BILL

How A Bill Becomes Law?

How A Bill Becomes Law?

Laws are a very crucial part of the world today. They protect us and our rights. However, the making of a law is a very long and arduous process. This process is established in the Constitution of the United States. However most come from a member of Congress. Bills may be presented to either House, but must pass, like many things in the Constitution, there are complications and loopholes. The basic structure has two main steps: the bill must pass through both houses of Congress, then through the President. (Jennifer, 2006)

A bill is submitted through several sources, but the general method is to be proposed by a member of the House or Senate. It is then referred to the committee that has the most knowledge about the proposed bill. The committee will consider the bill, and if they so chose to support it, they will present the bill to the House of Representatives. The bill is then debated and voted upon. If they vote in favor of the bill, the bill will go back to the senate for another majority vote. Approval from both Houses is required for the bill to be able to pass on to the President of the United States.

Even after the bill has been passed in every House up until the President, the President still has the power to decline to sign the bill. Refusal of the bill by the President is called veto. If the President votes yes, the bill will finally become a law. However, if the President votes no on the bill, then it will travel back to the Congress to be revised. If the President does nothing with the bill for ten days, then it will automatically become a law. Congress may adjourn before those ten days are up, however, and then the bill dies and will not move on to become a law.

The road a bill takes to becoming a law is a long and tedious process. First, the proposed bill goes through the House of representatives. Once the bill has been approved by the House, it is then begins its journey through the Senate. After the bill has been endorsed by the Senate, the houses of congress then meet in conference committees to prepare the bill to be sent to the White House. To summarize, the path the bill takes to ...