The Committee Process
Bills will be referred to committees by the Speaker of the House or the presiding officer of the Senate. Sometimes there is a choice about which committee will get the bill, but it is usually decided by rules. After the referral of the bill to committee, it will be incorporated into the committee's calendar to be reviewed by a subcommittee or by the full committee. The majority of bills die in the committees because they are usually introduced to gain publicity or to appease the constituents. Some bills are chosen by the committee to go to "mark up", where the subcommittee will edit or amend the bill. If the subcommittee decides may not even send the bill to the full committee, it will die. After the full committee gets the bill, they may vote to recommend the bill to the House of Congress where it originated; this process is called ordering the bill. If the bill is not ordered, it will die. The committee will then present a report with the purpose and other details of the bill.