Show looking in on congress from the house gallery THE STORY OF A BILL by congressman GUY U HARDY copy copyright richt 1122 1923 worm western union about tho the easiest thing in the world for or a member of congress to do Is I 1 to introduce a bill all one neada to do Is to write the bill out on a piece of 0 paper and put it in tho the basket on the clerks desk then it has been introduced many bills are introduced but few are passed in the last congress bills and joint and concurrent resolutions were introduced in the house housa and bills and joint and concurrent resolutions in the senate out of all of ailese these 09 public resolutions and bills passed and became laws of the land the tha record for the greatest number of bills introduced was made in the sixty first congress when bills and resolutions were introduced in tho the house alone out of f which became law when the clerk gets hold of the bill he hb refers it to the appropriate committee v and there it rray may rest in peaceful slumber forever more or it may be heard from again if 1 enough pressure Is exter extorted ted in its favor out home a good friend of mine suggested once that he like this committee system lie thought that each member should give individual consideration to every bill introduced imagine lt it it if you can no man can read fast enough to tn keep up with all bills introduced most committees get more bills re feared to them than can be given intelligent tell igent consideration so naturally the bills which have the greatest support in the country get first drat consideration congress gives first consideration to the appropriation and revenue bills these and some gome other bills of nationwide nation wide importance come along automatically hearings on billa when a committee decides to give consideration t to a bill it if it concerns many people or Inter interests erts hearings are held that Is people interested are invited to come in and tell the committee why they think tle the bill should or should not become a law sometimes these hearings are quite elaborate affairs some last several weeks and hundreds of people come from all over the country to testify for or against the bill the tariff bill hearing brought experts and prominent representatives of every line of industry to washington the appropriations committee has bas 35 members the ways and means 25 members and other important committees have 21 members each the members sit around a long table and the witness addresses them the witness must know what he Is talking about it if ile he would make maka a good impression any member may interrupt him at silly any time with any question and before he gets beta through the committee to find out all he knows and some he know about his subject tile the hearings are open to the public an official reporter takes take s down everything ery eiry thing that Is said and later the hearings are printed in paper pape r bound book form some pt these hearings like ilke that on the tariff for instance run into thousands of 0 pages they bring out a vast amount of useful information formation and some of 1 the pi panted tinted hearings are practically textbooks an on the subject discussed the printed hearings are given to all members so that they may become posted on any proposed legislation others who are interested may at times get copies after the hearings are closed the committee holds executive sess sessions lons and discusses the bill it may decide not to report it out this practically kills a bill it may decide on some or many amendments to the bill or it may rewrite the bill in another form or it may report it out as it was waa introduced trod wh when e n the bill Is goes on th the e calendar there are several kinds ot of calendars operating far for different classes of bills under different rules debating the measure the big bills come up tn in the committee of 0 the whole house on the state ot of the union debate Is usually two or four hours though any amount of time lime may be agreed upon sometimes 12 or 14 hours has been agreed on the time Is equally divided between berwein I 1 the majority and minority greatest fairness its as to division and distribution ot of time ahne always prevails prey alls ane time Is parceled out by the chairman of the committee in charge on the majority side and the ranking minority members on the other side the bill Is first read then comes tile the debate sometimes members must stick to the subject under discussion and sometimes they are permitted to talk about anthlny an thing under the sun here la Is chero campaign speeches sometimes get in after the hours for general debate have been used up the bill Is read again by sections tor for amendments this Is termed readi reading ag the bill under the five minute rule as no member may talk more than five minutes ex es capt by un unanimous consent no member can get the floor door except to advocate or oppose an amendment members do often make a motion to strike out the last word or last two words etc in order to get the floor tor for give five vil minutes many amend ire are offered ana usually some are adopted on one bill over SOO amendments were offered often amendments are offe offered redin in order to weaken the bill and help to defeat it amendments not supported by the committee have hard sledding and few are passed occasionally amendments are offered by members merely to enable them to make a speech that may please constituents interested it has been estimated that only about five fire per cent of the amendments ot of fared on the floor are adopted when the bill la Is rend read through for amendments which la is the second reading the committee of 0 the whole votes on its passage it if this lg Is favo raMe the committee then rises and tte speaker takes the chair and calls the ahouse to order the chairman of the committee ot 0 the whole reports the proceedings to the speaker then the bill comes up tor for third reading it Is read by title only and voted on without further farther remarks or debate 0 fixed up in conference if it la Is passed the bill Is sent to the senate and has the same rocky road to travel over there probably it will have sundry amendments tacked to it in the senate then it cames back to the house for or mother another vote it if the house declines to accept the amendments put pdt in by the senate the bill Is sent to conference confer enca that Is a committee made up of a few senators and representatives representative tile the ranking members on the committees that reported the bill out consider all phases endeavor to compromise differences feren ces and when they agree their report goes back to both houses housen and la Is adopted once in awhile the bill is 13 sent back to conference several times before one of the houses Is satisfied many a proud father of 0 proposed legislation does not recognize his fond offspring when it iff 14 finally passed by both houses an Is ready to be sent over tor for the presidents signature there are several other ways of getting bills up in house those pertaining to claims and pensions and of a private nature come up under unanimous consent on consent day the father of the bill has good reason to be on the anxious seal beat for a single member may object and prevent the consideration of the bill very seldom does a member object out of spite or on account ot of personal enmity but there are a half dozen who make a specialty of studying these bills and stand ready to see that they am a properly amended or objected to and many an innocent n docent looking little bill Is choked to death on unanimous consent day some bills come up a rule the rules committee presents a resolution providing a special rule for consideration of a bill the bonus bill tor for instance came up under a special rule four hours were allowed for debate and then the bill came up tor for vote without allowing any amendments to be offered you had to take the bill the way it was wa or not at all the object of con cobrae e was was to prevent unreasonable and harmful amendments being offered or adopted men alen often vote for an amendment and then vote against the bill some think that a curb should perhaps be put on the introduction of so many bills but that Is hardly possible who would be competent to censor of course the greatest freedom in this respect must prevail let the congress and the country decide which are worthy and needful As a matter of tact fact when you come to thant about it the wonder Is that many more bills are not for practically every man and at most every woman in the country has in ID his big or her system the idea of 0 some sam a new law or laws that in his or her opinion ought to be enacted many ot of these ideas ot of proposed new legislation find their way in the shape of 0 hills to the basket on the clerks desk in the house of representatives or in the senate many blany start there but very few wind up at the white house seeking the presidents President 8 signature |