Every bill starts with an idea anyone can propose a bill.

Every bill must be introduced by a congress member.

After a bill is introduced, it is sent to the standing committee that is related to the subject of the bill.Standing committees have life and death power over bills. The committee can pass the bill, mark up a bill with changes and suggest that it be passes, replace the original bill with a new bill, ignore the bill and let it die, or kill the bill outright by majority vote.

When bills reach the floor of the House or Senate, the members argue the pros and cons and discuss amendments. The house accepts only amendments relevant to the bill. The senate, however allows riders completely unrelated amendments to be tacked onto the bill.

After a bill is debated, its brought to a vote. Voting is done in one of three ways. A voice vote, a standing vote and a roll call vote. The senate and house must pass a bill in identical form before it becomes laws

When two versions of the same bill are passed, a conference committee with members from both houses work out the differences and submit a revised bill. The house and senate must either accept it without amendments or completely reject it.

After a bill is approved it goes to the president. one of four things may then happen. The president may sign the bill and declare it a new law. If a president votes a bill, congress has one last change to save it.