Sources of Legislation

• Legislative proposals can originate from a variety of sources. Members of Congress may initiate legislative proposals on their own, members of the executive branch may approach Congress with a proposal, and private citizens (including paid lobbyists) may approach Congress with proposals. If a member of Congress decides to sponsor the proposal as a bill, she will have her staff either draft a preliminary version of the proposed new law or revise a draft that was presented to her by whoever originally proposed the legislation.
  
  

Bills

• Bills may be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. An individual member of Congress will use a draft of the proposed legislation to sponsor it in the chamber of Congress to which she belongs (either the House or the Senate). No voting occurs at this stage; the bill is simply recorded and sent to the appropriate House or Senate committee.
  
  

Consideration by Committee

• The appropriate congressional committee will debate the bill, call witnesses, hold hearings, and amend the text of the bill. When the bill reaches a form that is acceptable to the committee, it will send the bill to the full House or Senate (depending on where the bill originated) for debate. Bills remain in committee for years in some cases.
  
  

Debate and Passage

• When the committee releases the bill, the House or the Senate will publicly debate it. At some point the bill will either be voted upon or sent back to the committee for amendment. If it is voted upon and passed, it will be sent to the other congressional chamber for consideration. At this point the process of introducing it as a bill, sending it to committee, debating it, and voting on it will begin again in the other chamber. If the bill is passed by the other chamber, it will be sent to the president for signature.
  
  

Presidential Action

• When the President receives a bill, he may sign it or veto it. If he signs the bill, it becomes law. If he vetoes it, the bill will go back to the congressional chamber that originally approved it. A veto may be overridden only by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate.