How A Bill Moves Through Congress - Civics

step 1

the bill is introduced into the house of representatives

step 2

the bill is referred to a standing committee

step 3

the bill is sent to a subcommittee for hearings, revisions, and approval

step 4

bill is returned to standing committee and is reported by full committee for more hearings and revisions; at this step it is either approved or they take no action leading the bill to die in committee

step 5

bill is sent to rules committee, where they set conditions for debate

step 6

floor action on the bill (debate)

step 7

after a debate, they vote on whether they should grant passage to the bill towards the senate

step 8

if sent towards senate, the bill goes to a standing committee in the senate

step 9

bill is sent to subcommittee in senate for hearings, revisions, and approval

step 10

bill is sent back to the standing committee in congress and is reported by the full committee; there are more hearings and revisions, and they either approve the bill or take no action towards the bill, leaving the bill to die in committee

step 11

bill is sent to floor action (debate)

step 12

after senate debates bill, they will either pass the bill or not

step 13

at this point, if both houses pass two similar bills and they cant agree to the changes each house made, both versions of bill goes to a conference committee

step 14

the conference committee comes up with the compromise version of the bill (since members of the house and senate are in this committee) and that single bill is sent to both houses for approval

step 15

if both houses approve the compromised version of the bill, it is sent to the president, where he/she can sign the bill into law or veto it