print
email
twitter
facebookWould you like to learn more about Congress?
The chief function of Congress is the making of laws. This page should hopefully help answer questions and familiarize you with how Congress works.
The Legislative Process
Currently In Congress
- Watch Live on C-SPAN
- Watch Live on the House website
- Current House Proceedings – This is a summary of what is currently happening on the Floor of the House as the debate occurs.
- Congressional Record – This is the official transcript of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. It is published the day after each meeting of the House or Senate.
- House Floor Schedule for this week
- House Calendar
Rules and Precedents of the House
The House Rules and Precedents are the official documents that spell out the process by which legislation is considered by the House and its committees; as well as specifying the authority of the officers and committees of the House. Several collections of material explaining the rules and precedents are available through the House Rules Committee:
- General Parliamentary Procedure
- House Committee Procedures
- House Floor Procedures
- House and Senate Parliamentary Procedure (Originally compiled by the Congressional Research Services of the Library of Congress)
Committee Reports
The House of Representatives divides its work among multiple committees. Normally, before a piece of legislation is considered by the House it has been reviewed by at least one of the committees and a report is issued by that committee describing the legislation and indicating (on section-by-section basis) how the proposed statute changes existing statutes. Congress divides its work among over two hundred committees and subcommittees, each of which issues regular reports on its activities.
Committee Hearings
After a bill is introduced on the House or Senate floor, it is referred to the committee of jurisdiction (i.e., the committee charged with reviewing measures in the area of law or policy with which the bill is concerned). The committee of referral most often sends the measure to its specialized subcommittee(s) for study, hearings, revisions and approval.
For most bills, the committee or subcommittee fails to take further action on the referred bill, effectively "killing" the measure at this point. (Occasionally, a committee will report a measure "unfavorably," with explicit recommendations against its passage, or it will report a bill "without recommendation," which has the same effect as an unfavorable report.)
If the bill passes the subcommittee with a favorable vote, it is sent back to the full committee for further consideration, hearings, amendment and vote.
- List of Today's Hearings Compiled by the House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery
- Congressional Committee Materials Online via GPO Access
Roll Call Votes
A roll call vote records how each Member of the House voted, but only a minority of bills receive a roll call vote. Learn how to read the roll call information here.
- Roll call vote record for this session of Congress.
- Learn more about compiling a Member voting record here.
Federal Laws
U.S. Code – This is the official compilation of the current Federal statutes of a general and permanent nature. (It is arranged according to subject matter under 51 subject headings or 'titles'.) The Code sets out the current status of the laws, incorporating all amendments into the text. Prior to being added to the U.S. Code, individual laws are published in pamphlet form as "slip laws" which are later collected together in chronological order (not in subject order) as the Statutes at Large.
Sponsored and Co-sponsored Legislation
Before a proposed piece of legislation can be considered by the House of Representatives, it must first be sponsored by a Member of Congress (either a Member of the House or a Member of the Senate). Members of Congress who are not the primary sponsor of a piece of legislation may express their strong support for the legislation by becoming a co-sponsor of that legislation.
- Learn more about the legislation that I sponsored or co-sponsored.
