How a Bill Becomes a Law Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, committees, procedural rules, and concepts involved in how a bill becomes a law.

Revenue Bills

Bills that must originate in the House of Representatives, unlike most other bills which can start in either house.

Markup

The process in which a congressional committee writes up a bill in formal legal language and votes on it.

Open Rule

A rule for debate that allows amendments to be added to a bill.

Closed Rule

A rule for debate that does not allow amendments to be added to a bill.

Rules Committee

A committee in the House of Representatives through which all bills must pass to receive a rule for floor debate before going out to the full House.

Conference Committee

A committee made up of members of both the Senate and the House formed to reconcile different versions of a bill.

Compromise Bill

A new version of a bill produced by a conference committee after reconciling the Senate and House versions.

Pocket Veto

An action where the president neither signs nor vetoes a bill, and Congress goes out of session within ten days, causing the bill to not become law.

Veto Override

The process by which Congress turns a vetoed bill into law by getting a two-thirds majority in both houses on a second vote.

Taft Hartley Act of 1953

A law passed over President Truman's veto, serving as a rare example of a successful congressional veto override.

Filibuster

A tactic in the Senate where a senator threatens to keep debating until a bill is tabled.

Veto Gates

Procedural hurdles and structural stages in the legislative process where a bill can be killed.