War for Independence

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;–And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

• Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress.
• Many bills originate in the Executive Branch and are introduced by a congressional sponsor.
• New bills are numbered and sent to the appropriate committee.

Committee Action. The bill comes under its most intense scrutiny while in committee, and most bills die in committee.

• The bill is considered either by the full committee or a subcommittee
• The committee may order a “clean bill,” with a new number, to be introduced.

Floor Action. Next, the bill appears before the entire House or Senate. The two chambers have different procedures for floor debate.

House:

• The House Rules Committee regulates debate for each bill, issuing the “rule” for the bill.
• Members can speak on a bill for a set period of time, as specified in the “rule.”
• To speed debate on some bills, the House meets as the Committee of the Whole, which has different rules for floor debate. The Committee of the Whole can amend a bill, but cannot pass it.

Senate:

• Senate debate is unlimited. However, today, only the indication that a senator is willing to hold an unlimited debate is enough to prevent a bill from receiving an up-or-down vote (no actual time on the Senate floor). This is known as a filibuster.
• A filibuster may be closed by unanimous consent (which is very unlikely), or by invoking “cloture,” which requires a three-fifths vote of Senators present. If all 100 Senators are present, then 60 votes are required to invoke cloture.
• Successful filibusters effectively kills a bill. Today, almost every bill in the Senate requires 60 votes to end a filibuster so the bill can receive an up-or-down floor vote.

Second Chamber. Once one chamber has voted to pass a bill, the other chamber may:

• Pass it with the language intact.
• Refer it to a committee for scrutiny or alteration.
• Reject the entire bill, informing the other chamber of its actions, or
• Ignore the bill, while working on its own version of the legislation.

Conference. When the two chambers pass differing versions of similar legislation, the bill goes to a conference committee to reconcile the differences. A conference committee is convened as necessary. Its members consist of equal members from both political parties. Once the conference committee has crafted a compromise bill, both the House and Senate need to pass it again as it is (with no further changes) before it is sent to the president for signature.

The President. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate both sign the approved bill and send it to the president, who then has four options.

• If the president signs and dates the bill, it becomes law.
• If Congress is in session, and the president does not sign the bill within 10 days, the bill becomes law without his signature.
• The president may “veto” the bill. The bill then goes back to Congress for a veto override vote. In order to override the president’s veto, there must be a 2/3 vote in the House and a 2/3 vote in the Senate. (A 2/3 vote by Congress, overall, is not sufficient.
• If Congress adjourns within 10 days of giving the bill to the president, and he does not sign it, the bill dies. This is called a “pocket veto.”