The legislative process Flashcards
What are the seven stages of the legislative process?
- First Reading
- Committee stage
- Timetabling
- Second Reading
- Third Reading
- Conference Committee (optional) - avoided if both houses pass the bill in the same form or if any differences can be resolved amicably.
- Presidential Action
Each of these steps must be completed in a Congressional term (2 years). If not, the bill must begin again at the start of the next congress.
What is the first reading?
A pure formality
No debate and no vote
In the house in is just placing a bill in a ‘hopper’- a tray on the clerk’s desk
In the Senate the name of the bill is read out
Bills are then sent to the appropriate standing committee.
How many bills are typically introduced in a congress, what percentage makes it to law?
10,000-14,000
2%-4% make it to law
How many bills became law in 2011-12, the least legislatively productive congress in recent times?
Just 238 out of 10,417 bills became law
What happens at committee stage?
More bills fail here then at any other stage
Hundreds of bills are referred to each of the standing committees in both chambers, far more then they can handle. A significant number are pigeon holed and nothing is done with them at all.
Those with a lot of support, from member so of congress, the white house, interest groups or the administration are given hearings, either in the committee or the relevant sub committee.
The committee members are considered policy specialists in their areas and are given full power of amendment (anything can be added or removed) before the house and senate even see the bill.
Once the committee vote is finished there is a mark up session where the desired changes are made before reporting out the bill and sending it to the next stage.
The report by the committee states the main aims of the bill, reviews amendments made by the committee, estimates the cost of implementation and recommends future action to be taken by the whole chamber.
What happens in timetabling?
A huge number of bills come through both houses and this creates a sort of legislative traffic jam. There are timetabling procedures for which bills are heard and debated on the house floor.
The senate deals with timetabling with ‘unanimous consent agreements’ These are agreements between the Senate majority and minority leaders over which order bills are debated on the floor.
The House of Representatives deal with it through the ‘House Rules Committee’, this committee becomes a sort of gate keeper or traffic cop, deciding which bills go through and which are held back. If the rules committee do not give rule to a popular bill the house members can resort to a discharge process.
How does the discharge process work in the House of Representatives? When has discharge worked successfully
A discharge petition must be signed by an absolute majority of House members. If this happens the bill is discharged from the Rules Committee and comes automatically to the house floor for debate. This process occurred successfully on the Bipartisan campaign reform act in 2001-02
what happens at the second reading?
This allows the full chambers to debate the bill. In both houses further amendments can be made.
Votes are taken both on amendments and on the bill as a whole. Simple majorities are required.
In the Senate there is the possibility that a filibuster will occur
What one of Clintons bills failed at committee stage?
His healthcare reforms
Who controls the house rules committee?
Pete Sessions (amazing name job line up)
What is a filibuster?
A device by which an individual senator or a group of senators can attempt to talk a bill to death by using delaying tactics. It derives from a senators’ right of unlimited debate. A three-fifths vote (i.e. 60 votes) is required to end a filibuster.
Give an example of an individual senator conduction a filibuster?
In 1957 Strom Thurmond conducted a filibuster against a civil rights bill that lasted over 24 hours. Stamina is key in filibustering more than relevance, Senators have previously read out the bible, the constitution and even the telephone directory.
In 201o Bernie Sanders spoke for 8.5 hours against a tax deal Obama was trying to work out with the republicans.
Give an example of a group filibuster?
2007, a group of Republican senators got together to filibuster the 2008 Defence Appropriations bills which included the demand for President Bush to withdraw troops from Vietnam. The Democrat controlled Senate played along and allowed an all night session of the senate this coincided with an anti-war rally outside the capitol on the same night. This filibuster gave maximum coverage of the difference between Dem and Republican policy on war, the democrats were supported by the majority so they looked better from the situation.
How can you end a filibuster?
A procedure known as ‘cloture’
A cloture petition must be signed by 16 senators and then be voted for by at least 3/5 of the senate (60)
When can you filibuster?
Only bills and not appointments.
What happens at the third reading?
This is the final opportunity to debate the bill. If substantial amendment were made at the second reading it may require another full debate but if not it is usually quickly debated. A vote is called at the end of this.
What happens at a conference committee?
If a bill is passed in different forms in both houses a conference committee can be called to reconcile the differences. However, nowadays on about 1/10 of bills have conference committees and differences are usually resolved by party leadership.
now they play pingpong to sort out a bill. Some think this is bad, the bail out bill for wall street in 2008 should probably have been put to a conference committee, instead concerns were not aired.
3-9 members from each house on a conference committee
How many bills were passed with conference committees in 2007/2008, the 110th congress.
ONLY 10
THIS IS 2%
What are the Presidents 4 options with a bill?
- He may sign the bill into law, he does this with bills he fully supports and wants to take some credit for (e.g. Obama ACA). He may also sign bills out of political expediency (2002 President Bush Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act )
- The president may decide to leave the bill on his desk, this happens when the president want to veto the bill but knows his veto would be overridden or if he takes no position at all on the bill. If this happens the bill becomes law in 10 congressional working days.
- The president may veto the bill if he strongly opposes it. He can use the threat of this as a bargaining tool for congress, in the hope that it will encourage congress to adopt changes the president desires. To veto a bill the President must act within 10 congressional working days and must send the bill back to the house with his objections. A president must veto the whole bill not just parts of it.
- Pocket veto
How can congress respond to a veto?
1) it can put the ‘wrongs’ identified by the President ‘right’ and return the bill to the president. This is unlikely as they would have been aware of the Presidents thoughts when passing the bill
2) They can attempt to override the veto, this requires a 2/3 majority in both houses, a difficult and unlikely thing.
3) Do nothing, This is the most likely outcome
How many regular vetoes did Obama do and how many were overridden?
12
1 overridden -JASTA
What percentage success rate do presidential vetoes have? Why is it so high
93%
only need 36 senators to stop a veto being overridden
presidents will not veto a bill if it has the super majority of support in both houses. He only vetoes if majorities were small and he knows he will prevail
What is the pocket veto?
If the bill is awaiting the president’s action when a legislative session ends, the bill is lost. This is a pocket veto and cannot be overridden by congress. A late rush of bills may arrive on a Presidents desk at the end of a session so this is a big power.
Give two examples of pocket vetoes being used?
- Clinton in 2000 pocket vetoes the Consumer Bankruptcy Overhaul Bill
- GWB used it in 2007 to kill the National Defence Authorisation Bill. This was later passed in an amended form
What was the line item veto?
In the 90’s for a brief period President Clinton had the line item veto. It gave the president the power to veto sections of the bill and not just the whole bill. This allowed POTUS to essentially legislate but Clinton only used it 11 times before it was struck down in Clinton v New York
Why is it difficult to get bills through congress?
A vast number of bills are introduced
The process is complicated, a ‘legislative labyrinth’
Need for three fifths majorities, to stop a filibuster in the senate or to override a presidential veto
Power in congress is decentralised. Much power resides with the standing committees and especially those who chair them. Senate majority leader bob dole once described himself as the majority pleaded
The fact both houses are of equal power makes it harder. In the U.K. The commons can overrule the lords
The senate and House of Representatives being controlled by different parties makes it harder
Even if the two houses are controlled by the same party it may not be the presidents party. It is therefore difficult for him to pass the bills he wants
Even if the president and both houses belong to the same party it may still be hard to pass bills as party discipline in congress is weak.
Name two presidents with major legislation fails in a friendly congress?
Clintons healthcare reforms
Trump care
How many senate votes are needed to prevent a filibuster?
60
