25 Congress: What does legislative procedure look like?
25 Congress: What does legislative procedure look like?
Learning Objectives
- Explain the steps in the classic bill-becomes-law diagram
- Describe the modern legislative processes that alter the classic process in some way
A dry description of the function of congressional leadership and the many committees and subcommittees in Congress may suggest that the drafting and amending of legislation is a finely tuned process refined over time. In reality, however, committees are more likely to kill legislation than to pass it. The last few decades have seen a dramatic transformation in the way Congress does business. Creative interpretations of rules and statues have turned small loopholes into the large gateways through which much congressional work now gets done.
The Classic Legislative Process
The traditional process by which a bill becomes a law is called the classic legislative process. First, legislation must be drafted. Theoretically, anyone can do this. Successful legislation is often drafted by entities outside of Congress, such as think tank or advocacy groups, or the president. However, Congress is not obligated to read or introduce this legislation, and only a bill introduced or sponsored by a member of Congress can hope to become law. Even the president must rely on legislators to introduce his or her legislative agenda.
Technically, bills that raise revenue, like tax bills, must begin in the House. This exception is encoded within the Constitution in Article I, Section 7, which states, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.” Yet, despite the seemingly clear language of the Constitution, Congress has found ways to bypass this rule.
Once legislation has been proposed the majority leadership consults with the parliamentarian about which committee to send it to. Each chamber has a parliamentarian (advisor, typically a trained lawyer), an expert on the complex chamber rules. While Congress typically follows their advice it is not obligated, and the parliamentarian has no power to enforce their rules interpretation. Once a committee has been selected, the committee chair is empowered to move the bill through the committee process as they see fit. The chair can refer the bill to one of the committee’s subcommittees.
Whether at the full committee level or in one of the subcommittees, the next step is to hold a hearing on the bill. If the chair declines a hearing, this is amounts to killing the bill in committee. The hearing provides an opportunity for the committee to hear and evaluate expert opinions on the bill. Experts may include officials from the agency that would be responsible for executing the bill, the bill’s sponsors from Congress, and industry lobbyists, interest groups, and academic or business experts. Typically, the committee will also accept written statements from the public concerning the bill in question. For many bi