Example of Legislative Branch Making Laws

The United States Statutes at Large, created by the Office of the Federal Register, the National Archives and Records Administration, is a permanent collection of the laws of each session of Congress in bound volumes. The final volume, which contains the laws of the first session of the 109th Congress, is number 119 in the series. Each volume contains a complete index and table of contents. A legislative history appears at the end of each act. There are also marginal notes referring to laws in earlier volumes and to earlier and later issues in the same volume. Hinds and Cannon`s House precedents, including references to constitutional provisions, statutes and Senate rulings, by Asher C. Hinds. Bd. 1-5 (1907).

Volumes 6 to 8 (1935), compiled by Clarence Cannon, complete volumes 1 to 5 and cover the 28-year period from 1907 to 1935, up to and including the 73rd century. The Congress has been revised. If the committee votes to report the bill to the House of Representatives, committee staff prepares a committee report. The report describes the purpose and scope of the bill and the reasons for its recommended approval. In general, a section analysis specifies exactly what each section should achieve. Any changes to existing legislation should be indicated in the report and the text of the laws to be repealed should be indicated. This requirement is called Ramseyer`s rule. A similar rule in the Senate is known as the “cord” rule. The committee`s amendments must also be stated and explained at the beginning of the report. The communication of the executive branch concerning the draft law may be mentioned in the report. In principle, both chambers have equal tasks and legislative functions. Only the House of Representatives can pass a tax bill, and only the Senate confirms the president`s appointments and approves treaties, but enacting legislation still requires both houses to separately approve the same bill in the same form before submitting it to the president.

On any day (except a Monday when a new legislative day begins), after the morning end of business is announced, any senator, usually the Majority Leader who receives recognition, may place on the Orders of the Day any bill of his or her regular order. The five-minute limit on debate does not apply to the consideration of a bill so included, and debate may continue until the time at which the Speaker of the Senate “fixs” the unfinished business of the day. At that time, the study of the invoice is stopped and the measure returns to the business calendar and can be recovered at another time under the same conditions. The process by which an invoice becomes law is rarely predictable and can vary greatly from invoice to invoice. In fact, for many bills, the process will not follow the sequence of phases of Congress, which are often understood as a legislative process. The following presentations on specific topics provide a more detailed overview of each of the common steps a bill can go through, but keep in mind that complications and variations abound in practice. The Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, prepares the Slip Laws and provides marginal editorial notes containing the statutes mentioned in the text and other explanatory details. The marginal notes also give classifications to the United States Code so that the reader can immediately determine where the law will appear in the Code. Each bill also includes an informative guide to the bill`s legislative history, including the committee report number, the name of the committee in each chamber, and the date of consideration and passage in each chamber, with a reference to the minutes of Congress by volume, year, and date. A reference to presidential statements regarding the approval of a bill or the veto of a bill when the veto has been overridden and the bill becomes law is included in the legislative history as a citation from the weekly compilation of presidential documents. The most important of the regular executive opinions is the President`s annual message, which transmits the proposed budget to Congress. The President`s budget proposal, along with the testimony of officials from all branches of government before the House and Senate appropriations committees, form the basis of the various supply bills drafted by the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Once the participants in the House of Representatives conference have been appointed by bill or resolution at a conference between the two bodies for 20 calendar days and 10 legislative days and have not prepared a report, a motion to instruct the participants in the House of Representatives conference or to discharge and appoint new conference participants is preferred. The request may be made only after the Member has announced his intention to make the request and only at the time indicated by the Speaker in the legislative list of the following day.