Public interest groups also employ lobbyists to present their case to Congress on issues of interest to them. A number of these groups publish annual "report cards" on Member activities. A law of general applicability to the country. Most measures enacted by Congress become public laws and are cited as P.
A majority of either Chamber. In the Senate, a quorum is always a majority of the Senate, or 51 Members. A motion on the floor of the House to send the bill back to the committee that reported it or to another committee. Legislation revising program authorizations to achieve savings based on instructions in the congressional budget resolution.
The budget resolution instructions to the authorizing committees are not mandatory; the committees can, and often do, report other changes that will bring them within the overall budget ceilings. Reconciliation bills are the omnibus consolidation by the Budget Committee of all committees' savings and off-setting revenue raising proposals into one or more bills that then proceed through the legislative process.
A vote upon which each members stand is individually made known. Since January , the House has used an electronic voting system for recorded votes, including yea-and -nay votes formerly taken by roll calls.
When not required by the Constitution, a recorded vote can be obtained on question in the House on the demand of one-fifth 44 Members of a quorum, or one-fourth 25 members of a quorum in the Committee of the Whole. A bill usually is assigned, or referred, to the one committee that has jurisdiction over the subject involved. However, major bills, or bills consisting of several topics, may be assigned to more than one committee.
Senate rules permit, although it infrequently uses, multiple referrals—referral to more than one committee. These can be:. Joint referral : referral to more than one committee at the same time. Sequential referral : referral first to one committee, then to a second when the first completes its work on the measure, and so on. Split referral : referral of various parts of a bill to different committees at the same time.
The House also uses multiple referrals sequential and split referrals , although the th Congress abolished joint referrals. The th Congress changed House rules to permit the Speaker to designate a committee of primary jurisdiction , that is, a committee with primary responsibility for a measure, and expand the Speaker's authority to appoint ad hoc committees to consider a single piece of legislation.
These changes were designed to increase the Speaker's power by making the committees more accountable to him and the majority party program. In the Senate, an amendment that is unrelated not germane to the bill.
Acceptable in the Senate, riders are subject to a point of order in the House and as such usually are not permitted.
A vote where Members' names are called individually. Used in the Senate to buy time for last-minute negotiations, the roll is called or read through name by name up to three times by the clerk. A good clerk can speed up or delay the roll call by how fast or slow he or she reads the names. Due to its size, the House rarely uses roll call votes, instead relying on votes by electronic device.
Rules are the published parliamentary procedures under which both the House and the Senate operate. Nevertheless, there are rules and then there are rules. Both Chambers approve rules of procedure at the beginning of each Congress. They can be found in the Congressional Record for the date its rules are approved by a Chamber and are available in LexisNexis Congressional.
There is also the House-only procedure of approving a simple resolution or H. A summary of the contents of a bill organized by its sections. Often prepared by the bill's sponsor or in the case of a reported bill by committee staff, a section-by-section analysis is a good source of information on legislative intent.
A section-by-section analysis sometimes can be found in introductory statements in the hearing on the bill, the committee report on the bill, or in debate about the measure. Latin, meaning without a day Signals the completion of all legislative business and final adjournment. Congress adjourns sine die before an election. The first official print of the law. A slip law is printed by the GPO in pamphlet form for speedy distribution. It may contain margin notes prepared by employees of the House and Senate indicating where provisions of the new law will appear or where the law in the U.
Code is being amended by the slip law. A committee of limited duration and breadth, usually designed to investigate or oversee one particular aspect of public policy. Legislation is not referred to these committees, nor do they produce legislative proposals.
However, they hold hearings and frequently issue informative staff studies. Floor speeches by Members on topics unrelated to legislative business at hand.
In the House, time is set aside for special order speeches after legislative business is concluded for the day. A Member must reserve time with the leadership in order to be recognized for purposes of speaking. In the Senate, special orders speeches may be scheduled during morning business. The principal Senator or Representative introducing a measure. The sponsor's name is listed before any other names on the bill print and in the daily list of measures introduced that appears in the Congressional Record.
The explanatory non-bill text portion of a conference report. It usually contains a discussion of the House and Senate passed versions of the bill and the conference agreement. This discussion is a good starting-point for research into the legislative history of a particular provision of a law.
The official compilation of public and private laws printed by the Government Printing Office. The Statutes at Large is printed annually and the laws within it are arranged by order of passage. Statements and supporting material may be submitted for the hearing record by Members of Congress, witnesses, or other interested parties. Submitted materials may be included along with the hearing transcript in the published hearing or may be referenced in the published hearing, but retained in committee files.
An amendment that completely replaces language in a bill with different language. Substitute amendments can be offered in subcommittee, committee, or on the floor. If accepted, the substitute "kills" the replaced text.
A form of substitute amendment occurs when a motion is made to "strike all after the enacting clause" of a bill passed by the other Chamber "and insert in lieu thereof" the text of its own, already-approved legislation. The result of this is two versions of a bill under one bill number,and is the first step toward a conference to resolve the differences between the two versions. Notices of meetings published under the Government in the Sunshine Act P.
Employed at the Speaker's discretion and used generally only for minor or non-controversial measures, it has on occasion been used for complex or controversial bills. In the actual motion "I move to suspend the rules and pass H. In effect, it asks that the House rules concerning consideration of this bill be relaxed. Debate under the suspension procedure is limited to 40 minutes, evenly divided between proponents and opponents. No amendments from the floor are allowed, although amendments to the bill can be included in the motion to suspend the rules "I move to suspend the rules A two-thirds majority of those present and voting under this procedure is necessary for the bill to pass.
If the suspension motion fails, the bill is returned to the calendar and is available for later consideration under regular House procedures.
If either Chamber fails to garner enough votes to override a veto, it has sustained the veto, and the bill does not become law. House rules require a conference report to "lay over" three days that is, be available for study by House Members for three days before it can be voted on. However, this rule can be overridden by unanimous consent in the House and often is, particularly when Congress is rushing to finish its work and adjourn.
An official transcript of a legislative hearing contains not only the oral transcript of every member of the Committee and witness statements during the hearing, but also witnesses' prepared statements and any material submitted by witnesses or other interested parties "for the hearing record".
Such material can be a good source of information about the issue or the problem the measure addresses.
The transcript of an oversight hearing contains witness testimony and statements, as well as staff studies or other material describing the agency or program being studied. The transcript of an investigative hearing is similar to that of a court proceeding in that witnesses are sworn in and the proceeding is more adversarial than it is in oversight or legislative hearings.
The Constitution gives power in the treaty-making process to both the President and the Senate. As chief executive, the President negotiates with foreign governments on treaties and other international agreements. A treaty is not effective until the two-thirds of the Senate gives its consent for the President to sign, or "ratify", the treaty. The Senate's consent may include amendments or interpretations about how the treaty should be implemented.
These changes or reservations may result in further negotiation with the foreign government. The House has no power in the actual ratification process. The House can be involved in the implementation of a treaty should there be a need for an amendment to current U. Documents that are produced in the ratification process include Treaty Documents and Executive Reports.
The first step in Senate floor debate on a bill. The leadership negotiates an agreement establishing ground rules for debate of a measure in the Senate and then makes a motion requesting unanimous consent that the agreement be accepted.
It only takes a single Senator objecting to the motion to kill the agreement and halt further action on the bill. Any request made in this form "I ask unanimous consent that…" can be defeated by a single Member objecting to the request.
Prior to , some noncontroversial bills in the House were placed on the Consent Calendar since abolished and could be considered and quickly passed using this procedure.
Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution grants the President authority to disapprove legislation passed by Congress. Committee Action - The bill is referred to the appropriate committee by the Speaker of the House or the presiding officer in the Senate. Most often, the actual referral decision is made by the House or Senate parliamentarian. Bills may be referred to more than one committee and it may be split so that parts are sent to different committees.
The Speaker of the House may set time limits on committees. Bills are placed on the calendar of the committee to which they have been assigned. Failure to act on a bill is equivalent to killing it. Bills in the House can only be released from committee without a proper committee vote by a discharge petition signed by a majority of the House membership members.
House: Bills are placed on one of four House Calendars. The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader decide what will reach the floor and when. Legislation can also be brought to the floor by a discharge petition. Senate: Legislation is placed on the Legislative Calendar. There is also an Executive calendar to deal with treaties and nominations.
Scheduling of legislation is the job of the Majority Leader. Bills can be brought to the floor whenever a majority of the Senate chooses. House: Debate is limited by the rules formulated in the Rules Committee. The Committee of the Whole debates and amends the bill but cannot technically pass it.
Debate is guided by the Sponsoring Committee and time is divided equally between proponents and opponents. The Committee decides how much time to allot to each person. Amendments must be germane to the subject of a bill - no riders are allowed.
The bill is reported back to the House to itself and is voted on. A quorum call is a vote to make sure that there are enough members present to have a final vote. If there is not a quorum, the House will adjourn or will send the Sergeant at Arms out to round up missing members. Senate: debate is unlimited unless cloture is invoked.
Members can speak as long as they want and amendments need not be germane - riders are often offered. Entire bills can therefore be offered as amendments to other bills. Unless cloture is invoked, Senators can use a filibuster to defeat a measure by "talking it to death.
The Bill Becomes A Law Once a bill is signed by the President or his veto is overridden by both houses it becomes a law and is assigned an official number. The Union Calendar - A list of all bills that address money and may be considered by the House of Representatives. Senate and the U. House of Representatives. Anyone elected to either body can propose a new law. A bill is a proposal for a new law. A bill can be introduced in either chamber of Congress by a senator or representative who sponsors it.
Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill.
If the bill passes one body of Congress, it goes to the other body to go through a similar process of research, discussion, changes, and voting. Once both bodies vote to accept a bill, they must work out any differences between the two versions. Then both chambers vote on the same exact bill and, if it passes, they present it to the president. The president then considers the bill. The president can approve the bill and sign it into law or not approve veto a bill.
If the president chooses to veto a bill , in most cases Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law. But, if the president pocket vetoes a bill after Congress has adjourned, the veto cannot be overridden. The Senate and the House have some procedural differences between them. How a bill becomes law when it originates in the House of Representatives. How a bill becomes law when it originates in the Senate.
Active legislation in the Senate. Congress creates and passes bills. At-large elections can be held at the legislative and presidential levels. In the United State of America, some states hold at-large elections for congressional seats, when, for instance, a state's entire population warrants only one representative.
AUTHOR: The person usually a legislator who presents a bill or resolution for consideration; may be joined by others, who are known as coauthors.
See also: introducer, patron, sponsor. BILL: Draft of a proposed law presented to the legislature for consideration. BUDGET: 1 The suggested allocation of state moneys presented to the legislature for consideration; 2 a formal document that reflects the authorized expenditures of the state. CAUCUS: An informal meeting of a group of the members; most commonly based on political party affiliation, but may have other bases, such as gender, race, geographic location or specific issue.
CENSURE: An action by a legislative body to officially reprimand an elected official for inappropriate or illegal actions committed by that official while in office. The act of censuring is an official condemnation for inappropriate or illegal actions committed by a public official while holding a position of trust.
Also may be titled "chief clerk" or "principal clerk. CODE: A compilation of laws and their revisions according to subject matter usually arranged by title, chapter and section ; the official publication of the statutes.
COMMITTEE: A body of members appointed by the presiding officer or another authority specified by the chamber to consider and make recommendations concerning disposition of bills, resolutions and other related matters. CONVENE: When the members of a chamber gather for the meeting of the legislature daily, weekly and at the beginning of a session as provide by the constitution or law.
Only permitted in certain states. EFFECTIVE DATE: A law generally becomes effective, or binding, either upon a date specified in the law itself or, in the absence of such a date, a fixed number of days depending on the state after the final adjournment of the session during which it was enacted or on signature by the governor.
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