 A bill is a piece of legislation that has been proposed. Surprisingly, 10 to 11,000 bills proposed by politicians, private citizens, special interest groups, even the president are introduced during every two-year congressional term. Of that number, only 5 to 6% are passed. It is very easy to defeat a bill in Congress. It is much more difficult to pass one. John F. Kennedy, 1962 Bills are either public, affecting all citizens on issues like taxes, transportation, and education, or more rarely, private, affecting small groups, individuals, or places. In addition to bills, Congress also passes resolutions. When the House and Senate need to state an opinion on an issue, change internal procedures, or address congressional issues, resolutions are used. Joint resolutions address incidental or short-term matters, and once passed by both houses of Congress, become law without the need for presidential approval. An example is the resolution that made the third Sunday of August National Senior Citizens' Day. Concurrent resolutions do not become law. They are used to address situations in which the House and Senate must act together, such as stating a position on matters of foreign policy or approving congressional budgets. Every House bill begins when a clerk assigns it a number, gives it a title, and enters it into the House Journal and Congressional Record. Once logged, the Speaker of the House assigns it to the appropriate committee, a public school achievement bill going to the Education Committee, for example. Most bills are stopped here, with committees either throwing them out or filing them. Once accepted by a committee, a specialized subcommittee examines the bill, holds hearings about it, and adds amendments, eventually approving it and sending it back to the full committee, or ending it entirely. Approved bills head to the Rules Committee, which either assigns rules that limit things like how long it can be debated, and how many amendments can be made to it, or refuses to assign rules, effectively ending the bill. Next is the House floor, and one of two things. The House acts as a committee of the whole, which has fewer rules than the House and requires only 100 members to be present, or the House debates, amends, and puts the bill to a vote. In a voice vote, members shout yea or nay. The outcome is declared, but how each member voted is not recorded. If members disagree with the tally from the voice vote, a second kind of vote is held, called the division or standing vote. A third type is teller voting, which requires two tellers to count votes. Favorable votes first, opposing votes second, and is only used when 20 members of the committee of the whole or 44 members of the House requested. The fourth type, a roll call vote, requires members to respond yea or nay when their names are called. Always recorded, these votes are now done electronically. Once the House approves a bill, the Senate puts the bill through a similar process. Assignment to a subcommittee, return to the full committee, and a vote. However, four key differences separate how the House and Senate handle bills. First and foremost, the Senate has no speaker, so the majority leader confers with the minority leader to decide which committee will handle a bill. Second, senators can add unlimited amendments or writers to a bill, even ones unrelated to the context of the bill. These are called non-Germain amendments. Third, while representatives serve on one major committee at a time, senators typically serve on two or more. Finally, the Senate has no rules committee, so there are no limits on how long a bill is debated. Filibuster is the technical term for unlimited debates on the Senate floor. They can strategically delay or prevent the Senate from voting on a bill. To end a filibuster, proponents of the bill must let it die, or they must invoke cloture. To invoke cloture, 16 senators sign a petition that needs to be passed by 60 senators. Though effective, cloture is rarely used. Senators fear it being invoked against them when they want to filibuster. If you're hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed, come over to the Senate. You'll get the same kind of feeling and you won't have to pay. Robert J. Dole. If the Senate approves a bill, a conference committee composed of members from both houses and political parties make sure all bills from the House and Senate are identical. Once compromises are reached on any discrepancies, the bill is ready for final approval by both houses and presentation to the President. Before any bill ever reaches the desk of the President, it has survived a great deal of scrutiny. Committees and subcommittees from both houses of Congress have broken it down, added amendments, and debated its merit before approving it. When presented with a bill, the President has four options. Obviously one is to approve it and sign the bill into law. Option two is vetoing it. A veto puts the onus back on Congress, either accept the veto, or override the President with a two-thirds majority vote. An override is rare. Presidents have vetoed 318 bills in the last 20 years, and only 12 of them have been overridden by Congress. The third option is allowing the bill to become law without a signature. With controversial bills that the President does not fully support, he can show his viewpoint by taking no action. After 10 days, the bill automatically becomes law. This sometimes occurs when a President realizes his veto will lead to a long, gridlocking debate in Congress. President George H. W. Bush took this course with the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which prohibited burning the United States flag. The fourth option is a pocket veto. This can only occur when fewer than 10 days remain in the legislative session. The President can pocket the bill and refuse to sign it, which serves to kill it, because with the legislative session ending, it cannot be rerouted to its originating house. Even after a President signs a bill into law, the Supreme Court has the final word. That's because the Court can declare any law unconstitutional. This gives the Supreme Court direct input into how legislation is crafted. This power and authority is one the Supreme Court is very willing to use, as President Franklin Roosevelt found out after failing to get approval for much of his New Deal legislation. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each. John Marshall, 1803 Though the life of a bill begins and ends with the branches of the federal government, lobbyists exert a great deal of pressure on lawmakers during the process and have a great impact on legislation. Lobbyists include supporters of special interest groups and corporations who try to convince legislators of their point of view. The general public can also act as lobbyists by sending letters and emails and by calling their legislators. Congress members, cabinet members, even presidents themselves often become lobbyists by making deals with other legislators. Extreme cases of this can be seen with pork barrel legislation. Laws that federally fund special projects that will benefit only a small area or group rather than a large percentage of the nation. Lobbyists, committees, subcommittees, the House, the Senate, the President, and the Supreme Court. Each has something to gain or lose on every one of the 10,000 to 11,000 bills proposed each two-year legislative term. So each is trying to exert as much influence as possible on the outcome.