The process of a bill becoming a law in our government is a very slow process, to say the least. After many stages of debate and voting, there is always the possibility of a presidential veto standing in its way. Then it's back to the chambers of congress of the senate to start all over again. While it sometimes only takes a month or so to pass some legislation, other bills can sit in waiting until their need has disappeared.
The process is a long, repetitive one. The very first action that is made is a legislator gets an idea or thinks of an idea for a piece of legislation that would be beneficial to the United States. From there he must go to the legislative service bureau for the bill to be drafted. After it is drafted, it is sent to the House or Senate depending on its assignment. It is assigned by the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate to an appropriate standing committee. In the committee, it is basically a smaller group of officials primarily concerned with the subject in the legislation.
Here they debate, amend, and vote to pass or kill the legislation. If the bill passes the committee it is placed in line to go before the House or Senate in which all legislators could offer amendments. Within the first chamber, they debate the amendments and final version of the bill and ultimately vote. This vote requires a minimum of 26 senators or 51 representatives to be considered to even move to the next chamber. If the bill would pass this portion of the process, it would have to go through the exact same process in the second chamber, either the Senate or House of Representatives. After this long process of going through both chambers the legislation is sent to the President or Governor where it can be signed or vetoed. In the chance that a bill is vetoed, it is sent back to be re-voted on and would need a 2/3 vote to overrule the veto by the executive branch.
Surprisingly, I found that the majority of laws are made more-so by the individual instead of the legislator who only allows the idea to take the form of a bill. The legislator really does little in the foundation of the bill also instead of a drafting a general idea and information. A Legislative Service Bureau actually writes most of the bill itself. Different from what would be expected, a bill is not necessarily supported due to its need, but what it can offer a legislator's agenda. If he or she would need to be a strong liberal candidate, they would support legislation that would strengthen his appearance.
There are many small factors that would increase or decrease the chances of a piece of legislation's success. One of the many factors is who sponsors or writes the legislation. For example, people are more likely to support a long standing veteran to the Senate than a freshman congressman. The ideas could be similar or even the same, but it would be based on experience and influence. Another key to a bills success is the importance of the issue in an upcoming election. If a bill about oil prices would be introduced, it would have more weight to a candidate's appearance and election chances than legislation on subsidizing farms because it is a larger issue that, in general, more people are interested in. Finally, a third factor that would increase or decrease a bill's chances of success would be who co-sponsored the legislation. If a lawmaker could gain the support of a very prominent pro-environmental legislator on a Pollution reduction bill, he could gain support through his ally.
