How does a bill become a law?
In the United States Congress, a bill becomes a law by passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate in identical form, and then either being signed by the president or allowed to become law without a signature, or by Congress overriding a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber.
Last reviewed . Not yet independently reviewed.
Core tenets
- Introduction
- A bill is introduced by a member of the House or Senate and assigned to a committee with jurisdiction over its subject matter.
- Committee action
- The committee, and often a subcommittee, reviews, amends, and votes on whether to advance the bill, a stage at which most introduced bills are never brought to a floor vote at all.
- Floor votes in both chambers
- The bill must pass a majority vote on the floor of both the House and the Senate, in identical text, before it can proceed further.
- Presidential action
- The president may sign the bill into law, allow it to become law without a signature after ten days if Congress remains in session, or veto it and return it to Congress.
How it works in practice
Most bills introduced in a given Congress never reach a floor vote, dying instead in committee or failing to receive priority from chamber leadership.
- Markup
- Committees hold a markup session, debating and voting on amendments to the bill's text before deciding whether to advance it.
- Conference committee
- If the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, a conference committee reconciles the differences into a single text before final passage votes.
Common variants
- Public bill
- A bill of general applicability, becoming public law if enacted.
- Private bill
- A bill addressing a specific individual or entity's situation, rather than general public policy.
What it is often confused with
The bill process is often assumed to be a straightforward linear path, but in practice, most bills fail at the committee stage or through inaction by leadership, never reaching a vote at all.
Criticisms and debates
Debate over the legislative process centers on whether its many stages appropriately balance deliberation against the ability to actually pass needed legislation.
Deliberation defense
Argues that the multiple stages, committee review, floor debate, conference reconciliation, allow for careful scrutiny and negotiation that produces better-considered legislation.
Response: Critics argue that the same multiple stages create numerous choke points where a small number of members or committee chairs can block legislation with broad support from ever reaching a vote.
Gridlock critique
Contends that the process's many veto points make it difficult to pass legislation even when a clear majority of both chambers and the public support it.
Response: Defenders respond that this difficulty is by design, intended to require broad, durable consensus before enacting binding national law, rather than reflecting a flaw in the process.
Historical examples
- Affordable Care Act, 2010
- Passed through an unusually complex path involving both regular order and budget reconciliation procedures, illustrating how the standard process can be combined with other mechanisms.
Sources
- 1.Article I, United States Constitution.
- 2.Congressional Research Service. How Our Laws Are Made.
- 3.Encyclopaedia Britannica. Legislation.