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Bill Becomes Law

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How a Bill Becomes a Law in Our Federal Government Emily Ballou Just as a corn maze, the road a bill must take to become a law is quite complex and twisted. There are many steps in creating a law, and it is not an easy process at all. Some may feel that all of these steps seem unnecessary, but the plethora of obstacles are to make sure relevant and not superfluous or nonessential bills become worthy laws. The absolute first step in having a bill become a law is for an idea to be had and a plan for it to be formed. Once that is all set, a bill is drafted. Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, or even other outside groups can draft bills. This means that any of them can write and draw up proposed pieces of legislation. Secondly, the bill …show more content…

This is where most bills die out. The committee may motion to table, pigeonhole, amend, or vote on the bill. If bill passes, it goes to the Rules Committee. To table a bill means to put the bill up for further discussion. The term "pigeonholing" is used to mean that a committee will ignore a pending bill by placing it aside, as if in a cubbyhole such as the small compartments used for domesticated pigeons when they are nesting. Another phrase for this is to “bottle up” a bill. Bills can be set aside like this for any length of time, sometimes even multiple sessions before it is looked at again. When they amend a bill, then that means that they are editing and making changes to it. Bills want to be voted through in these committees, for then they can keep venturing on to the next step in the long process- another committee. If they are not sent on, there is an exception to “dead” bills, ones which are killed, or dropped, in a committee, to still make it through to the floor. It is by a special case called a discharge petition. This lets the bill live to see another day, another step in the process of becoming a law. A discharge petition must be signed by 218 House members in order to take it out the committee and put onto the floor for consideration. This next committee, but solely for the House bills, is the Rules Committee. In the Rules Committee, the rules for debate are decided upon in preparation of discussion on the floor. They must issue a rule for the bill to be allowed to even reach the floor, or it is

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