The Legislative Process

The federal legislative process is both slow and complex. In addition to the framework provided by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, both the Senate and House of Representatives have adapted legislative traditions. In order to understand agricultural policy, one must also understand how policy is created, debated, and eventually passed. 

The video below describes the basic premise for how a bill becomes a law:

This video demonstrates the clear difference between a bill and a law. According to the legal definitions provided in the Merriam-Webster's dictionary, a bill is "a draft of a law presented to a legislature for enactment," while a law is "a rule made by the government." Agricultural policy focuses both on bills (proposed ideas)  and laws (government rules) related to the agriculture industry. 

The video also clearly illustrates the long and difficult journey a bill must make to become a law. The vast majority of bills introduced never even make it to the floor for a vote. As the video suggested, most bills die in committee. In the 113th Congress, over 10,000 bills were introduced: 3% were enacted as laws, 4% received a vote, and 86% never moved beyond committee (GovTrack.us). These numbers are consistent with congressional outputs from the last 35 years. 

In addition, the bills that were enacted by the 113th Congress waited an average of 263 days before being passed into law, according to statistics provided by Quora. The Founding Fathers designed the legislative process to be slow and methodical, which they believed would prevent the Congress from overlooking citizens' rights to share their opinions with lawmakers.

Although the video does an excellent job of explaining the basic steps of the legislative process, the actual process is even more complex. This flowchart provides a detailed overview of the steps and outcomes of a legislative bill:

Source: http://www.acr.org/~/media/ACR/Images/Advocacy/Federal%20Relations/billdiagram

This flow chart helps demonstrate some of the more complicated traditions of Congress. 

        For example, in order to be debated on the House floor, a bill must be placed on the calendar and given specific debate guidelines by the Rules Committee. This committee exercises enormous power in determining the fate of bills. 

        In the Senate, the traditions of filibuster and cloture influence bills. The Senate allows for the use of the filibuster - unlimited debate - to stop members from voting on a bill. Senate rules require a two-thirds majority vote to invoke cloture - a process to  end debate and move to vote. This means that while only a simple majority vote is needed to officially pass a law in the Senate, most bills must actually receive two-thirds majority support to move to a vote. 

These are just some of the rules that influence the American federal legislative process. 

All citizens should understand how laws are passed, but it is especially important for people working in agriculture. The agriculture industry is heavily impacted by government rule. Anyone who hopes to influence policymakers - producers, distributors, or consumers - should understand the process. Visit house.gov and senate.gov for more information.