Passing the Bill Into Law Essay

Introduction

Bills are introduced into the house of Senate by a representative or Congress. It is the responsibility of legislatures to pass the bill into law before it is asserted by the president. Therefore, senators and the Congress have the key responsibilities of making laws to govern the whole country. They do not use their own powers because powers to make laws are vested on the people; they use their delegated authority to make laws on behalf of the people. Before a bill is passed in the house of senate, it has to pass through different stages before it becomes a law. The bill is passed into law by following the same process either in the national assembly or in Senate and therefore there is no difference in any way. The Senate is expected to pass the bill entitled, Executive order on immigration.

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Legislation Process

The bill is first introduced into the parliament by any member of the house either as a private member or a national a gender. The bill immediately handed over to the clerk of the house or it can just be placed in the hopper (Boyter, 2007). For the bill to go on in the Senate, all the members have an obligation to recognize the presiding officer before announcing the bill in the morning hours. When the bill is objected to by any senator, it is postponed as members are given the opportunity to go through the bill before allowing it to proceed. It is necessary to introduce the bill when three-quarters of the house are present so that a diversified opinion is gained before the debate on the bill.

Introduction of the Bill into the House of Representative

Members of Congress or Senate have the authority to introduce the bill of Executive order on immigration into the house for consideration. The house representative who introduces it in the house is the sponsor of the bill while other senators who participated in the preparation the bill are just enlisted as co-sponsors (Boyter, 2007). The bill of Executive order on immigration has very many co-sponsors because it is a very important bill in the USA. The bill can only be said to have been introduced in the house of representatives once it has been signed a number # for Senate bill and it has been printed into the Congressional record by the Government Printers. This bill originates from a private member of house representatives although it can as well be introduced into the house of representatives by constituents or constituent group. The same bill can also be introduced by the president or state legislators or it can be suggested by any administrative officer of the president. In the Senate, the bill is presented to a clerk at the president desk. For the bill to become law, it must be passed by both houses unless it is a bill aimed at raising revenues which only originate in the house but not senate.

Committee Consideration

Once the bill has been introduced into the Senate, the Senate is divided into committees while committees are also subdivided into subcommittees. Each committee and subcommittee is given the opportunity to discuss the bill in committee. The committee classifies the topic in the Senate business as Ministry of immigration. It is then scheduled to have a hearing upon which witnesses will be required to give a testimony as to why it is essential to have the bill in place. Every subcommittee is also given the opportunity to respond to some questions raised by the witnesses in order to find out the validity of the bill (Boyter, 2007). After hearing, committee members and their subcommittees are required to vote on the bill to determine its ability to move to the next stage. When there is a failure on the vote, the bill ends at the committee stage. There are some bills which are very large and therefore they do not require the formation of subcommittees in the Senate but are considered by a full committee. The full committee also requires witnesses before it is voted for by the whole house.

House Procedure

The bill accepted by the committee is called whole house and sometimes referred to committee of the whole house. It is composed of most senators although the house with the lowest quorum required as indicated by the standard orders. In the committee of the whole house, the bill is debated to and it is arbitrarily done. In the process, time is allocated to give the committee of the whole house sufficient time to read and debate on the ball effectively. The second reading is started immediately the debate on the committee of the whole house is complete. In the second reading the bill is also debated upon and minor changes are done to ensure that it meets its purpose. There are also some amendments which are effected after the second reading. These changes are also debated upon and voted for by the house of representative (Boyter, 2007). When the committee of the house is free with the bill it is sent to the whole house of representatives. It is necessary to understand that it is very difficult to stop working on the bill when it is in the committee stage, but there are some amendments that can be introduced in the bill to make it unsuitable. It is commonly called poisoning the bill and it is done by senator's who do not want the bill to become law. The house debate upon the bill where they are required to vote upon or against the bill. Voting can be done to recommit or vote on it as it has been amended by the committee. When there is a recommit of the vote it means that it has failed therefore a full vote is undertaken. When the bill has been passed or approved by the whole house, it is published where the house is required to use blue papers when approving the bill.

Conference

Before the bill is allowed to leave the Senate, it must be proofread and checked thoroughly to ensure that the two versions of the bill match each other but in case of any difference, the bill is reconciled. The house in which the bill originates is given a copy of the bill with the variation well explained. For example, the bill that comes from Senate and there are some changes made, it is sent back to Senate without allowing for any kind of debate. In the case the changes are significant, the conference is convened to give some senators an opportunity to correct the difference (Boyter, 2007). A conference committee is called where seven senators are allowed to change the content of the bill. The senators can either add or amend one bill into the other or removes an amendment completely. They are not allowed to add another amendment to either of the version. In cases where there is a disagreement, it is important to propose a new text which can compromise the two versions of the bill. The managers will be required to report to the house, that they were able to reconcile the bill or disagree on some sections or completely were unable to reconcile it. The house the revote on the bill in both houses but there are some instances where the bill is referred back to committee but when they are irreconcilable the bill dies.

President Assent

The president assigns the bill into law regardless of nature it leaves the Senate. The president has the power to assent the bill or returns it to Senate for reconsideration. Because the whole process of legislation does not take place in the vacuum, the president has to follow it through all the stages to understand the effectiveness of the bill and its importance. It is therefore not surprising for a bill to reach the president; it is the likelihood that the president supports the bill thus there is a higher chance of signing it into law (Boyter, 2007). The president can indicate before the bill reaches his desk that he will veto the bill unless senators correct some provisions of the bill before it reaches on the president desk. The president can read the bill in accordance with his personal opinion or against his wishes.

The Senate speaker first signs the bill before it is taken to the president. The process does not require any politicized delay but it can take two or three days before the president comment on the bill. The bill is taken to the president and the president only have 10days to signs it into law. The bill can be signed by the president at any time upon its delivery to his office. When the president leaves the bill for a period of more than ten days, the bill automatically becomes a law without the assent of the president.

The only bill that does not obey 10day rule is usually called a pocket veto. Such bills can be killed by the president by not signing it and the Senate adjoins before the end of the ten-day period. The pocket veto bills are used by the president to ensure some bills are not passed into law by keeping the bill when having the knowledge that the Senate is soon going on s recess (Boyter, 2007). When the president vetoes a bill, the veto message is taken to the house of senate with all the objections of the president. The Senate can revote on the bill and pass it into law without the assent of the president or it can be debated upon before revoting to see if the objections of the presidents are valid. The bill dies only when the vote is in favor of the objections of the president.

Conclusion

The bill becomes a law immediately it has been signed by the president or when the veto of the president has been overridden by the votes of senators. At the end of ten days, the bill is taken to the archive where it is assigned. The law is the published into a pamphlet usually known as a slip law. Therefore, it is not simple to pass a bill into law as it requires different processes and stages that must be completed by legislatures.

References

Boyter, H. (2007). Immigration legislation USA. Population Aspects of immigrants. doi:10.1201/9781439823941.ch2