A bill can be introduced whenever the House is in session. Once a bill is introduced, it is read on the House floor and then referred for markup to a committee. The committee debates and amends the bill where necessary. If a lot of changes are done on the bill, then the committee might decide to introduce a revised version of the bill (clean bill). It is also at this stage that a bill can be ‘stopped’ by the members of the committee if the bill is deemed unnecessary.
After approving …show more content…
The Senate may either choose to approve or reject the bill. The bill must be sent for review by the conference committee if it passes in the Senate with a different language. The conference committee consists of both members from the House and the Senate. Any differences are settled in this stage and after both the House and the Senate are satisfied with the bill, it is then sent to the president to be signed. At this stage the bill is said to be …show more content…
The president has the power to take no action. The president can also decide not to take any action on the bill while the Congress has adjourned its session. This is called ‘pocket veto.’ If the president opts to do so, then the bill dies and cannot become a law. However, if the Congress is still in session, then the bill, by default, becomes a law after a period of ten days. The bill can also become a law when the Congress overrides the veto decision that has been made by the president. The president might also decide that the bill is not necessary or is unwise in one aspect or another and thus, veto the bill. Once a veto has been issued by the president, the bill returns to the House of origin and the reasons why the bill was rejected is read and debated on the floor. If there are enough objections in the House, then a vote is taken to override the presidential veto. However, if the House does not vote to overrule the president veto, then the bill is stalled and thus, cannot become a law. Once the president has looked over the bill and feels that its satisfactory in every way, the bill is signed by the president and it becomes a law. If both the House and the Senate do not override the veto, then the bill automatically ‘dies’ and thus, cannot become a