How are bills passed in the U.S. Congress?

The US Congress consist of the House of representatives and the Senate. The two legislative houses are saddled with the responsibility to make laws. There are a lot of processes that must be followed before any sponsored bill can be passed. The house of representatives is not constitutionally empowered to pass any bill on its own, which means any bill sponsored in the house of representatives will still have to go to the Senate.

The process is this. A member of the house of representatives will sponsor a bill and the bill will be sent to a committee for it to be studied. The bill can only be passed by a simple majority of 218 members out of 435 members. After it has been passed, it will be moved to the Senate for further deliberation and it will be passed by a simple majority 51 of 100. Finally, the resulting bill from the Senate will be discussed by a committee that comprises both the house and senate members to check some facts about the bill.