Summary
Prepared by Valerie Heitshusen (Information as of July 11, 2024. Prepared by Valerie Heitshusen, Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process, Jennifer E. Manning,
Senior Research Librarian, and Jamie Bush, Visual Information Specialist.
For more information, see CRS Report R42843 and the CRS Legislative and Budget Process page at https://www.crs.gov/iap/legislative-and-budget-process.
More resources, including videos, are available to the public on Congress.gov at
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Learn+About+the+Legislative+Process.
Stages of the
Legislative Process
Members of the U.S. House or Senate may introduce bills in their respective chamber. Upon introduction, a bill is normally
referred to the committee with jurisdiction over its subject. Especially in the House, a bill may be referred to several
committees. In the Senate, a bill is sometimes placed directly on the Calendar, a list of bills available for floor consideration.
FROM BILL LAW
U.S. HOUSE U.S. SENATE
Bill
Introduced
Senate Debate
Vote on Passage
Bill
Introduced
Referred to Senate
Committee
Reported by
Committee
Scheduling Action/
Unanimous Consent
Negotiations
Referred to House
Committee(s)
Reported by
Committee
House Debate
Vote on Passage
Scheduling Action/
Rules Committee
A bill approved in identical form by the House and Senate is presented to the President.
AND
President signs
bill, and it
becomes law
President does not sign within 10 days, and
bill becomes law only if Congress is in session.
President vetoes bill, and bill becomes law only
if both chambers, by two-thirds vote, override.
OR
The House and Senate
shuttle the bill back and
forth, each proposing
alternatives until they
reach agreement.
Each chamber appoints members
(primarily from the reporting committees)
to a conference committee, which
negotiates a compromise agreement
(a conference report).
One chamber agrees
to the other chamber's
bill without changes.
If a committee chooses to act on a subject, it may -first hold hearings to obtain the views of
officials, experts, and interested groups. The committee may hold a markup to consider one
of the bills referred to it or a new proposal on the subject. (The committee may -first refer bills
to a subcommittee to conduct hearings, markup, or both.) At the conclusion of markup, the
committee may vote to report a bill and any recommended amendments to the chamber.
Most referred bills, however, never receive committee action.
The majority party leadership in each chamber develops a schedule to consider bills, but the
process for taking up legislation between the House and Senate.
In the House, major bills are usually
brought up and considered under a special
rule, proposed to the House by the Rules
Committee, which sets tailored terms for
debate and amendment; it can also propose
alterations to the bill's text. Most other bills
are considered under suspension of the rules
procedures that limit debate (and allow only
committee-proposed amendments), but
which require a two-thirds vote for approval.
In the Senate, bills are taken up by
unanimous consent or by adopting a motion to
proceed. The leadership often seeks a
unanimous consent agreement to limit debate
and amendments. Without this agreement,
the Senate can limit debate and amendments
only if three--fifths of Senators (usually 60) vote
to invoke cloture. Otherwise, Senators may
attempt to prevent a vote by extending
debate and other delaying tactics.
A bill passed by one chamber is transmitted to the other. The second chamber may refer the
bill received from the -first chamber to a committee or may consider it on the floor directly.
The second chamber may amend the bill (sometimes with text reflecting its own bill). If one
chamber amends a bill received from the other chamber, the bill cannot go to the President
unless both chambers agree on the same text in the same bill. There are three paths to reach
bicameral agreement:
House approves
conference report
Senate approves
conference report
AGREEMENT
OR
H.R. S. Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process, 7-8635), Jennifer E. Manning (Senior Research
Librarian, 7-7565), and Jamie Hutchinson (Visual Information Specialist, 7-5473)
For more information, see CRS Report R42843 and the CRS Congressional Operations webpage at http://www.crs.gov/cli/congops/Index.
More resources, including videos, are available to the public on Congress.gov at
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Learn+About+the+Legislative+Process.