Procedures of the U.S. Congress

The legislative process of the United States describes on the federal level, the generation of all federal laws and requires the participation of the President and the Congress.

Unlike many other states, legislative initiatives for federal laws in the United States can only come from Congress. The President has no right of initiative. However, the two chambers of Congress are not equal: All laws that are expected to contribute taxes should be proposed by the House of Representatives. Traditionally, it is the Senate also refused to propose laws that involve government spending. In all other areas, the legislative process in the Senate or in the House of Representatives begin.

Proposal

Proposals for new legislation may be introduced by any member of either House or any of the delegates. These proposals may be based on ideas from the constituency MPs, decisions of a Federal State or, in the plural, initiatives of the President or one of his ministers or other officials.

In the House proposals are placed in the hopper, a wooden box in the plenum near the podium. The deputies or delegates, who brings the proposal is referred to as a sponsor. Other members of the House can show their support for the proposal as co- sponsors, by signing the proposal. It is no longer customary to read the full text of the law before the committee's work in plenary. The Speaker of the House determines the rules of procedure according to which committee or committees which work on the proposal.

In the Senate, the procedure is somewhat more complicated. Normally bills are passed without debate, chaired the plenary. However, a Senator also ask the chairman during a debate to bring a new proposal. This proposal is often associated with an incoming comment of Senator. Senators traditionally have the right to reject legislative proposals verbally or prevent their introduction. If there are no objections, the title of the proposal is read and referred to a committee to negotiate.

Committee work

The committees all proposals will be discussed and, if necessary, changed. The committees are divided by subject. There are, for example, a Budget Committee, Committee on Legal Affairs and Defense Committee. The House of Representatives has 19 standing committees and the Senate 16. To manage the large number of proposals, the committee divided into subcommittees with limited areas of expertise.

The work of the committees it is distributed to the study of existing laws, reports on the effect of proposed regulations and consultations with the authorities, which would in charge of the implementation of the new law. Committees also have the right to issue subpoenas to compel statements on the scope of the template and to collect useful evidence. In some cases, committees hold hearings in which the public has the opportunity to comment on proposed legislation.

Meetings of the Committee and the reports and documents produced by it are usually open to the public. Many sessions will be broadcast by Parliament TV channel C- SPAN. The public, however, can be excluded by a majority vote in the Committee of the session.

After all the hearings, the committee sits in a known good markup session in which MPs from all political groups have the opportunity to discuss their positions and to determine other decisions of the Committee. The possible decisions in this context are the forwarding of the proposal, with or without changes, with or without recommendation to the full Court, the suspension of the committee's work to a certain day or permanent suspension. In the last case, the proposal is practically obsolete and is usually not discussed. Before the debate in plenary, the Committee made ​​to an official report, which also contains all the amendments adopted and the results of any investigations carried out.

Debate and vote

The debate takes place in the House of Representatives stricter than in the Senate. This can be largely attributed to the differences in the number of members of both chambers. Strict time limits for speeches are intended to ensure that each Member has the opportunity to speak to a bill without bringing the chamber to a standstill. On the other hand speeches in the Senate are not limited, and the tactics of the Filibuster has also gained fame outside the United States.

Following the debate, the vote, attended by all the members present follows. This takes place either by voice, standing up or individually. After the Speaker of the valid output voting is satisfied, the final bill will be re-printed and transmitted to the other chamber.

Second Chamber

Each bill must be passed by both chambers identical. These forwarded to the president of a chamber after the vote there, the final bill to the other chamber. In this " second work " the same process is described again and run as above.

A variant of this method is the same parallel in the Senate and House of Representatives or to introduce a similar bill, and these so-called companion bill (in German about "Partner draft law ') to advise almost simultaneously.

Conciliation Committee

Once both chambers have passed the draft law, it is checked whether any modifications proposed in the second chamber of which differ from the first chamber. Should this be the case, and the first chamber to reject these changes, a Conference Committee ( Conference Committee) will be called. This consists of an equally high number of Deputies and Senators and now tries to unite the two versions. Should the committee this succeed, both chambers must vote again on the final version. Otherwise, a new Mediation Committee be convened or the bill expires.

President

After the Bill has been passed by both chambers in identical version, this is forwarded to the President by a messenger of the Congress. The President has at this point three courses of action:

Acceptance or non- action

If the President is satisfied with the draft, he signed the submitted version and writes on the paper usually "Approved" ( German for " Accepted" or " Approved "). When signing the federal laws the president ( since the 1980s increasingly ) added his signature in some cases by a written comment to Interpretation and method of execution of the law by the executive ( signing statement ), its legal significance is controversial.

The law unfolds in the moment of signing legal force, unless the Congress in the draft specifies otherwise. The law is also considered accepted if the President does not explain within ten days (excluding Sundays) its agreement or its rejection.

Veto

The President also has the option to reject a law passed by Congress. In this case, the president is limited to reject the law as a whole or to accept; a so-called " line item veto " is not provided. This provides only certain parts of a law to accept or reject, and is so far conceded most governors of the states. The veto must be made within ten days after the receipt of the proposal by the President. If the Congress, within that period adjourn, the law of the Constitution shall apply accordingly as definitively rejected (Pocket Veto ). Otherwise, the veto with a two-thirds majority in both chambers can be outvoted. In this case, the law on the day of the final vote is legally or on the day that is enshrined in the law.