Reference no: EM132291243
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Describe each step in the process by which a bill becomes law-
There are several steps in the process to which a bill becomes a law on the national level. The processes in which a bill becomes a law are very simple, but can be complex and complicated to achieve. Starting out as an idea, the process goes through seven different steps before reaching the President of the United States to be signed into law. The complexity of the process is shown in the fact that less than 10% of bills will ever actually be passed into law (ushistory.org, 2014).
A bill, or legislative proposal, begins as an idea brought by legislators at the state or federal level. Once the idea comes about it is then written out to fully develop into an idea for presentation. Once a bill has been written, it is then proposed by a sponsor, or individual bringing the bill to congress for a vote. Once a bill has a sponsor it is introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. Once a bill has been introduced in congress, it then is passed onto committee. Once the bill gets to committee, members of the House of Representatives who are part of that committee will go over the information in the bill, discuss the information included, make changes, and then vote on whether the bill will be reintroduced on the floor of Congress for debate and vote by the House.
Once a bill makes it past committee, if it does, it is then debated by the Representatives of Congress. During this process all parts of the bill are reviewed by Congress, debated, and any last-minute changes are made before being voted on. A bill is only passed if it receives a majority vote in the House. Once a bill is passed here it makes its way to the U.S. Senate. Bills that reach the Senate will again go through similar infancy steps as it did in the House of Representatives. If the bill makes it back to the Senate for a final vote it is discussed by the Senate, like the process by the House. Once the vote takes place, if majority approve the bill, it is passed onto the President of the United States. (Fremgen, 2009 pg. 30)
Once a bill reaches the President, they will either sign the bill into law, veto it within 10 days, or do nothing with it. If the President chooses to sign the bill it automatically becomes law and will begin to be enforced on the predetermined date, but if the President does not sign it there are two potential outcomes. By refusing to sign a bill it becomes officially vetoed by the President, but that does not necessarily mean it is the end of the bill. If a bill is vetoed by the President it is sent back to the House of Representatives and Senate where if a two-thirds majority vote that it should be law, the bill is automatically passed into law and the Presidential veto is overridden.
While the steps for a bill to be passed into law seem very simple and straightforward, it is typically a complex and time-consuming process in which very few bills ever make it before the President for final determination. For those bills that do become law it can be a culmination of an idea from conception through completion, but for those that do not they will join the other 90 percent of bills that simply die out.