How a bill becomes law

Most bills never become law. Of roughly 15,000 bills introduced in a two-year Congress, fewer than 500 are enacted. Knowing where a bill sits tells you more about its odds than anything in its text.

1. Introduction

A member drops the bill in the hopper (House) or hands it to a clerk (Senate). It receives a number — H.R. 1234 or S. 567 — and is referred to one or more committees with jurisdiction over its subject. Introduction requires one member and costs nothing. This is why the introduction count is so large.

2. Committee

The committee chair decides whether the bill gets a hearing. Most do not. A bill that never gets a hearing dies when the Congress ends, without a vote ever being taken. If the chair schedules a markup, members amend the text and vote on whether to report it to the full chamber.

3. Floor

In the House, the Rules Committee sets the terms of debate — how long, which amendments are allowed. In the Senate, floor time is negotiated, and a single senator can force a 60-vote threshold to end debate. See what cloture is.

4. The other chamber

A bill that passes one chamber starts over in the other. If the second chamber changes the text, the two versions must be reconciled — either by one chamber accepting the other's version, or through a conference committee.

5. The President

Sign, veto, or do nothing. If the President does nothing for ten days while Congress is in session, the bill becomes law without a signature. If Congress adjourns during those ten days, it does not — the pocket veto.

Where our status tracker maps onto this

Our five-stage tracker collapses these into: Introduced, Committee, Floor vote, Passed, Enacted. A bill marked "In committee" for 200 days is not stalled by accident; that is the ordinary outcome.