ImmigrationVoice.org - How Does a Bill Become a Law in the USA?

How Does a Bill Become a Law in the USA?

What does Congress, Senate and House mean?

The Congress, which is divided into two chambers, a Senate and a House of Representatives.

The Senate is composed of two members from each state as provided by the Constitution. Its current membership is 100.

Membership in the House is based on each state's population, and its size is therefore not specified in the Constitution. Its current membership is fixed by statute at 435.

More information about the houses can be found here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_States#Legislative_branch

How can a bill be introduced in the house?

An excellent reference for this is this article again at wikipedia

In a nutshell, any member of Congress (House and Senate) can introduce a bill in the Congress. If its a house bill, it has a number like HR.4437 or if its a senate bill, it is given a number like S.1932. Once a bill passes one chamber, it has to be approved by the other chamber too. The other chamber need not pass the exact same bill. If modifications are made to the bill in the second chamber before passing it, the bill now has to go through a conference committee made up of a few members of both the houses that negotiate to come up with a common bill and then this is sent to both the houses for a vote . If it passes in both houses, it is sent to the President for his signature.