Legislative Branch Essay

Then, a reading clerk reads the bill section by section and the Representatives recommend changes. When all changes have been made, the bill is ready to be voted on.There are three methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives: Viva Voce, Division, and Recorded. If a majority of the Representatives say or select yes, the bill passes in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is then certified by the Clerk of the House and delivered to the U.S. Senate. When a bill reaches the U.S. Senate, it goes through many of the same steps it went through in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is discussed in a Senate committee and then reported to the Senate floor to be voted on. Senators vote by voice. Those who support the bill say “yea,” and those who oppose it say “nay.” If a majority of the Senators say “yea,” the bill passes in the U.S. Senate and is ready to go to the President.

Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress its powers and limits. Congress is the legislative branch of the government, meaning they are the ones to make laws for the United States of America. The article also creates the two sections of Congress, which is called a bicameral legislature. The first of the two is the Senate, which is made up of two senators from each state. The second is the House of Representatives, which has representatives from each state based on the

Now that the bill has been passed through the House, it is ready to go through the proceedings of the Senate. First, the bill is again introduced but now by a senator who must be recognized by the presiding officer and announce the introduction of the bill. A bill that has passed either house of congress is sometimes called an act, but the term usually means legislation that has passed both houses and become a law. Secondly, the Vice President of the US, who is the presiding officer of the Senate, assigns the proposed law to a committee for further study ( the Senate has about 15 standing committees). The committees or one of its subcommittees studies the bill and may hold hearings. The committee may approve the bill as is, revise the bill, or table the bill. Now the bill goes to the Senate to await its turn on the Senate floor. Normally the bill is considered as introduced unless the bill is urgent in which case the leaders of the majority party might push it ahead. At this time the Senate considers the bill. Here senators can debate a bill indefinitely, unless voted otherwise. When there is no further discussion, the Senate votes. Most bills must have simple majority to pass. At this point of development, the process is especially exemplary because the bill in the Senate is now considered by debate to better illustrate its strengths and/or weaknesses. To summarize, the bill has now been passed by both houses of congress.

There are seven basic steps: Introduction, referral or assignment to house or senate committees, considered in house or senate committees, placement of bill on a legislative calendar, considered on the house or senate floor, signed or vetoed by governor, and lastly the bill does or does not become a law.

A Bill has a number of stages that it goes through before it is presented to the Queen to be signed. It starts off as a discussion in the House of Commons, and if decided to be an effective new policy idea then it is sent off

THESIS: The Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate which forms the United States Congress; the Constitution grants Congress the single authority to pass legislation and declare war, the right to approve or reject Presidential appointments, and significant investigative powers.

If both the Senate and the House pass the bill, it is then sent to the president for his signature leading to the bill becoming a law (United States Senate, n.d.).

The bill will be sent to a committee and the committee will typically hold a hearing on the bill (Krutz and Waskiewicz). The bill will then enter the markup stage for amending and approving. Following, the bill will go through the House Committee on Rules to establish rules of the debate and move to the floor for amendments and debates. The House will hold a vote and if passed, will move to the Senate. After reaching the Senate, the bill is placed on a calendar for debate and voted on. If the bill from the House and Senate appear different then the first chamber could accept the second chambers bill or further amend the second chambers bill. If neither of those options work it will be sent to the conference committee for negotiations. Once complete, the bill will arrive at the president for signature or

Each of the three branches is controlled by the other two in several ways. The president can veto a law which was passed by Congress, yet Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of both houses. Members of the Supreme Court, which are appointed by the president and approved by Congress, can declare a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution, Article 1 Section 1, states that the legislative branch be created from two separate bodies: a House of Representatives and a Senate, together is known as Congress.

But the bill can also be brought to the floor if a large amount of the Senate chooses it to. Then there is the debate, The Committee of the Whole debates and amends the bill, but they can not pass it. They will decide how much time each person will get to debate the bill. The bill will then go back to the house to be voted on; there must be two hundred and eighteen members present to have a final vote. If for some reason there is not enough members the House will be adjourned or the Sergeant at Arms will go get them.

Firstly, there are standing committees. They are a permanent committee in house or senate that considers bills within a specific area. Each different committee is given a specific area of legislative policy jurisdiction. Members tend to seek committee seats that deal with matters of special interest to their constituents. There are select committees. It is a temporary legislative committee created for a limited time for a specific reason. They normally form to investigate public issues like aging. Another is joint committees. It is comprised of both Chambers of Congress. They can be permanent or temporary. They work with economy, tax, or Library of Congress. Conference Committees are formed to reach an agreement between the House and

The House of Representatives is the larger of the two legislative chambers that make up the Congress of

What I believe to be critical is the committee chair decides whether there will be hearing on the bill and whether there will be “ markup” (A markup is when members of the Committee officially decides on a hearing date to meet to offer to make changes to the bill as introduced). Usually a sub-committee holds the hearing, but sometimes if a bill is marked up in subcommittee and the full committee then actions are only taken place in the full committee level. During the hearing, proponents and opponents give evidence and discuss based on their individual merits of the legislation. At this time, members of the committee can change components of the bill. The committee members may propose amendments to improve the bill or to reach a compromise

Then, the Speaker of the House refers the bill to the appropriate committee. When bills get referred to more than one committee, this is called multiple referral. The Speaker also has the power to limit the amount of time the bill can be spent in those committees. They also have the power to influence the outcome of the process, either by delaying the bill entirely, or by choosing to send the bill to a committee that would strongly oppose or support that

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill is introduced when it is placed in “the hopper” which is a box on the side of the clerk’s desk. Only Representatives can introduce bills in the U.S. House of Representatives. A bill clerk then assigns it a number that begins with “H.R.” A reading clerk then reads the bill to all the Representatives, and the Speaker of the House sends the bill to one of the House standing committees.