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The Complex Life Of 'Lonely Old Bill'
Thousands of bills are introduced in Congress each year, though relatively few become law. That is in part because the process can be lengthy and far messier than the "lonely old bill" made famous by the "Schoolhouse Rock" jingle. The process is so messy that Otto von Bismarck, a chancellor of Germany in the 1800s, once famously remarked that lawmaking, like sausage making, is not appetizing to watch.
Each Congress is numbered and consists of two annual sessions. Each Congress typically begins and ends in January of odd-numbered years, running from 2003 through 2005, for instance. The current Congress, which is expected to end in January 2005, is the 108th.
Bills must be introduced when the House or Senate is in session, and a bill dies if it is not cleared by lawmakers and signed into law by the president before a Congress ends. For example, several bills aimed at curtailing Internet gambling have been introduced over the last several years but have died in one or both chambers of Congress.
Members introduce legislation for various reasons. Some stem from committee hearings on issues of importance, while others are introduced on behalf of lawmakers' constituents, interest groups, businesses or even the president. "Must do" bills include the 13 annual appropriations bills and measures to reauthorize laws that are set to expire. They often become the target for "riders," provisions not necessarily related to the bills but that are attached as a way to improve their chances of becoming law.
Wranglings Over Referral
Each new bill receives an identifying number, such as H.R. 3 in the House (the "H.R." is short for House of Representatives) or S. 35 in the Senate. Numbers usually are assigned to bills according to the order they were introduced, but lawmakers occasionally reserve symbolic numbers.
The measures are referred to the committee or committees with jurisdiction over the issues addressed in the legislation. The parliamentarians of the House and Senate, who work on behalf of the House Speaker and Senate majority leader, usually determine the assignments. A bill might be referred in whole to just one committee, and parts of a measure that enter the jurisdiction of other committees might be referred to those panels.
A committee chairman also may request the referral of a specific bill to his committee, even after it has gone through other committees. That can be a significant development, as committee chairmen can have competing views on legislation.
For example, in 2001, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., demanded jurisdiction over legislation that would have changed the regulations governing the regional Bell telephone companies, leading to a turf battle with the bill's chief sponsors, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., and ranking Democrat John Dingell of Michigan. Sensenbrenner ultimately won limited jurisdiction, and Judiciary gave the measure an unfavorable recommendation.
Bills can be drafted to ensure that they are referred to specific committees. Early in 2003, for instance, Energy and Commerce Republicans tried to craft legislation combating unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam, in such a way that it would remain in their committee's jurisdiction. As originally planned, the bill would not have subjected the senders of spam to criminal enforcement because doing so would have given Judiciary some jurisdiction over the bill. After months of negotiations, Tauzin, Sensenbrenner and several other lawmakers agreed on compromise legislation that falls into both panels' jurisdictions.
Once a bill is referred to committee, the panel's chairman generally has the authority to decide whether to refer it to a subcommittee. The committee might decide to hold hearings on the legislation if there is some controversy surrounding it. Hearings can be held by a subcommittee or by the full committee, and they are used to provide information on the implications of the legislation and to hear comments from supporters and critics.
In most cases, a chairman has the power to refuse to act on a bill if he or she views it as not important or opposes the legislation.
Let The Legislative Games Begin
After conducting hearings on legislation, committees may choose to "mark up" their bills by voting on proposed amendments and final approval. The markup often is the most crucial stage in the life of a bill, the place where the original language and even intent can disappear under a blizzard of amendments, substitutions and back-room maneuvers.
Members sometimes try to forge consensus on major legislation before a markup, and committees often approve non-controversial legislation by voice vote and without making any changes.
At a markup, a committee chairman or subcommittee chairman may offer a substitute amendment. Sometimes called a "chairman's mark," it is essentially a new version of a bill that incorporates changes incorporated by the chairman in informal negotiations with his colleagues. The substitute also might include changes requested by other members. It does not preclude members from offering other amendments to the bill.
House committees generally begin the markup process in subcommittee and then move the bill to full committee. In the Senate, most action begins at the full-committee level. (A notable exception is with the appropriations bills, which usually go through subcommittee markups. Thirteen subcommittees craft the corresponding 13 bills, each of which provides funding for a piece of the federal budget.)
The full committee must decide whether to approve the bill for debate by the full House or Senate. Bills that are approved typically are accompanied by a committee report that details, among other things, the purpose and scope of the bill, any changes made by the committee and what changes the bill would make to current law. Reports also include dissenting views from lawmakers who opposed the bill in committee.
Committee reports, which can be obtained from the House and Senate document rooms or online, usually provide an easier-to-understand description of a bill's purpose than the bill language itself. The reports need to be completed before a measure is considered on the floor.
The Rules (Or Lack Of Rules) For Debate
After committee action, the majority leadership in each chamber must decide when and if to schedule bills for floor consideration. The procedures differ greatly between the House and Senate, with the House being much more structured.
In the House, the Rules Committee must review most major bills before they move to the floor. The panel approves resolutions that set the rules for debate, including how much time each bill can be debated and what amendments are allowed. The House must adopt each "rule" before lawmakers can begin actual debate on the corresponding bill. Rules often are approved on party-line votes and can become controversial, for example, if the minority party does not believe its members have been given enough time for debate.
The Rules Committee generally proposes three types of rules: open, closed or modified. An open rule allows any amendment that is germane to the substance of the measure to be offered, while a closed rule limits amendments to those offered by the reporting committee or committees. A modified rule usually limits amendments to certain parts of legislation.
Less controversial bills can be considered under "suspension of the rules." That procedure forbids amendments, tightly limits overall debate and requires a two-thirds vote to pass a bill.
The legislative process on the Senate floor is much more informal. Non-controversial bills are often passed by voice vote after Senate leaders ensure that there are no problems with such legislation. That process is important because any one senator can block action in the Senate.
Senate rules require that a bill be held for at least one day after committee action and that committee reports be available for two days before floor action. But both of these rules can be waived -- as can nearly every aspect of the operation of the Senate. The majority party controls the flow of legislation to the floor. But the Senate majority leader must consult the minority leader to ensure that legislation is not blocked.
One parliamentary tool available to opponents of a bill is a "hold" -- a secret request by just one senator to the leadership not to debate a bill. The requests generally are honored. If they are not, the critic of the bill can use the ultimate delaying tactic: the filibuster. The requesting senator can launch a filibuster either on the motion to debate a bill or on the bill itself.
If a senator launches a filibuster, bill supporters often try to reach a compromise so the filibuster will be withdrawn. Or they may file a "cloture motion," a formal request signed by at least 16 senators for a vote to end a filibuster. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, which is why political parties look upon that number, rather than the simple majority of 51 out of 100 seats, as the "magic number" in terms of Senate control.
Once a bill is ready for floor action, the Senate majority leader often will try to gain unanimous consent for debate time on major bills. Otherwise, opponents can pose an endless stream of amendments. Senators can offer almost any amendment, whether germane or not.
Time To Negotiate
Before a bill goes to the president, both chambers must pass it in identical form. That can occur when one chamber passes the language originally passed by the other or when the chambers repeatedly vote on a measure until they find language agreeable to both.
The third and more familiar option for negotiating compromises is called a conference committee. In that case, members from both sides of the aisle in each chamber choose the lawmakers to represent the chamber on the conference committee. The chairman and ranking minority members from the committee or committees with jurisdiction over a bill usually pick the conferees, but leaders of the entire chamber sometimes influence the process on the most important legislation.
When selecting conferees, lawmakers may adopt a non-binding motion to "instruct the conferees" to try to maintain a chamber's position on a certain provision of legislation during negotiations.
Much of the negotiations are conducted secretly. Conferees must meet only once in open session, and that might be only to choose a conference chairman. Once conferees reach agreement, they will vote on the "conference report," which details the decisions made during the conference and describes the final piece of legislation. Once a conference report is filed, both chambers vote it on. The last chamber to pass it "clears" the legislation for the president.
Once a bill reaches the president's desk, the president has three options: sign the bill into law, veto it or do nothing. If the president does nothing during the 10 days after he receives a measure, its fate depends on whether Congress is still in session. If it is, the bill automatically becomes law. If Congress has adjourned, the bill fails to become law -- an action called a "pocket veto."
If a bill is directly vetoed, it takes a two-thirds vote in both chambers to override the veto and make the bill law over the president's objections. (Congress cannot override a pocket veto.) Vetoes are used sparingly, and Congress successfully overrides even fewer vetoes.
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