Things You Should Know About the Legislative Process
One should read more now and understand the way government works as it’s the first step towards making positive changes. The Congress has multiple bills introduced to them yearly. However many people tend not to understand how the legislative process works despite the impacts these bills can have click here for more. There is much need to learn more about these five facts as it gives an insight about the US legislative system check it out!
Two houses in the legislative branch. The first one is the House of Representatives and the second one is the Senate. Such split was brought about by the Great Compromise of 1787 that attempted to resolve issues of representation for states with large population vs. those states having smaller ones. The members in the House of Representatives are elected after every two hours. The number of representatives are determined by the population level with each state guaranteed to have one representative. The Senate which is the upper chamber have its members elected every six years. 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. As from this website, a bill is a law proposed by someone in the House or representatives or Senate. The bill after introduction moves to a committee for consideration comprising of experts on specific subjects. This bill can either be rejected or approved. Rejecting it means it will not go further. There is debating and voting of the approved bills now! The bill goes to the President. In here the President can either sign the bill into law or veto it which failure to such options within three days, the bill now becomes law automatically.
Another one is Filibuster. This tends to be a legislative tactic used by lawmakers to delay or prevent drafting new laws. Senators delay the voting of a bill by speaking about it for more time. Senate rules says that any Senators can talk about a bill for as long as they want thereby making it more functional. There are considerable debates about reforming or removing filibuster but its 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. Upon completion of this product new version, its then voted for which later goes to the president.
Last one tend to be Presidential veto. Although presidents are very powerful they however do not have the ability to make new laws without working with the Congress. This bill is signed, ignored or vetoed by the President within ten days.