Introducing and Debating a Bill

Creating and passing legislation is one of the key roles of the House of Representatives. Although discussion can become lively—as seen below in the Illustrated London News, just before the Civil War—the process is guided by specific rules and procedures from start to finish.

Laws begin in the House Chamber. Bills—the first stage of a new law—are introduced, debated, voted on, and amended here. Any Member can introduce a bill when the House is in session by placing their proposed bill in the hopper. Bills originating in the House are designated as “H.R.” and assigned a bill number.

The hopper is a box attached to the Speaker’s rostrum, the tiered desk at the front of the House Chamber. The term comes from farming, where a hopper is used to funnel seeds. From the House’s hopper, bills are “funneled,” or referred, to committees, where they receive close consideration and refinement by Members with expertise in the committee’s jurisdiction.

After deliberation and revision, a committee can vote to recommend a bill for consideration by the full House. Bills that are not recommended “die” in committee and don’t proceed further in the legislative process.

Time to debate and vote on the bill are added to the House calendar. The House strictly schedules debate. The total amount of time allowed varies from bill to bill. Speaking time is split between Members for and against each measure.

Members make their arguments from lecterns—one on the Republican side and one on the Democratic side—in the well, the area of the floor in front of the Speaker’s rostrum.

Members formally address the House from the well. They must avoid calling their colleagues by name while on the floor, but refer to them as, for example, the “Gentlewoman from New Jersey,” or the “Gentleman from California.” After debate, bills can have a “second reading,” during which amendments are offered. This process must also occur within a specific timeframe, decided in advance. Once the majority agrees on “moving and ordering the previous question,” a bill may move on to a vote on final passage.

Not all bills make it out of committee for debate and voting and onto the House Floor. For example, Representative Winifred Stanley introduced H.R. 5056 (seen above) in 1944, which aimed to end pay discrimination based on sex. “It has often been remarked that this is a ‘man’s world’,” but Stanley believed that after World War II, “it’s ‘our world,’ and this battered old universe needs . . . the best brains and ability of both men and women.” The bill was referred to the Committee on Labor, but it was never acted on. Representative Stanley’s idea finally came to fruition in 1963, when the Equal Pay Act passed.

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