Bills, Bills, Bills

Bills, Bills, Bills

Bills, Bills, Bills

The course of action Congress takes from introducing to approving a proposed law is a lengthy, complex, and mind-numbing impediment. A bill is introduced in either the House or the Senate unless it concerns raising revenue for the government, and then it must start in the House. Both chambers of Congress have similar procedures though, referring a bill to full committees, then subcommittees, conducting hearings and revisions and scheduling First, a member (or members) of the House signs and sponsors a proposed law and introduces it by depositing the bill into the “hopper” which is a brown, wooden box on the House floor. The House clerk gives the bill a title and serial number and then enters it into the House journal and Congressional Record in a process known as the first reading. Once this occurs, the Speaker of the house specifically assigns the proposed law to one of the several permanent or standing committees to be examined. The committee listens to statements of experts and supporting parties of the bill and many times it is referred to a subcommittee for further study. The committee may revise and release the bill by reporting it back to the entire House, or lay it aside so that cannot be voted on. Before a bill goes to the floor for deliberation it is reported by a standing committee and placed on one of five specific calendars: union, house (public bills), private, consent (no opposition), or a discharge calendar. The Rules Committee may call for quick action on the bill, limit debate, and limit or prohibit amendments. The consideration of the House begins with the second reading of the bill. The third reading, by title only, comes after any amendments have been added. If the bill passes a simple majority of merely one more then half the votes, it is passed on to the Senate.
Once the House has passed a bill, it visits the Senate for further debate and...

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