The primary function of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government, is to pass laws. The Constitution empowers both chambers of Congress, the House and the Senate, to create, modify, repeal, and pass laws, as well as to govern over budgetary measures, such as levying taxes, duties, imports, tariffs, etc. The legislative process follows roughly the same process for any legislative body in the U.S., but for this column, we’ll look at what the process entails for the U.S. Congress. Many, if not all, of these steps in the life cycle of a bill can be found in the New York State Legislature, as well as the Suffolk County Legislature.
Who Can Introduce Legislation?
Any sitting member of Congress can introduce a bill. This includes Representatives and Senators from all fifty states, as well as the delegates from the U.S. Territories. These delegates, hailing from American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, can introduce legislation and sit on committees, but cannot cast actual votes on the floor of the House. The District of Columbia has a delegate who follows the same rules. D.C. and Puerto Rico have shadow Senators and shadow Representatives, who cannot sit on committees and sponsor bills. Their primary objectives are to lobby for statehood for their respective territories.
The Introduction of a Bill
When a bill is introduced in the House, it is placed in the bill hopper, a piece of furniture used as a receptacle for the legislation to be collected by the clerk of the House. A bill cannot be accepted unless it is signed by the primary sponsor. Members who cosponsor the bill on its date of introduction are considered original cosponsors. Members who cosponsor a bill after its introduction are considered additional cosponsors. The bill is then referred to the respective committee(s) for deliberation. After its final committee discharge, the primary sponsor’s name cannot be deleted from the bill. Cosponsors’ can have their names deleted with a unanimous-consent request or with that of the primary sponsor.
In the Senate, however, a sponsor introduces a bill to the Presiding Officer, the Vice President of the U.S. While not required, the formal procedure entails the Senator rise on the floor and verbally introduce the bill with a brief description. The bill must gain recognition of the Presiding Officer during the morning hour of business. Objection to a bill from any Senator postpones the bill until the next day. Unlimited multiple sponsorship of a bill is permitted in the Senate. Some legislation can even be requested, and marked as such, by the President of a member of the Cabinet. The bill is then assigned a number and sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) for copies to be made.
Committee Action
It’s often said that the committee is where bills “go to die.” Here, they receive the most scrutiny and depending on the intent of the legislation or the sponsor(s), the party in power might not even act on it. A committee has no obligation to act on a bill, which is akin to the committee killing the legislation. All committees in a chamber of Congress are governed by the majority party in that chamber. Currently, Republicans control the House and its committees and Democrats control the Senate and all its committees. The member of Congress from the majority party is considered the Chair of his/her respective committee(s), while the member of the minority party is considered the Ranking Member.
Before a bill is considered by a committee, the committee must obtain the input of the relevant government departments and agencies. These are often accompanied by reports from said agencies, discussing the necessity of enacting the legislation in question. The reports are not binding on the committee’s intention to hear or kill a bill. Committee Chairs can refer the bill to subcommittees, also composed of elected members of Congress, for further deliberation. Rules are then set on hearings and agenda.
The committee may then debate the bill, discuss its intent, and hear testimonies from agencies, stakeholders, or affected parties. The full committee votes on the “order to be reported,” which then allows the committee to hold a “mark-up” session, in which the legislation is amended. If a bill receives numerous amendments, the committee can order the introduction of a “clean bill,” in which the original legislation is tossed and the amended legislation receives a new bill number from the clerk and contains the proposed changes. The committee must approve or reject all amendments before a final passage vote.
After a report, the members of the committee can then prepare a written report that explains their support or opposition of the bill. They can also state why they seek their amendments to be adopted. The entire report is then sent back to the entire chamber and is placed on the legislative calendar.
Discharge petitions may be filed to bypass committees and send the bill to the floor.
Differences in House and Senate Floor Rules
The bill is placed on one of the four House calendars. The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader decide what bills reach the floor and when, unless bills have been forced to the floor with a discharge petition.
In the Senate, legislation is placed on the calendar. The Executive Calendar encompasses treaties and nominations. The Senate Majority Leader schedules the legislation. Bills can be brought to the floor with a majority vote of the Senate.
Because the House is so large – 435 voting members – the Rules Committee often sets procedures for deliberation of the bill on the floor. A “closed rule” sets strict time limits on debate and closes the door on further amendments. Members can move for rules to be suspended or utilize the “Calendar Wednesday” procedure, in which each standing committee may bring up for consideration any bill that has been reported to the floor on or before the previous day. The procedure limits debate for each bill to two hours, with supporters and dissenters receiving equal time.
Debate of a bill requires that amendments are relevant to the subject of a bill and no riders are allowed. Riders are considered additional provisions of a bill that may or may not be relevant to its original intent. Riders might be considered “pork barrel” legislation, in which members of Congress attempt to attach “wins” for their home states or districts, regardless of the relevance of the provision to the original legislation.
When a bill is up for passage, a quorum call is conducted to ensure the House has enough members present – 218 – for a final vote. Without a quorum, the House will adjourn or the Sergeant at Arms will attempt to round up any absent members.
Because the Senate has just 100 voting members – two for each state – debate rules are virtually unlimited. Members are entitled to speak for as long as they wish. This rule is often used to “filibuster” legislation, a tactic that seeks to delay or significantly impede passage of a bill. If no other Senator wishes to speak, a Senator may have the floor for as long as he/she chooses.
Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) gave the longest Senate filibuster in history to date. Thurmond spoke for twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He also read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, George Washington’s Farewell Address, and other historical documents to extend the time to wear out the chamber. The Civil Rights Act received a collective fifty-seven days’ worth of filibustering until its passage in June. One such filibustering Senator was Robert Byrd (D-WV), a former KKK klansman who spoke for over fourteen hours. Byrd died in 2010.
New York’s last Republican Senator Al D’Amato delivered the second-longest filibuster in history, at twenty-three hours and thirty minutes to stall debate on a military bill in 1986.
Recently, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) pulled an all-nighter to filibuster the Affordable Care Act in 2013. He spoke for twenty-one hours, famously reading Green Eggs and Ham to stall debate.
Filibusters can only be circumvented with a “cloture” vote, one to end debate. Cloture rules were adopted in 1917 and originally required a two-thirds majority to end a filibuster. In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required to three-fifths.
Senate rules also allow riders and other provisions irrelevant to the legislation at hand.
Becoming Law
The chamber in which the bill originates votes on the bill. If a bill passes with a majority of the quorum, it advances to the other chamber for debate and passage. If a bill passes both chambers, it is sent to the President for signature. The president can then veto a bill outright, sending it back to Congress, who can then override his veto and make the bill law with a two-thirds vote of those present.
If the president does not sign a bill within ten days, it becomes law, as long as Congress is in session. The President can also “pocket veto” a bill, in which he chooses not to act on a legislation before it expires with the legislative calendar.
In 1997, Bill Clinton (D-AR) popularized the “line-item veto,” in which he invoked the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 to cancel certain, individual items in a bill presented to him. The law allowed the President to cancel only three types of fiscal measures: any item of new direct spending, a tax change benefitting a class of one hundred people or fewer, or a dollar amount of discretionary budget authority. While the act was never repealed, the Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that the act was unconstitutional.
If a bill fails to pass either chamber of Congress, the bill dies and must start from the beginning of its life cycle.
