US Code

The laws in the U.S. Code are passed by the U.S. Congress, which consists of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives contains 435 members, while the Senate contains 100 members. The members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, while the members of the Senate serve six-year terms. The members of each chamber are not subject to any term limits.

A proposed law is known as a bill, which can be introduced in either chamber of Congress. After a bill is introduced, it will be referred to one or more standing committees. These committees determine whether a bill should move forward, and they also can propose amendments to a bill. If a bill passes through the committee phase, it will return to the chamber in which it was introduced. This chamber will discuss the bill and consider any amendments suggested by a committee or by members of the chamber. Once the bill has been finalized, the original chamber will vote on whether to pass it.

If the bill is passed, it will go through the same process in the other chamber. Sometimes the second chamber will amend the bill and pass a different version of it. A bill will not reach the next stage unless the differences between these versions are resolved. Each chamber must pass identical versions of the bill.

If each chamber of Congress passes the bill, the U.S. President will review it. The President may sign the bill into law, or the President may take no action, which usually means that the bill will become law. If the President vetoes the bill, however, it will return to Congress. Congress can vote to override the President's veto and pass the bill into law. Overriding the President's veto requires a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber of Congress.

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