fed. legislative process

B

BAB

New member
I've looked and looked, but have had trouble finding (or have found confusing/conflicting info) information that helps me understand the process that bills go through at the federal level. In Colorado, I know that the bills formed in one house, after passage, go to the other house, and if no changes are made and it's passed in both houses, it's good to go. But if both sides don't agree on an identical version, it goes to a conference committee. At the federal level, we've had Juvi Justice Bills introduced in both houses. The Senate bill passed, the House bill has just failed. Now, what happens...doesn't the Senate bill have to go to the House to be debated and voted on there as well? I've heard folks say that the Senate bill will now go to a conference committee, is this correct? What if the House bill had passed...would it have gone to the Senate for debate/final vote? What if both bills passed? Do they both go to the President for consideration?

Anyone with knowledge in this department, or with useful links to point me to, please enlighten me!

Thanks.
 
Okay, it ain't easy. And I might be off on a couple of points. So: All SPENDING bills must originate in the House Appropriations Committee.

Other bills of whatever sort are introduced in the appropriate Committee of the House and of the Senate.

In either body, a bill can be sent to sub-committee for debate and vote. Or, it can be voted on direcly in Committee. Or, it can be sent to the floor for debate and vote.

Generally, a bill introduced in either body has a companion bill introduced in the other body. If they both pass, they go to Conference Committee for "resolution". Often, this is where everything goes all to Hell. Sometimes we win, sometimes we get screwed. Anyway, the "resolved" final bill goes back for final vote of each body; if passed, the bill goes to Presidential signature.

If one of the companion bill fails, the whole deal is off and nothing leaves Congress for Presidential signature. Occasionally, a "resolved" bill gets voted down, but don't count on it...

Again, this is generally how things are supposed to go, but there are a lot of parliamentary rules and gamesmanship which keep much of the process in the shadows.
 
Thanks Art, things are beginning to get a little clearer for me.

If I may ask for further clarification on one point...you said If one of the companion bill fails, the whole deal is off and nothing leaves Congress for Presidential signature. Now, being as HR2122 has just been voted down, does that mean that this wave of attempts at gunshow regulation is dead, at least for now?
 
Bab: Yes, it's dead for the moment, keeping in mind that the Congressional leadership have about as much respect for their own rules, as they do for the Constitution. IE, they only follow them when it's to their advantage. So it COULD rise from the dead with no warning, if they want it to. (We killed the Brady law, too, for all the good it did.)

A neat little aspect of this process which Art failed to mention, is that when a bill comes out of conference committe, it's quite common for the up or down vote to be held BEFORE THE MEMBERS ARE GIVEN COPIES OF THE BILL. This allows the leadership to sneak through provisions, like the Lautenberg amendment, which would kill the bill if generally known about. In fact I've heard that they have occasionally taken advantage of the fact that the bill's text isn't available when the vote is held, to actually ADD things to the bill which weren't in it when it was passed! (After all, who's to know, when only the guilty parties had copies?)

One thing you learn by watching CSPAN is that the actual legislative process doesn't bear a whole lot of resemblence to what's described in civics texts.
 
Im just a bill
Yes I'm only a bill
and I sitting here
on Capital Hill

Yall join in.
( I just loved that School House Rock! back in the day)
 
The only probelm with this guys is that the Republican leadership SPLIT the social and gun issues of the Juvenile Justice Bill, so the house 254 DOES have a companion, HR 1501, the social side of the house JJB.... The rules committee will be deciding soon exactly how to handle this, but in all likelihood, SR 254 WILL be mated with the social issues of 1501.. leaving the ugly Gun language in 254 to stand alone in Conference.

Our only hope is that another BIll is passed through the house that deals with Gun issues and the Rules Committee allows it to be bunched together in conference with 254 and 1501... OR that the conferees introduce amendments or portions of the amendments to the original 2122.....

Either way, this is NOT good.
 
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