"All Legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
(Article I, Section 1, of the United States Constitution)

The legislative process is more complicated than taught in most civic courses. Visit the Web site of the Center on Congress, Indiana University, for an extensive discussion of the legislative process covering the following topics:

• bill introduction
• referral to committee(s)
• committee hearings
• committee mark-up
• committee report
• scheduling legislation house: special rules, suspension of the rules, or privileged matter
• senate: unanimous consent agreements or motions to proceed
• floor debate
• floor amendment
• vote on final passage
• reconciling differences between the House and Senate
• amendments between the houses, or
• conference committee negotiations
• floor debate on conference report
• floor vote on conference report
• conference version presented to the president
• president signs into law or allows bill to become law without his signature
• president vetoes bill
• first chamber vote on overriding veto
• second chamber vote on overriding veto
• bill becomes law if 2/3 vote to override is achieved in both chambers
• bill fails to become law if one chamber fails to override