Not easily, I’m afraid. At the federal level, the overall process appears to be quite simple. In application, however, the road for a bill to become a law is involved, complicated and long. It’s pretty much the same in each state, but in this post we will focus on federal bills.

A “bill” is a piece of proposed legislation. The word is English in origin and probably derives from terms meaning a piece of paper to get someone’s attention and require some action, like “You owe me money or something, so get paying or doing.” That’s what a bill is all about, getting something done by getting someone to do something.

Back to the process itself, a Congressman, either a Representative or Senator, writes a bill (let’s say the “No Hunting Wolves” bill) and drops the “Wolf” bill into the “New Bill” slot. Next, both Houses of Congress (the House of Representative with 435 members and the Senate with 100 members) pass the Wolf bill by a majority vote. The passed bill is sent to the White House, where the President signs it and “No Hunting Wolves” becomes law. All the wolves jump up and down, yip and howl, and are happy and content. That’s the short and fast version. It never happens that easily or that fast. Sorry, wolves.

Both Houses of Congress have many sub-committee, committees and internal procedures.

Let’s start in the House with our example. (I am making up the sub-committee and committee names.) The Wolf bill goes to the House Endangered Species Sub-Committee, who holds hearings, makes changes and sends the bill to the House Environment Committee. The Environment Committee holds hearings, makes changes and sends the Wolf bill to the full House or back to the Sub-Committee. The full House has its own Committee of the Whole which conducts reviews, makes changes, sends the bill back to the Committee or transfers the bill to the floor of the House for a vote. If the bill passes by a majority, the House version of the Wolf bill is published on blue paper and sent to the Senate.

In the Senate, the sub-committee, committee and floor process occurs again. To keep things going, let’s us say the Wolf bill is approved by a majority of the Senators. Hooray!  Wait, don’t celebrate just yet. The Senate made some changes. Changes are always made when a bill passed by one House goes to the other. This means that the modified bill has to go to a Conference Committee of both Houses to work out the differences. If the Conference Committee can agree on changed language, the reconciled bill is sent back to both Houses. If both Houses pass the modified bill by a majority of the members of each, the Wolf bill goes to the President. That’s a lot of “If’s” already, but let’s keep that bill going.

The President has 10 days to sign or veto the bill. If the President signs the bill, it becomes law. If the President does nothing, the bill becomes law without his signature after 10 days. If Congress adjourns during the 10-day period without the President doing anything, the bill is dead – this is called a “pocket veto,” because the bill dies after the President figuratively puts the bill into his pocket, does nothing and the Congress adjourns. If the President vetoes the bill within the 10-day period, the vetoed bill is sent back to both Houses of Congress. To override the President’s veto, each House must again pass the bill, but this time by a two-thirds majority. If the override passes in both Houses, the bill becomes law. If either override vote fails or is never taken, the bill dies.

At this point, the wolves are spinning and running for the hills. I’m afraid there’s little chance of that “No Hunting Wolves” bill to move quickly through the Congress.

It takes a long time for a bill to become a law. This is why we see all the post-election articles about the challenges of a divided Congress. If no party has a clear or overpowering majority, it becomes even more difficult to pass a bill into law. It can take even more time.

Whew, that was tiring. You can imagine how your Representative and Senator feel trying to work through the process. It might be wondered whether our Founding Fathers intended the federal government to pass many laws. It is something of a wonder that any laws do pass, but they do.

The current U.S. Congress, the 112^th, is coming to the end of its two-year term (2011-2012). The 112^th Congress has had before it around 12,000 bills and resolutions. When everything is tallied, it is projected that 5% of the filings will have passed. If that projection holds true, some 600 bills and resolutions will have labored through the process and become law.

600 enactments for 535 members of Congress (435 Representative and 100 Senators). That comes out to about one (1) apiece for two years of work.

I wonder what those Founding Fathers are thinking.

What are you thinking? Too many or too few?

I know what those wolves are doing.

Grandpa Jim