The key to deciphering the legislative process is in understanding that legislation is grouped into three main categories: Authorizing legislation: A bill that creates a new federal program, extends the life of an existing program, or repeals existing law. Authorizing bills usually set a limit on the amount of funds that can be spent annually by a program over a period of three to five years.
Appropriations bill: A bill that allocates funding for specific federal programs. Unlike authorizing legislation, which remains in effect for three or more years, an appropriations bill must be enacted into law every year.
Each year, in fact, Congress must pass a series of 13 appropriations bills to keep federal departments and agencies operating. Entitlement legislation: A measure that guarantees a certain level of benefits to persons who meet eligibility requirements set by law, such as Medicare, Medicaid and college student loan programs.
Entitlement programs typically do not need to be reauthorized, nor do they require annual appropriations. Laying the Groundwork: The Role of Individual Members of Congress Generally speaking, the earlier you get involved, the better your chances of having an impact on decision making.
Floor Action Once a committee has approved legislation, it becomes eligible for debate on the House and Senate floors, where it may be passed, defeated or amended. Conference Action It is usually the case that the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill. The Importance of Staff Contacts While senators and representatives are the ultimate decision makers, it is important to recognize that their staff members can have significant influence over the course and content of legislation.
Glossary of Legislative Terms The following is a listing of terms commonly used in connection with the legislative process: Act - The term for legislation that has been passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. Amendment - The proposal of a member of Congress to alter the wording of a bill being considered by a subcommittee, committee, or on the House or Senate floor. Amendments can also be offered to add or delete entire sections of a bill.
Appropriation - Legislation that directs the spending of funds from the federal treasury for a specific purpose, e. By custom, an appropriations bill originates in the House, where it is assigned an H. Typically, each appropriations bill includes funding for several hundred federal programs.
Authorization - A law creating a new federal program or extending the life of an existing program. An authorization establishes the framework for operating a federal program, and usually sets the maximum amount of funds that can be given to a program for a period of 3 to 5 years.
Bill - A proposed law introduced by a member s of Congress. Budget - The document the President sends to Congress each year outlining federal expenditures and revenues for the upcoming fiscal year. The President's budget is usually submitted to Congress in late January or early February.
Budget Resolution - Legislation passed by Congress each year, which sets overall limits on spending and revenues. Congressional committees use the budget resolution as a guide for allocating funds to specific federal programs. The budget resolution does not require the President's approval. Conference - A meeting between House and Senate members to reconcile differences between bills passed by their respective chambers of Congress.
Once a compromise has been ironed out, a conference report is issued and voted on by the full House and Senate. The measure is then sent to the President for approval. Entitlement - A federal program that guarantees a certain level of benefits to persons who meet requirements set by law, such as Social Security and unemployment benefits. Congress and the President generally have very little discretion over spending by these programs.
Fiscal Year — For the federal government, the fiscal year runs from October 1 through September Hearings - Committee meetings where testimony is taken from witnesses representing government agencies, private sector organizations and the general public. Most congressional hearings are accessible to the public.
Hearings may be held in Washington, DC, or in local communities. Mark-Up - A subcommittee or committee meeting for the purpose of writing legislation. Once completed, the measure is ready for debate on the floor of the House or Senate. Public Law - A bill after it has been passed by the House and Senate and subsequently approved by the President. Reconciliation bill - Legislation that contains changes usually spending cuts to existing laws so as to conform — or reconcile — with policies adopted in the budget resolution.
Legislative hearings are those addressing measures or policy issues before the committee, and they may address many measures on a given subject.
Oversight hearings focus on the implementation and administration of programs created by law. Many committees perform oversight when preparing to reauthorize funds for a program, which may occur annually.
Investigative hearings often address allegations of wrongdoing by public officials or private citizens, or seek the facts behind a major disaster or crisis.
Oversight and investigative hearings may lead to the introduction of legislative proposals. At hearings, committees gather information and views, identify problems, gauge support for and opposition to measures and proposals, and build a record of action on committee proposals. Some common elements of hearings include the following:. Following legislative hearings, a committee decides whether to attempt to report a measure, in which case it chooses a specific measure to mark up and then modifies it through amendment to clean up problems, and sometimes, to attract broader committee support.
A business meeting for this purpose is called a markup. Both chambers require a minimum quorum of one-third of a committee's members to hold a markup session, and some committees establish a higher quorum.
A majority of committee members voting, with a majority quorum present, is needed to approve a measure and report it to the parent chamber.
A committee rarely reports a measure without changes. Committees sometimes report measures with a series of changes in various sections, or with one large amendment as an entirely new text called an amendment in the nature of a substitute. A committee may also set aside its amended measure and report a new one reflecting the amended text.
In the House the new bill is called a clean bill ; in the Senate, an original bill. Any committee amendments, and the entire measure, require a chamber's approval to be passed.
A reported measure usually is accompanied by a written document, called a report, describing the measure's purposes and provisions and telling Members of a chamber why this version has been reported and why it should be passed.
The report reflects the views of a majority of the committee, but also may contain minority, supplemental, or additional views of committee members. It usually includes estimates of the legislation's cost should it become law, various statements of its impact and application, a section-by-section analysis, and a comparison with existing law. Officials of the executive and judicial branches of government use these reports as an aid to understanding the legislative history of a law and Congress's intent in enacting it.
Measures may reach the floor for consideration in ways other than by being formally reported. A measure may be called up and simultaneously extracted from a committee by unanimous consent, or, in the House, by suspension of the rules. These procedures, however, are seldom used without the consent of the committee of jurisdiction. By contrast, a measure may be extracted from a committee without its approval. For example, the House may agree to a motion to discharge a committee of consideration of a measure, and in general a Senator may offer the text of a measure before a committee as an amendment to a bill under consideration on the floor.
The measure and its report are placed on a calendar of chamber business and scheduled for floor action by the majority-party leadership. In the House, the Committee on Rules works with the leadership to establish the terms and conditions for debating the more controversial or complex measures.
These terms may include restrictions on offering and debating amendments. Other measures are considered under a few different procedures, where little or no debate and amendment is the norm. In the Senate, noncontroversial measures ordinarily are called up by unanimous consent, and disposed of with little or no debate and no amendment. More controversial or complex measures may be considered under the provisions of a time agreement or other unanimous consent agreement , which may restrict Senators' freedom of debate and amendment in part by establishing time limits on actions related to the measure.
Alternatively, such a measure may require a motion to proceed to its consideration, which generally is debatable and must be agreed to by majority vote. The influence of committees over measures extends to their consideration on the floor. The chair and ranking member of the committee or subcommittee that considered the measure or their designees normally manage floor debate for their respective parties.
Managers guide measures through final disposition by the chamber, which includes planning parliamentary strategy, controlling time for debate, responding to questions from colleagues, warding off unwanted amendments, and building coalitions in favor of their positions.
Especially in the House, committee members also have priority in recognition to offer floor amendments. Committees' responsibilities extend beyond a measure's initial passage by the chambers to its enactment into law. If the chambers agree to different versions of a measure, the leaders of the reporting committees may facilitate its transmittal between the chambers to obtain agreement on one version.
If, however, the chambers decide to reconcile their differences at a conference committee, members of the reporting committees will comprise most of the negotiators. In practice, the chambers rely on the chair and ranking member of the reporting committee to choose which of their party colleagues on a committees will serve as conferees. Finally, the chair and ranking member often head their chamber's delegations in conference. Topic Areas About Donate. The Committee System in the U.
Congress May 2, — October 14, RS Because of the high volume and complexity of its work, Congress divides its tasks among committees and subcommittees. Download PDF. Download EPUB. Congress October 14, RS Summary Because of the high volume and complexity of its work, Congress divides its tasks among committees and subcommittees. Introduction Decentralization is the most distinctive characteristic of the congressional committee system.
The congressional committee defines the motivations behind the decisions on congressional organization. They also play a critical role in shaping policy outcomes and in defining Congress's relationship with the executive branch. Although congressional committees have been central to much research and many studies, the development of the congressional committee system has received less attention. This article traces the literature on committee development.
It starts with the studies of the origins of the committee system and discusses the expansion of the system in the nineteenth century and the committee consolidation that took place in the middle decades of the twentieth century.
The article concludes with the recent developments on congressional committee. In addition to outlining the development of the congressional committee, the article also considers the changing roles played by committees in congressional politics. Keywords: congressional committee , committees , congressional committee system , committee development , committee consolidation.
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