How does a Congressional bill become Federal law?
The entire process is explained in the House of Representatives document How Our Laws are Made. Basically, a proposed law, whether initially introduced in the House or the Senate, must be passed by both the House and the Senate, in exactly the same form, and then approved by the President, before becoming a law.- Daily record of proceedings in Congress.The Congressional Record, available fulltext at GPO Access, a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office, is the daily record of proceedings on the floor of the House and the Senate.- Rules, regulations and notices issued by the U.S. government.The Federal Register (FR), available in full text since 1994 at GPO Access, is published each federal working day. Final rules, regulations and decisions are cumulated annually in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).- Members of the U.S. Executive branch.Can be found at the Official Federal Government Web Sites.
This complicated process is explained in the House of Representatives document “How Our Laws are Made”. Broadly speaking, a proposed law, whether initially introduced in the House or the Senate, and some bills are introduced in both houses simultaneously, must be passed by both the House and the Senate, in exactly the same form, and then approved by the President, before becoming law.
