Bill is a legislative proposal that needs to go through Parliament and pass two Houses the House of Common and Senate and be assigned by the President of the United States. Every bill has its one name and number with identification S. (Senate) H.R or other (House bill) or it can have a sponsor name. It can be presented from each participant in both Houses, the President of United States, Executive departments of government, and from private organizations. The legislation introduced is placed in the hopper in the Senate. If any senator objects the introduction, the introduction is moving in the next day (Riddick, Smith 15-19). Speaker of the Hose refers a bill to the appropriate committee and it can be seen in more than one committee. Usual praxis is that the referral process is made by House or Senate. Bills in the House can only be released from committee with discharge petition with the majority of members (Ament 159-160).
After that, various steps in committee action follow. From hearings, reporting of findings, voting and final written report with proposals for amendments, dissenting opinions, which is sent back to the chamber and placed on the calendar. The bill goes through the Rules committee and that reaching the floor where the rules are adopted about procedures under which House will consider the bill. The rules are very important for their decision impacts pass or no pass and can also be bypassed with three different ways (Riddick, Smith 51).
Floor action follows. In the Speakers of the House and the Majority Leader hands or when a majority of the Senate chooses is the when the bill reach the floor. After the limited debate in the Senate the bill is reported back to the House and voted on where a quorum needs to meet. Debate in the Senate is unlimited. If the bill is passed, it is sent to the other chamber. If both chambers pass the bill it is sent to the President (Ament 161-162).
If the bills passed are not the same the bill goes to the Conference Committee, where the differences are worked out among senior members. When the compromise is reached, the bill goes back to both Houses where it needs to be approved by both chambers. The last what is needed is than the President signature. Also the President can veto the bill, but can be overridden with the 2/3 of the Congress (Riddick., Smith 83).
I decided to look closer to the bill S.1632 A bill to acquire a regional strategy to address the threat posed by Boko Haram. The Bill was introduced 18. 6. 2015. Sponsor of the bill is Senator Collins, Susan M. From the name we can see that has been proposed by the Senate. The bill has already passed the first stage with the introduction and referral. The senate has unanimous consent in the floor consideration. The bill was placed on the calendar. Referral of the Committees was made: Senate – Foreign Relations, House – Foreign Affairs, Intelligence (Permanent) (Congress.Gov). The bill has passed the first and second stage: introduction and passing by the Senate. It still needs to be passed in the House and that it still needs to be signed by the president to become a law. The bill has already been introduced in the House and referred but not passed. The major basic steps are still ahead of the bill to become a law are and hence the committee action, floor action, Conference Committee, the President. There is a long procedure from bill becoming a law and it is usually in the media showed like it just happened. Congress has difficult times in deciding various very important fields for the United States citizens. Number of introducing bills on the day 21 January was 279.641 in Committee Consideration was 130.058 bills, in the floor consideration 45.657, in one both chambers passed 14.480 bills, 4.550 were resolved differences, 11.963 has been with the President and 172 of them were vetoed (Congress.Gov).
Reference
Ament, A. Lynette. Professional Issues in Midwifery. Canada: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 2007. Print.
Congress.Gov. S. 1932 – A Bill to Require a Regional Strategy to Address the Threat Posed by Boko Haram. 18. Jun. 2015. Web. 21. Jan 2016. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114thcongress/senatebill/1632/allactions?q=%7B%22 search%22%3A%5B%22curent+bill%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=14&overview=close d
Riddick, Floyd M., Smith, H. E. George. Congress in Action (How a Bill Becomes a Law). United States: National Capitol Publisher. 1948. Print.
