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Congress runs on a specific vocabulary and a specific process. These pages explain both, without assuming you already know them.
How a bill becomes law
- 1
Introduced
A member files the measure and it gets a number such as H.R. 4021.
- 2
In committee
A committee studies it, holds hearings and can rewrite it. Most measures stop here.
- 3
Passed one chamber
The chamber it started in votes yes.
- 4
Passed both chambers
The other chamber passes the identical text.
- 5
To the President
The President signs it, vetoes it, or lets it become law without a signature.
Where to go next
About this data
Coverage on this site runs from the 119th Congress. A measure's status is never stored separately: it is recalculated from the official action log each time a page loads, so what you see always matches the actions listed on the measure itself.