US Government: Types of Bills and Resolutions PDF

Academic Vocabulary amend to change, alter interactive relating to a two-way electronic communication system Content Vocabulary private bill a bill dealing with individual people or places public bill a bill dealing with general matte...

Academic Vocabulary amend to change, alter interactive relating to a two-way electronic communication system Content Vocabulary private bill a bill dealing with individual people or places public bill a bill dealing with general matters and applying to the entire nation joint resolution a resolution passed in the same form by both houses simple resolution a statement adopted to cover matters affecting only one house of Congress concurrent resolution a resolution that covers matters requiring the action of the House and Senate but on which a law is not needed rider a provision included in a bill on a subject other than the one covered in the bill hearing a session at which a committee listens to testimony from people interested in the bill veto rejection of a bill by the president pocket veto when a president kills a bill passed during the last 10 days Congress is in session by simply refusing to act on it Types of Bills and Resolutions Guiding Question What are the different types of congressional bills and resolutions? Thousands of bills are introduced in each session of Congress, but only a few hundred become law. Most bills die in Congress, and the president vetoes other bills. If a bill is not passed before the end of that congressional session (two years), it must be introduced again in the next session to continue the process. It usually takes a long time for a bill to be enacted into law. Laws are complicated, and they can have huge effects. This is one reason why the process involves careful thought and discussion. Congress is sometimes able to act with speed, though. Members of Congress can put aside their differences and act quickly when a crisis occurs, and when public protests grow loud enough. Two types of bills are introduced in Congress: private bills and public bills. Private bills deal with individual people or places. They often involve claims against the government or a person’s immigration problem. Private bills used to make up a large percentage of congressional bills, but recently they have not. In the 112th Congress, fewer than 100 of the almost 7,000 bills introduced were private ones. The vast majority of bills are public bills that involve general matters and apply to the entire nation. They often cause disagreements because it is hard to make policies that affect many people. Public bills might deal with tax cuts, national health insurance, gun control, civil rights, or abortion. The media, or organizations that provide news, reports about major bills, and those bills may be debated for months before becoming law. Major public bills like these represent a large amount of all bills passed. Resolutions In addition to passing laws, Congress can also pass resolutions, or formal decisions by a legislature, to make policy on an uncommon or short-term matter. Resolutions can express congressional opinion on Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education a foreign policy issue, or set aside a time to honor some group effort. There are three kinds of resolutions: joint, simple, and concurrent. A joint resolution is a resolution passed in the same form by both houses. When the president signs a joint resolution, it has the force of law. In that way it is very similar to a bill. Congress often uses a joint resolution to correct an error in an earlier law or to get money for a special purpose. Congress also uses a joint resolution to propose a constitutional amendment, but this does not need the president’s signature. A simple resolution deals with matters affecting only one house of Congress, and that house alone passes the resolution. For example, if a new rule or procedure is needed, it is adopted in the form of a  resolution. It does not have the force of law and is not sent to the president for signature, because it is a matter that affects only the house that passed it. Concurrent resolutions deal with matters that require the action of the House and Senate but do not require a law. For example, a concurrent resolution might set the date for Congress to adjourn or express Congress’s opinion on an issue. Both houses of Congress must pass concurrent resolutions, but they do not require the president’s signature, and they do not have the force of law. Riders Bills and resolutions usually deal with only one subject. However, sometimes a rider is attached to a bill. A rider is a provision on a subject different from the one covered in the bill. Lawmakers attach riders to bills that are likely to pass. Presidents sometimes veto or threaten to veto bills because they oppose a rider. Lawmakers sometimes attach many riders to a bill for many different constituents. For example, in 2004 members of Congress added riders to an appropriations bill to block a commission’s ruling that put limits on big media companies. Another rider blocked a Labor Department ruling that put limits on some workers’ overtime pay. Tracking Bills and Resolutions on the Internet Citizens can use several free sources to learn about all legislation Congress is considering. These sources are nonpartisan and funded by the government. One source is congress.gov, a website that allows people to search by either the bill number or a subject keyword. People can see the full text or all versions of House and Senate bills. Another section of the website shows the full text of the Congressional Record, committee reports, and summaries of bills. It also includes updates on what is happening to a bill as it moves through the legislative process. People can also search the history of bills. The website includes brief videos that explain the legislative process. For example, the videos explain introducing a bill, holding committee hearings and floor debates, and presidential actions. Congress.gov is meant to open the lawmaking process to citizens. Then citizens can give their opinions and balance, or make equal to, the power of lobbyists and other special interests. Senator Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, complimented the new service when it was launched in 2012 for allowing people at all levels to follow what is going on in Congress and to contact their representatives. There are also private websites that provide information on Congress. The Congressional Quarterly (CQ) is a private company that publishes books, magazines, and newsletters about Congress. It has a large staff of reporters and researchers who supply the information for the many things it publishes. Roll Call is a newspaper that many members of Congress and their staffs read. It provides news and opinions on whatever is happening in Congress. However, there is a fee for using its website. Researching Explore one of the websites that covers the U.S. Congress. Take notes about how it is organized, how easy or difficult it is to navigate, and how clearly concepts are explained. Then choose one piece of legislation that was introduced in this session of Congress. It could be from the House or the Senate. Record the title and bill number and the date it was first introduced. Then try to summarize what the bill is about. (Do not worry if you have difficulty summarizing it now.) You will follow this bill throughout this lesson. Introducing a Bill Guiding Question How do bills make their way through committees? The Constitution describes only a few of the many steps a bill must go through to become law. The other steps have developed as Congress has grown and the number of bills has increased. How Bills Are Introduced The first step in the process is to write a bill. Ideas for bills come from citizens, from lobbyists or representatives of  other groups, or from the executive branch. The executive branch proposes about half of all bills passed. Bills may be written by legislators, their staffs, lawyers for a Senate or House committee, or a representative from an interest group. However, only a member of Congress can Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education introduce a bill. Lawmakers who sponsor a major bill usually find cosponsors to show that the bill has wide support. To introduce a bill in the House, a member drops the bill into the hopper, a box near the clerk’s desk. To introduce a bill in the Senate, the presiding officer must first call on the senator, who then formally presents the bill. As soon as a bill is introduced, it is given a title and number. The first bill in a Senate session is S.1, and the first bill in the House is H.R.1. The bill is then printed and copies are given to lawmakers. These steps make up the first reading of the bill. Committee Action In both houses of Congress, bills are sent to the committees that deal with the subject. Sometimes, complex issues are divided between several committees that each have jurisdiction over some part of the bill. Committee chairs may then send a bill to a subcommittee. If a committee wants to reject a bill, it can ignore the bill and let it die, or the committee can stop the bill by a majority vote. A committee can completely rewrite a bill, amend it, or recommend that it be adopted as it is. Then the committee sends the bill back to the House or Senate for action. Committee members and staff are usually experts in their areas. If they reject a bill, other lawmakers will usually agree with them. Time is also important. Lawmakers have heavy workloads and must depend on the judgment of their fellow lawmakers. Committee Hearings When a committee decides to act on a bill, it holds hearings. During a hearing, the committee listens to testimony from experts on the bill’s subject, including government officials and interest groups concerned with the bill. Hearings allow a committee to gather information, but most information usually comes from their staff research. Hearings can be very important. Skillful committee chairs can use hearings to influence public opinion for or against a bill or to test whether people will accept it. Hearings can also direct public attention to a problem or give interest groups a chance to present their point of view. Finally, hearings are often the best time for outside groups to influence the bill. Citizens can write letters, make phone calls, or send e-mails to express their opinions. To improve the legislation process, many congressional committees have begun using the Internet to inform people about hearings on a bill. The Internet has been used for the following: interactive hearings that use a two-way communications system and feature expert witnesses from outside Washington, D.C. broadcast hearings, which give citizens the chance to e-mail questions to committee members report on a bill’s contents or its status on their websites make information available in a second language, such as Spanish Markup Session The committee meets in a markup session after the hearings are over. Committee members decide what changes, if any, to make to the bill. They look at the bill section by section and mark any changes they think the bill needs. A majority vote of the committee is required for all changes made to the bill. Reporting a Bill When all the changes have been made, the committee votes either to kill the bill or to report it. To report the bill means to send it to the full House or Senate for action. The committee will also send to the House or Senate a written report prepared by the committee staff. This report is important. It explains the committee’s actions, describes the bill, lists the major changes the committee has made, and gives opinions on the bill. The report is often the only document available to lawmakers or their staffs as they decide how to vote on a bill. The committee report may recommend passing a bill, or it may report that they do not support it. Why would a committee report a bill but not recommend passage? This happens very rarely. A  committee may believe the full House should be able to consider a bill even though the committee does not support it. Summarizing What steps must lawmakers take to introduce a bill? Exploring the Essential Question Summarizing Continue your report about the bill you are monitoring. Where is it now? Was it assigned to a committee? Was there a hearing? A mark-up? Has it made it to a floor vote? Or does it appear your bill has been stalled, “pigeonholed,” or “killed” since it was first introduced? Check news sources to find out if the media has covered it. If so, what do they say about it? If passed, what impact might the bill have on you or your community? Summarize what you have learned about the bill and the process of becoming a law. Floor Action Guiding Question What is the process for debating, amending, and voting on bills on the floor? The next important step in the lawmaking process is the debate on the floor of the House and Senate. Voting on the bill follows the debate. As you may recall, both houses have special procedures to schedule bills for debates and votes that involve the whole House or Senate, which is known as floor action. Debating and Amending Bills Usually, only a few lawmakers join in the floor debates. Committee members in the hearings have already argued the pros and cons of the bill, and those issues are already well known. However, the floor debate is the time when lawmakers can add amendments to a bill unless the House has adopted Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education a closed rule, meaning no amendments can be adopted. The bill receives its second reading during the floor debate. A clerk reads the bill section by section. After each section is read, amendments may be offered. Any lawmaker can propose an amendment during the floor debate. Amendments can do many different things, such as make major changes to a bill or correct printing errors in it. Opponents of a bill sometimes propose amendments to slow down its movement through Congress or to kill it. For example, opponents may want a bill to die, so they will add many amendments that people will disagree with. In both the House and the Senate, it takes a majority vote of members present to amend a bill. Voting on Bills After the floor debate, the bill, including any proposed changes, is ready for a vote. A quorum, or a majority, of the members must be present. The House or Senate now receives the third reading of the bill, and the vote is then taken. Passage of a bill requires a majority vote of all members present. House and Senate members can vote on a bill in one of three ways:  a voice vote: together members call out “Aye” or “No”; a standing vote, or division vote: the “Ayes” stand to be counted, and then the “Nos” stand to be counted; a roll-call vote: each member says “Aye” or “No” as names are called in alphabetical order. The House uses a fourth method, or way of doing something, the recorded vote, where votes are recorded electronically and shown on screens. This method saves the House the many hours it would take to hold a roll-call vote of all 435 members. Reading Progress Check Explaining What is floor action? Why is it important to the process of voting on a bill? Final Steps in Passing Bills Guiding Question What are the final steps for a bill to become a law? To become law, a bill must pass both houses of Congress in identical form. This means they must be exactly the same. A bill passed in the House of Representatives is often different at first from a Senate’s bill on the same subject. Conference Committee Action If one house will not accept the version passed by the other house, a conference committee must settle the differences the two chambers have. Members of the conference committee are called conferees or managers. They usually come from the House and Senate committee members that handled the bill in the beginning. The conferees work out the differences by compromising. This is supposed to happen only on the parts of the bill where the two houses disagree. Sometimes the conference committee will make changes that neither chamber has considered before. Finally, a majority of the conferees from each house drafts the final bill, called a conference report. Once accepted, it can be sent to each house of Congress for final action. Presidential Action on Bills Article I of the Constitution says that every bill that the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed must be sent to the president before it can become a law. After both houses have approved an identical bill, it is sent to the president. If he or she signs the bill, it becomes law. The president can also 7 keep the bill for 10 days without signing it. If Congress is in session, the bill then becomes law without the president’s signature. Presidents usually sign the bills that are sent to them. The president can also reject a bill by using the veto. If a president vetoes a bill, it returns to the house where it began, along with an explanation of why the president vetoed it. The president can also kill a bill using the pocket veto. This means that the president refuses to act on a bill passed during the last 10 days of the session. When the president does not send the bill back before the session ends, the bill is killed for that session. Congressional Override of a Veto Congress can override a president’s veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses. If this happens, the bill becomes law. It is usually difficult to get two-thirds of the members in both houses to vote against the president. For this reason, Congress rarely overrides presidential vetoes. Registering Laws After a bill becomes law, it is registered with the National Archives and Records Service. The law is given a number that shows the Congress that passed it and the number of the law for that term. For example, Public Law 194 under the 112th Congress is registered as PL112-194. It was the 194th bill passed by the 112th Congress. The law is then added to the U.S. Code of current federal laws. Why So Few Bills Become Law Fewer than 10 percent of all bills introduced in Congress become public laws. Why is this true? One reason is that creating law is a long and complicated process that may include up to 100 steps. There are many points where a bill can be held up, killed, or amended. Opponents of a bill have many ways to defeat it. Second, because there are so many steps, a bill’s sponsors must be willing to compromise with others. Compromise is the only way to get enough support to move a bill from one step to the next. Major bills have little chance of passing without strong support. Bills opposed by powerful interest groups are not likely to pass. There is another reason that so few bills pass. Some members introduce bills to show their position even if they do not believe the bill will pass. A member might introduce a bill to show support for a policy, to attract attention to an issue, or to please an important group of voters. At reelection time, legislators can say they have taken action, and they can blame others in Congress if the bill did not pass. Finally, many bills are very complicated because they are meant to deal with complicated problems. It can be very hard for even the strongest leaders to convince a majority of senators and representatives to agree with every word of a bill that is hundreds of pages long. Reading Progress Check Questioning Why is it so difficult for a bill to become a law?