Our hypothetical House legislation (let's call it H.R. 10) has been introduced by a member and referred to a single committee. If it is like most legislation, it will never get any further along the legislative path.
Committees exist to choose which legislation will get a chance to become law and to refine those items into measures that (a) are drafted to accomplish their intended purpose, and (b) can garner enough support to be approved by the committee membership. Time constraints and political concerns mean that committees will consider only a small fraction of the bills referred to them. Those which are not considered die in committee. On rare occasions, however, the House or Senate can vote to discharge legislation from further consideration by the committee and have it placed on the floor calendar. In the House, a majority of all Representatives (i.e., 218) must sign a discharge petition, which then must be approved by a vote of the full House. No petition is required in the Senate. Instead, a Senator may make a motion to discharge, subject to approval by the full Senate. Unless requested by the committee, the discharge procedure amounts to a rebuke of the committee, its chairman, and/or the chamber leadership and is seldom successfully employed.
Several factors influence the fate of legislation once it has been referred to a committee. For instance, the prospects for further action are greater if the legislation is one whose sponsor is the chairman or a member of the committee and if it is cosponsored by several committee members. Legislation introduced by request of the administration also has a better chance of committee action, especially if the committee chairman is of the same party as the President.
The first step in the process of committee action usually is for the legislation to be referred by the committee chairman to the subcommittee with jurisdiction over its subject matter. If this referral is not made, only the full committee can act on the legislation.
A. Subcommittee Hearings
If the subcommittee intends to act on legislation referred to it, it will schedule a public hearing (listen to Congressional hearings via C-SPAN at http://www.capitolhearings.org/) on the measure at which witnesses offer testimony in support or opposition to the item. Witnesses often include members of Congress, administration officials, or members of the public. In general, subcommittees publish notices of upcoming hearings and offer interested people an opportunity to request to testify. These notices can be obtained from the subcommittee's webpage, via mail or email from the subcommittee, or by reading the Congressional Record (the text of which is also available on the Internet). There are also commercial periodicals and on-line computer databases that provide information about upcoming hearings. Many times, however, the first to obtain knowledge of upcoming hearings are professional lobbyists who maintain close contacts with the committee staffers who set hearing dates.
For appropriations bills, opportunities for public testimony are usually limited to public days. Primarily, appropriations subcommittees are interested in hearing testimony from executive branch officials and members of Congress only. Similarly, the two budget committees often limit their hearings to "expert" public witnesses as well as officials of the Congressional Budget Office and executive branch officials.
Subcommittee rules often require that those given an opportunity to testify submit in advance copies of their prepared statements. These are made a part of the hearing record when the witness appears. However, at the hearing, witnesses are usually requested to make brief oral presentations and then answer questions posed by those members of the sub-committee who are present. The rules for the format, number of copies of prepared statements, and the length of oral statements vary by committee (and, sometimes, by subcommittee). To a significant extent, subcommittees request that testimony be submitted in both electronic and hard copy formats. Others who do not testify are usually given an opportunity to submit written statements for the hearing record.
Some subcommittee hearings are not focused on a particular piece of legislation. Instead, they may seek testimony on an issue or on the effectiveness of a government program. These are called oversight hearings.
Aside from taking testimony on legislation, issue or program, hearings may have other purposes. Some may be structured to assure that testimony offered is primarily supportive or critical. Others may be held to delay the legislation. For example, a subcommittee chairman who opposes the legislation may say that several days of hearings are required. In the alternative, he or she may offer an alternative proposal that eliminates objectionable parts of the original proposal. In these and other ways, the chairman may be able to delay or bottle-up the legislation long enough to prevent it from moving to the full committee for further action.
B. Subcommittee Mark-ups
When hearings are completed, the subcommittee can move to mark-up the legislation. Open to the public, these mark-up sessions allow subcommittee members an opportunity to offer their views on the bill. No opportunity exists for members of the public to express their views at mark-up sessions, although occasionally representatives of the administration are asked to comment. The subcommittee can approve the legislation as it was introduced or it can alter it by adopting amendments. (It is this process of changing the bill on a line-by-line or a section-by-section basis, which gives rise to the term mark-up.)
Changes to the legislation must be approved by a voice or roll call vote of subcommittee members. Those who oppose the legislation may choose to vote against reporting it out of subcommittee, or they may offer weakening amendments. On occasion, opponents may try to prevent the subcommittee from obtaining a quorum to mark-up or report out the legislation. In the Senate, subcommittee members may also try to "filibuster" legislation in mark-up by continuing to speak so that a vote cannot be taken.
C. Subcommittee Reporting
When a subcommittee has completed all changes it wishes to make to the legislation, it takes a final recorded vote on it. If a majority approves, the legislation is considered as having been ordered to be reported out to the full committee. This is followed by the actual reporting out of the legislation, which takes place when a version of the bill as changed is prepared. In some cases, the legislation is accompanied by a subcommittee report which contains an explanation of the measure, the reasons the subcommittee approved it, and any dissenting or additional views of subcommittee members. If a majority disapproves of the legislation, the legislation usually dies and no report is issued. In the alternative, the same result can be obtained by voting to table a bill.
The legislation as reported out usually bears the same number given it when it was introduced. However, the printed version of the revised bill notes the fact that it has been reported out of subcommittee and indicates the changes that have been made in the original text. This version of the legislation is often referred to as a subcommittee print.
On occasion, the subcommittee makes so many changes in the original text that it chooses to report out an entirely new bill bearing a different number. This is called a clean bill and usually bears the subcommittee chairman's name as its sponsor.
Legislation reported out of subcommittee next goes to the full committee for consideration. The fact that legislation has been reported out of subcommittee does not guarantee full committee consideration. That decision is made by the chairman of the full committee. At this level, more hearings (listen to Congressional hearings via C-SPAN at http://www.capitolhearings.org/) may be held or (most often) the committee may proceed to mark-up the legislation. The same considerations regarding subcommittee hearings and mark-up sessions prevail at the full committee level.
If the full committee approves the legislation, the bill is said to be ordered to be reported out. The committee staff is directed to prepare a draft of the legislation containing whatever changes were made by the full committee together with a written committee report explaining the full committee's action. This report also explains how the legislation changes existing law and what its expected cost will be. The report may also contain dissenting or additional views of committee members. When the report is actually adopted by the committee, the bill is said to have been reported out.
Committee reports are printed and made available to the public. They serve to explain the legislation to Members of Congress and the public. They also form a key part of the measure's legislative history. When printed, they are filed and given a report number (as in "H.Rpt. 110" or "S.Rpt. 205). Committee report numbers bear no relationship to the number of the legislation. Instead, the first committee report of a Congress is given the number "1," and all reports from the various committees are numbered sequentially thereafter. The version of the legislation reported out of committee is known as the committee print. It may bear the same number as the legislation that was introduced, or it may be clean legislation with a new number.
