Thread by @Civics4GrownUps

⚡️RT Thread⚡️:

Civics For Grownups: How a bill becomes a law! (refresher course) 1/

People talk about lawmaking like it's the president's job. It's not. Congress owns lawmaking. 2/

Many more bills are drafted than become law. 12,063 bills were considered in the last Congress. 3% (329) became law. 3/

Really a law starts with a sponsoring Congressional Representative or Senator (or group of them) who have an idea. 4/

They will work with their staff, getting feedback from constituents and interest groups, to draft a new law based on their idea. 5/

After they are done drafting the proposed legislation, the bill sponsor will submit it for consideration. 6/

FUN FACT: The wooden box that Reps placed draft legislation into was called The Hopper. (“In the hopper” meaning “in progress”.) 7/

(The term derives from a funnel-shaped storage bin filled from the top and emptied from the bottom, often used to house grain or coal.) 8/

Next stop for a draft bill is submission to applicable committee(s) for consideration.

Committees in the House & Senate are charged with discussing, debating and marking up (amending) proposed laws. 10/

Here is a link to the committees in both houses of Congress. You can see what bills are up for consideration! congress.gov/committee/hous… 11/

You can also search for bills based on their area of focus here: congress.gov/browse/policya… 12/

You may have heard that a bill can “die in committee”. Committee chairs have a lot of power to consider a bill or let it sit w/o review. 13/

(Committee chairs are always in the majority party.) 14/

Many bills proposed by the minority party just sit there b/c the party that holds a majority of seats controls the agenda 15/

If a bill is considered & revised and a majority of committee members vote to move the legislation forward, the bill moves on… 16/

The next step is to debate the bill on the floor of the chamber with all members. 17/

The majority party's leaders decide whether bills come up for a vote 18/

In the House, the Rules Committee and the Speaker make the decision to bring a bill to the floor. 19/

(They can also control the amendments that can be offered and the time for debate.) 20/

And once debate has closed, a full vote is called. If a majority votes “yea”, then the bill passes. 21/

In the Senate, the Majority Leader can decide to bring a bill to the floor--but usually only does so if he knows he has 60 votes. 22/

Senate Rule 22, the "cloture rule" requires 60 votes to close debate. If debate never closes, the full body can’t take a vote. 23/

When the minority party refuses to vote to end debate like this, it’s called a…(all together now)…“filibuster!” 24/

(None of these internal rules, from committees to filibusters, are mentioned in the Constitution. The chambers make their own rules.)

Assuming debate closes and the maj approves the bill, are we done? Nope. Now the bill must be considered in the other chamber of Cong. 25/

Once similar bills have passed both chambers, they need to make sure their language is the same--so they go to a conference committee 26/

Once the conference committee comes up with a single bill, it needs to pass the House and Senate again with no amendments. 27/

Now it's the President's turn & four things can happen (on a 10-day clock): 28/

1) The President signs the bill, at which point it becomes law. (Note--he SIGNS it, not "passes" it. Civics for Grownups Pet Peeve!) 29/

2) The President vetoes the bill, at which point Congress can reconsider and 2/3 of both houses can pass it again over his veto. (rare!) 30/

3) The President does nothing. The 10-day clock runs out when Congress is IN session, and the law passes automatically w/o signature. 31/

4) The President does nothing. The 10-day clock runs out when Congress is OUT of session, and it dies. This is called a “pocket veto”. 32/

Disclaimer: there ARE variations on this process. For example, budget-related bills can follow a process called “reconciliation”. 33/

2 key factors for reconciliation bills: 1) they are not subject to filibuster in the Senate, and 2) only 20 hours of debate allowed. 34/

The Better Care Reconciliation Act is this type of bill – the Senate just needs a simple majority, and there will be minimal debate. 35/

Important to underscore: party control of Congressional chambers has a dramatic impact on what laws get considered and passed. 36/

Control of Congress matters. A lot. 37/

Here is a great visual that can help you visualize the bill writing process: visual.ly/community/info… 38/

And of course – School House Rock!

Any questions? End/