How a Bill Becomes Law

Only a member of Congress can introduce a bill, though the idea may come from the President, an agency, a lobbyist, or a constituent. In the House a member drops it in the hopper, a wooden box at the clerk's desk. In the Senate a senator introduces it from the floor or files it with the clerk. Each bill gets a number, H.R. or S. followed by digits, and is referred to the committee or committees whose jurisdiction it touches. Revenue bills must start in the House. Between ten and fifteen thousand bills are introduced in a typical two-year Congress.

Committees are where most bills end. A committee may hold hearings, then a markup session where members debate and amend the text line by line and vote to report it to the full chamber, usually with a written report explaining it. Most bills never get that far. In the House a reported bill typically reaches the floor through a special rule from the Rules Committee setting the terms of debate, or under suspension of the rules, which allows quick passage of noncontroversial bills by a two-thirds vote. In the Senate a bill reaches the floor by unanimous consent or a motion to proceed, which can be filibustered and may need sixty votes to overcome.

Both chambers must pass the identical text. When their versions differ, the chambers either trade amendments back and forth, a process called ping-pong, or appoint a conference committee to negotiate a compromise that each chamber then approves without amendment. The final text is enrolled, signed by the Speaker and the president pro tempore, and presented to the President, who has ten days, excluding Sundays, to sign it or veto it. A bill not signed within ten days becomes law anyway if Congress is in session, or dies by pocket veto if Congress has adjourned.

The textbook path describes fewer and fewer major laws. Leaders increasingly write big bills themselves, skip committee markups, and bundle many measures into omnibus packages passed under deadline pressure. Only a few percent of introduced bills become law, and the number of laws enacted per Congress has fallen sharply, from more than 600 in some Congresses of the 1980s to fewer than 300 in the 118th. Supporters of the old process argue committees produce better laws. Others say the change reflects polarized parties that can rarely agree on anything except must-pass deadlines.