BU Journalism

Things You Should Know About the Legislative Process

Its good to read more and understand the way government works as it helps get involved in the positive changes made. There are thousands of bills that get introduced to Congress each year view here for more. However many people tend not to understand how the legislative process works despite the impacts these bills can have click here for more. Having an insight on the legislative system requires one to click here on this site for more info.

Two houses in the legislative branch. The House of Representative and the Senate are the two houses. It came firm the Great Compromise of 1787 The members in the House of Representatives are elected after every two hours. Each state is guaranteed to have one representative regardless of the population size. On the other hand the Senate which is the upper chamber, its members are elected every six years here! There can be no change based on state population.

The lawmaking process. There tend to be a legal process of drafting new laws and begins when a member of Congress introduces a bill. A law proposed by a member of either Houses tend to be a bill. The bill after introduction moves to a committee for consideration comprising of experts on specific subjects. The committee can either reject or approve the bill. Rejecting it means it will not go further. Approved bills go to the full chamber now where members of the congress debate and vote on it. It’s after the bill passes both the House and the Senate that it goes to the President now! The bill is either vetoed or signed.

Filibuster. Its good to click on this page to learn about the tactic used by lawmaker to delay drafting new laws. The bill is talked about for an extended period of time. Given that the Senate rules says that any senator can talk about a bill for as long as they want unless three-fifth of the senate votes to end the debate, it means that filibuster can be used to delay and prevent a bill from being voted. Although there are considerable debates about reforming or removing filibuster it’s unlikely that it will change in the future.

There is also conference committees. It helps resolve differences between the Senate and the House. Passing different versions of a bill by the House and the Senate calls for the conference committee to discuss the differences. There is making significant changes to the bill or negotiating new provisions. The new bill after completion is then voted and later proceeds to the President.

Last one tend to be Presidential veto. Its good to note that Presidents lacks the ability to make laws without working with the Congress despite them having super powers. It means that there is following of a certain procedure where the President have ten days to sign, veto or ignore this bill.