How Laws are Made
How a Bill Becomes Law
The House of Representatives’ most important job is to make laws. Laws keep people safe, our water clean, and even make sure all children go to school. But where do laws come from?
Laws begin as bills in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Bills get their start as ideas from people like you. People with ideas for laws call their Representative in Congress. If he agrees that the idea would be a good law, he and his staff will write the idea into a bill.
In the House of Representatives, once the bill is written, it can be placed in the hopper to introduce it to the Representatives. The hopper is a special box attached to the side of the Clerk’s desk. Now the bill will be sent to committee for further research and discussion.
When a bill reaches committee, it is discussed by the Members of the committee. Many things can happen to a bill while here. The committee may decide the bill is ready to be a law and send it to the House floor to be debated and voted on. The bill could be sent to a subcommittee, where it would be researched and debated. Or, if the committee does not think the bill would make a good law, they could decide it should not go to the House for a vote.
If the bill makes it through committee and to the House for a vote, Representatives are given an opportunity to give speeches about why they support or oppose the bill. Once that has happened, the bill is put to a vote. If a majority of the House of Representatives supports the bill, it is sent to the Senate.
The Senate will also send the bill to committee. If the committee agrees on the bill, it will be brought before all of the members of the Senate for a vote. If the Senate agrees that the bill should become a law, it is sent to the president for his signature.
A bill needs to be approved by the president before it can become a law. If the president does not approve the bill it is called a veto. If the president vetoes a bill, it is sent back to Congress for further consideration. Congress can override the veto if it is passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate with two-thirds of the Members supporting the bill.