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. Thousands of bills are introduced to Congress each year. Its necessary to discover more on these bills due to their detrimental impact. Having an insight on the legislative system requires one to click here on this site for more info.
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. In the House of Representatives which tend to be the lower chamber of the US congress, members here are elected every two years. 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. New laws are drafted in a process where a member of the Congress introduces a bill. A law proposed by a member of either Houses tend to be a bill. Upon introduction of this bill it then goes to a committee for consideration which is comprised of experts on specific subjects. Approving or rejecting the bill are the options here. Being rejected in this stage means that it will not go further but if approved the law will go on the next process click for more. Approved bills go to the full chamber now where members of the congress debate and vote on it. The bill goes to the President. The president either signs or veto the bill.
Next is Filibuster. This tends to be a legislative tactic used by lawmakers to delay or prevent drafting new laws. It’s an unofficial tradition in which the senators delay the voting of a bill by speaking about the subject for an extended length of time. Given that the Senate rules says that any senator can talk about a bill for as long as they want unless three-fifth of the senate votes to end the debate, it means that filibuster can be used to delay and prevent a bill from being voted. There are considerable debates about reforming or removing filibuster but its unlikely that it will change in the future.
Next is conference committees. The committee plays a crucial role by resolving differences between the Senate and the House. There are differences resolved by this committee which emanates from the two houses passing different versions of a bill. Significant changes or new provisions are made in this case. Upon completion of this product new version, its then voted for which later goes to the president.
Presidential veto. Its good to note that Presidents lacks the ability to make laws without working with the Congress despite them having super powers. It means that there is following of a certain procedure where the President have ten days to sign, veto or ignore this bill.