What is the procedure for introducing a bill in congress?

Answer 1

Actually, there isn't anything saying that only a congressperson (senator or representative) can draw up the idea for legislation. You can write up a bill and lobby it yourself if you understand how to lobby a bill to your representative.

Here is a link if you want to learn the basics of how to write a bill: http://pmc.princeton.edu/writeabill.php

Answer 2

The respective committee of the congress discusses the bill in the meetings if it is 1st being presented through congress. It may be given to any subcommittee also for further discussion. Approved draft after discussion by the committee may be discussed further at respective party level. The final draft is formally presented to congress by respective committee chairman. If bill was moved and passed through Senate 1st then it may be directly presented to congress for voting.

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Once a bill has been formally introduced, it is referred to a congressional committee for further consideration. There are nineteen permanent standing committees in the House and seventeen in the Senate. Each of these committees has a specific area of legislative jurisdiction, and bills are generally referred to committees accordingly. In many cases, however, bills address topics that fall under the jurisdiction of more than one committee. In others, it is unclear which committee has jurisdiction over a bill. In these cases, party leaders in each house choose which committee or committees will consider the legislation.

A favorable committee assignment can mean the difference between success or failure for a bill. If a bill is assigned to a committee with a chair that supports the legislation, the bill is likely to be scheduled for a timely public hearing, full committee consideration and a vote. A chair who does not support legislation can easily kill a bill by simply failing to put it anywhere near the top of the committee's agenda. (While members of the House or Senate, through different procedures, can bring legislation to the floor over the objections of a committee or its Chair, members are very reluctant to encroach on committee jurisdiction.)

Because committees have crowded agendas and because of scheduling difficulties, many otherwise "good" bills die in committee simply because there is not enough time to deal with them. For this reason, committees are sometimes referred to as the legislative "graveyard."

Most bills that are referred to a committee are also referred to a subcommittee. Most of the bills referred to subcommittees are never referred to the floor for consideration. This reality has earned subcommittees the unflattering title of "legislative graveyard" because this is where most proposed legislation dies. Once a bill has been reviewed, "marked up" (amended), and voted on by a subcommittee, it is returned to the full committee for further consideration. When a committee is ready to take final action on a bill, it votes to either keep the bill in the committee (thereby killing it) or sending it to the floor for further consideration.

Once a bill has been reported out of the committee or committees to which it was assigned, it must be considered by all of the members of the body in which it was introduced - either the House or the Senate.

While the majority and minority party leaders work together in the Senate to determine when bills will come to the floor and under what conditions they will be debated, the House is much more restrictive in establishing its legislative calendar. In many ways, legislative procedure in the House is much more regimented than in the Senate, partly because of the need to have more control over the larger membership in the House and partly because of tradition.

In the House, a Committee on Rules establishes the time and duration of debate on each bill that comes to the floor. In fact, each bill considered by the House comes with a "rule" attached to it, which is created by the Rules Committee. In addition to the timing and extent of the bill's floor consideration, the rule also specifies what, if any, amendments may be made to the bill on the floor. The Rules Committee can attach a closed, open, or modified-closed rule to each bill that comes before it. As the names suggest, a closed rule does not allow for any amendments while an open rule allows any number of amendments. Modified-closed rules, which are used most frequently, allow for only a specific number or, more often, a specific pre-approved list of amendments. There is no Rules Committee and, hence, no rules attached to legislation in the Senate.

In both the House and the Senate, the allotted time for debate on each piece of legislation is divided equally between the two parties. Generally, the sponsor of the bill or the chair of the committee that reported the bill will be the "floor manager" for the legislation, allowing other members to speak in favor of the bill. A member who opposes the bill, usually from the opposing party, will manage the time for those who wish to speak against the bill.

After all allowable amendments have been offered and voted on and the time set aside for debate has expired, the full membership of the House or Senate votes on the legislation. A bill must win the support of a majority of those present to "pass."

In order for a bill to move on in the legislative process, it must be passed in identical form by both the House and the Senate. If the two houses cannot reconcile their differences on a bill, it cannot be considered further and it dies.

Conference CommitteesBecause similar but not identical bills are frequently passed by the House and the Senate, the Congress has established a mechanism for resolving House-Senate differences without starting the process all over again. When similar bills are passed by both houses, they are referred to a special, temporary "Conference Committee," comprised of members of both houses and of both parties. Members on Conference Committees are charged with working out the differences between the two versions of the bill and creating a compromise version which is then sent back to each house for a vote. At this stage in the process, no amendments are allowed. The full membership of the House and Senate must simply choose to accept or reject the Conference Committee's "Report," which details the compromise version of the bill. If the report is accepted, the bill is forwarded to the president. If not, the bill is dead.

The Role of the President

Bills passed in identical form in both houses of Congress are sent to the president to be signed or vetoed. If the president signs the bill, it becomes law. However, if the president vetoes the bill, it is rejected, but the Congress may attempt to override the veto. A veto can be overridden if a two-thirds majority in both houses votes to do so.

The president can use the veto power as a bargaining tool in the legislative process. Because it is difficult to secure two-thirds majorities in favor of legislation in both houses, a presidential veto generally means that a bill is dead - the large majority of bills that are vetoed are not overridden. Consequently, by suggesting what provisions are acceptable in a piece of legislation and which ones are not, the president can influence the content of the bills the Congress sends to the president's desk. Presidents must be careful, however, not to use the veto or the threat of a veto too frequently, because the Congress may refuse to work with a president that attempts to "bully" its members. This is especially true when there is divided party government.

In 1995, the Congress voted to extend the president's veto power by authorizing the use of a "line-item veto" on appropriations bills. Under the conditions established by the Congress, the president could use the line-item veto to lower or remove objectionable spending requests from a bill. The Supreme Court, however, ruled the Congress's attempt to alter the president's constitutionally authorized veto power through legislation (instead of a constitutional amendment) unconstitutional. The President of the United States does not have line item veto authority.

Evaluating the ProcessBy creating a bicameral legislature with a separate executive branch with the ability to veto legislation, the Framers clearly intended to create a system of government in which it was difficult to act and comparatively easy to block action. Their efforts have proven resoundingly successful. The legislative process in just the House or Senate alone is often mind-numbingly slow and complicated. Guiding a bill through two houses is a seemingly impossible task. However, each year, a sizable number of bills, a few of them significant but most of them less-so, are passed by the Congress and signed into law by the president.

The respective committee of the congress discusses the bill in the meetings if it is 1st being presented through congress. It may give be given to any subcommittee also for further discussion. Approved draft after discussion by the committee may be discussed further at respective party level. The final draft is formally presented to congress by respective committee chairman. If bill was moved and passed through Senate 1st then it may be directly presented to congress for voting.

Answer 3

Each year, Senators and Representatives make many thousands of written proposals for new laws. These are called bills. Only a small number of the bills actually make it all the way through the long process of becoming a law.

According to the Constitution, only three steps are needed for a bill to become law:

• A majority of the House of Representatives must vote for it.
• A majority of the Senate must vote for it.
• The President must then sign it.

This is all that the Constitution requires. Actually, the process of making laws is far more complicated. It involves much more than three short steps.

Answer 4

In the House, any member may introduce a bill by dropping it into a box, called a hopper. In the Senate, a member may introduce a bill after being recognized by the presiding officer and announcing the bill’s introduction. (Bills dealing with raising money must originate in the House of Representatives.) The bill is then given a prefix and a number. H.R. 33 would be House Resolution 33 and S.B. 44 would be Senate Bill 44. Once a bill is introduced, it goes to a committee for study. The committee in the Senate or the House basically do the same thing, that is they study the bill, hold hearings on the content of the bill, send it to a subcommittee if they feel it necessary for more study, and then vote on it and report it to the floor of the Senate or House where it is placed on the calendar for action. The House and Senate then debate the bill and vote on whether to pass or reject the bill. Most bills never get out of commitee. Once a bill is passed by either house, it has to be in the exact same language and set up. If a bill passes the Senate but it is not exactly as the one that passes the House, a conference committee is created to work out the final wording of the bill. It then goes back the each house where it is voted on again in its new form. The bill is then sent to the President. The President can sign the bill into law, veto it and return it to Congress with his objections to the bill, or do nothing. If he vetoes the bill, the Congress may override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. It then becomes law without the approval of the President. The President has ten days to sign or veto the bill. If, after ten days, Congress is not in session, the bill does not become law. This is known as a pocket veto.

Answer 5

Any member can introduce a bill by placing it in the hopper. The bill is then assigned a number as long as it is written in proper form.

Answer 6

Members of Congress, usually at the request of the people they represent.