Question

Follow this hypothetical: Of the total of 62 Senate resolutions passed in the first session of the 101st congress, the last one was a resolution to levy a 25 cent tax on each gallon of gas sold in the country. The Senate was in a position to consider the resolution because the first resolution passed by the House in the same session was a similar bill levying a 30 cent tax on each gallon of gas sold (taxation bills need to originate in the House). a. Create a citation (label) for the House bill using only appropriate letters and abbreviations to indicate the origin of the bill. b. Describe what has to happen to get this bill or (its modification) into the United States Code. (This question requires that you describe how two separate bills (House and Senate) become a law that is cataloged into the USC including all the steps that may be required). What year would this hypothetical legislative action have occurred?

Answer 1

All the laws which are made in US begin as bills, these bills must be approved by the House of Representatives, the senate and most importantly by the president. The bill can originate from the ideas of the common people, who may contact their representatives and discuss the said idea with them. The representatives in turn research on the idea and then if found fit can draft the idea in the form of bill. But most important for the bill to be introduced is the sponsor and the support from some representatives. Once that is done the bill is ready to be introduced.

                                                                   As and when the bill is introduced it is placed in a special box called hopper on the side of the clerk’s desk. A bill clerk assigns a number to the bill which is subsequently read by a reading clerk to the house. After which the speaker sends the bill to a standing committee, who research and revive the bill before it is voted. The bill may be send to a subcommittee for a close examination and send back to the standing committee for the approval. If the bill gets approved by the committee, it is send back to the house in order to be discussed. During discussion the bill is read thoroughly section by section and changes are made if recommended by the representatives. There are three ways of voting a bill, by voice vote ( Voting by say yes or no), by way of division (First supports stand up and then who oppose the bill stand up and finally votes are counted) and by way of record ( using electronic voting). If the bill is passed by the majority of the representatives, it is sent to the senate after certified by a clerk of the House.

                                                                             In the senate the bill goes through the same steps as discussed in case of the House. And if the bill is passed by the majority it is send to the president. Regarding this matter, the president has three choices, sign the bill and it becomes law, refuse to sign ( in that case the bill goes back to the House and the senate, if two third majority of the house and the senate passes the bill again, it automatically becomes law while president’s veto is overridden) or the president can keep the bill or use pocket veto but if the congress in in the session, the bill becomes law after 10 days itself and if the congress is not in the session the bill does not become law. The bills can originate from both the houses of the congress. The bill that originates from the House of representatives has a code H.R.

                                                                                          When a bill is enacted into a law, it is send or delivered to the Office of the Federal Register. After the law gets authorization from this office its copies are distributed as slip laws. The annual volumes of the laws are then assembled by the archivist while publishing them as the United States Statutes at Large. The Office of the Law Revision Counsel has the final say regarding the statutes to be codified. It must be kept in mind that only general and permanent laws are codified in the United States Code. At a average a bill becomes law in 263 days, which means if a bill is introduced today, it will become law in August.