A bill is a written proposal for a new law. Before it can take effect, it has to pass both chambers of Congress and get the President’s signature. The path has several steps, and most bills do not make it all the way through. Here is how the process works, in order.
Step 1: Introduction
Any member of the House or the Senate can introduce a bill. Once introduced, the bill gets a number and is assigned to the committee that handles its subject, such as agriculture, the judiciary, or transportation. Members often introduce bills that matter to the people they represent. For more on that role, see What Does a U.S. Representative Do?
Step 2: Committee review
The committee is where most of the detailed work happens. Members study the bill, hold hearings, question witnesses, and make changes. A committee can approve the bill, rewrite it, or set it aside. If the committee never acts on it, the bill usually dies there. Only a small share of introduced bills clear committee and move on to the full chamber.
Step 3: Floor vote in each chamber
After committee, the full chamber debates the bill and votes. A bill needs a simple majority to pass the House. In the Senate, most bills also need a majority to pass, though Senate rules can require 60 votes to end debate and reach that final vote. A bill has to pass both the House and the Senate. For how the two chambers differ, read House vs Senate: What’s the Difference?
Step 4: Reconciling the two versions
The House and the Senate often pass versions of the same bill that do not match. When that happens, the two chambers have to agree on a single text. They work out the differences and then pass the identical version in both chambers. A bill cannot go to the President until the House and Senate have approved exactly the same language.
Step 5: The President’s decision
Once both chambers pass the same bill, it goes to the President. The President can sign it, and it becomes law. The President can also veto it, which sends it back to Congress. Congress can override a veto, but that takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, which is a high bar. If the President takes no action while Congress is in session, the bill becomes law after ten days.
Why most bills do not become law
Thousands of bills are introduced in each two-year Congress, and only a few hundred become law. A bill can stall at any step: it may never get a committee hearing, it may pass one chamber but not the other, or the two chambers may fail to agree on a single version before the Congress ends. Any bill that does not pass both chambers in the same two-year period has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
The Senate’s 60-vote hurdle
Passing the House and Senate is not always a simple majority vote. In the Senate, most bills need 60 votes to end debate and move to a final vote, a step called cloture. A group of senators can hold up a bill that has majority support but lacks 60 votes. This is why many bills that clear the House stall in the Senate, and why the filibuster shapes what can pass.
How a veto is overridden
If the President vetoes a bill, Congress can still make it law, but the bar is high. Each chamber must vote again and pass the bill by a two-thirds majority. Because two-thirds support is hard to reach, most vetoes stand. The threat of a veto often shapes a bill long before it reaches the President’s desk, as supporters adjust the text to avoid one.
Faster tracks and shortcuts
Not every bill follows the full path. Budget reconciliation lets certain tax and spending bills pass the Senate by a simple majority, avoiding the 60-vote hurdle. The House often uses a process called suspension of the rules to pass less controversial measures quickly. Leaders can also attach a small bill to a larger one that is sure to pass. These shortcuts explain how Congress moves hundreds of measures in a session even though most introduced bills never become law.
How to follow a bill yourself
You do not have to take anyone’s word for where a bill stands. The official site Congress.gov tracks every bill, its sponsors, its current step, and the text of each version. You can search by topic or by bill number and see whether a measure is sitting in committee, awaiting a floor vote, or already signed. Watching a single bill move through the steps is the clearest way to see how the process works in practice, and it shows how many measures stall before the finish line.
To see who represents you in this process, use the lookup on the home page.
Last updated June 18, 2026.
