with matters concerning eitherhouse alone and are taken up only by that body.
–Sometimes a rider –a provision is attached to aresolution and usually deals with an unrelatedmatter.
The Legislative Branch
Introduction and First Reading
–Clerk of the House numbers each bill asit is introduced. (H.R. 3410)
–It means that 3,410 other measures havebeen introduced this session.
–Bills originating in the Senate are Letter “S”.
–The Clerk gives each bill a short title and a briefsummary of its principal contents.
–The bill is entered into the House Journal.
–The minutes of this bill are in the House Journal as ittravels down the road to becoming a law, if itbecomes a law.
The Legislative Branch
–The bill receives its first reading and it is printedimmediately after introduction and distributed toall members of the House.
–Each bill that passes through the House is giventhree readings along the legislative route.
–After the first reading, the Speaker refers it to acommittee for study.
The Legislative Branch
T
The Bill in Committee
•Standing Committees play an essential role in thelawmaking process.
•These committees are sieves – they sift through all ofthe many bills referred to them.
•They reject most of the bills that they receive to study.
•The fate of most bills is decided in committee.
•Most of the bills introduced in each session ofCongress are pigeonholed – they are buried anddie in committee.
The Legislative Branch
•Discharge Petition enables members to force a bill that hasremained in committee 30 days onto the floor forconsideration.
•Subcommittees are the ones who really do the actual work ofstudying the bill and trying to figure out if this bill deserves toheard on the floor of the House.
•When a subcommittee has completed its work on a bill, themeasure goes to the full committee.
–At the chairman’s direction, that body may do one of several things. Itmay
•Report the bill favorably with a “do pass” recommendation.
•Refuse to report the bill – that is pigeonhole it.
•Report the bill in amended form.
•Report the bill with an unfavorable recommendation.
•Report a committee bill. The panel produces a substantially rewritten measureas a substitute for one or several of the bills referred to it.
The Legislative Branch
Scheduling Floor Debate
•Before a bill goes to the floor for consideration, a bill reported by astanding committee is placed on one of several calendars inthe House.
•A calendar is a schedule of the order in which bills are taken up onthe floor.
•The Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the Stateof the Union, is for all bills having to do with revenues,appropriations, or government property.
•The House Calendar is for all bills from the Union or HouseCalendar taken out of order by unanimous consent of theHouse of Representatives.
•The Discharge Calendar is for minor bills that have no opposition.
•Each of the calendars have a regular schedule to be considered on thefloor of the House.
•Bills from the Corrections Calendar are supposed to be considered on thesecond and fourth Tuesdays of the month.
•Measures relating to the District of Columbia can be taken up on thesecond and fourth Mondays of the month.
•Private Bills are on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.
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The Legislative Branch
•“Calendar Wednesdays” the various committee chairmen mayeach call up one bill to be considered.
•All bills must be granted a rule before it can be heard on thefloor and debated.
•A rule means that the Rules Committee has approved thatstep and set a time for its appearance on the floor.
•If a bill does not get a rule, it is basically dead in thewater.
The Legislative Branch
The Bill on the House Floor
•If a bill reaches the floor, it receives its second reading in the House.
•The important bills are then moved to the Committee of the Whole,meaning the whole floor of the House can debate it and talk aboutthat bill.
•The House must have a quorum – a majority of the members present atthat time (218).
The Legislative Branch
•When the floor goes into the Committee of the Whole, thespeaker steps down because the House is no longer insession.
•Another member presides over the House at this time.
•When all the work is done in this committee, the House goesback into session.
•Floor Debate now takes place with limits placed on the timeeach member can speak and how many members fromeach party may speak.
The Legislative Branch
•When debate is done, the bill is now voted on.
–The bill may receive many votes, if amendments areintroduced to this bill.
–Each amendment must be voted on and those thatpass are pit into that bill.
–The whole bill is then voted on to see if it passes theHouse.
•After it passes the House, it receives its thirdreading and final reading.
•The Speaker of the House signs the bill that haspassed the House.
The Legislative Branch
The Bill on the Senate Floor
•The Senate is quite different from the House.
•The bill is numbered and read twice and then it isreferred to a committee.
•When the bill is studied and then brought back to thefloor with approval of the majority leader.
•Debate time is unlimited in the Senate.
•As a general matter, a Senator may speak on the flooras long as he or she pleases.
•There is no rule that a person has to speak on themeasure.
The Legislative Branch
•A Senator can speak on any topic they want to
•Senate can with unanimous consent limit thefloor debate time.
•There is a “Two Speech Rule” – No Senatormay speak on a matter more than twice.
The Legislative Branch
•The Filibuster – is an attempt to “talk the bill to death”.
–It is a standing tactic by which minority of Senators seek to delay orprevent the Senate from taking action on this matter.
–Huey Long (D-LA) talked for 15 hours one time – reading from theWashington DC telephone book, giving recipes from his mother, andetc.
–Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) has the record of 24 hours and 18 minutes.Trying to stop the Civil Rights Act from being voted on.
The Legislative Branch
•The Cloture Rule – limiting debate .
–A vote to invoke this rule has to occur.
–60 Senators have to vote to enforce this rule.
The Legislative Branch
House and Senate Conference Committee
•Any bill that becomes law has to pass both houses ofCongress and be signed by the president.
•The bill has to be passed in the same form throughboth houses.
•Any changes by either house will require theConference Committee to look at the bill and comeup with a joint bill that both houses will support.
•Both houses have to pass the new version of the bill.
The Legislative Branch
The President Acts on a Bill
• The President is required by the Constitutionto sign all bills that become law. (Or sortof)
•1) The President may sign the bill into law
•2) The President may VETO (refuse to sign) thebill.
The Legislative Branch
•3) The President may allow a bill to becomelaw if the does nothing to it for 10 days.
•4) The President use a pocket veto – ifCongress adjourns its session within 10days of the
•President receiving the bill, the measure dies.
•Congress can override a president’s veto with2/3 majority vote in both houses.