The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-08-26
Looking In on Congress From
the House Gallery
THE STORY OF A BILL
By CONGRESSMAN U u. HARDY
By CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY

THE o OF A BILL

usually sOinc are adopted. 9n . hill
over 800 amendments were oigo"Ni.
Often amendments are offered In Crf.ar
to weaken the bill and help to defeat
1t. Amendments not supported by the
committee have hard shedding erd
few are passed. Occasionally amend
ments are offered by members mercy
to enable them to make a speech that
may please constituents interested. 1t
has been estimated that only about
five per cent of the amendments Of
fered on the floor are adopted.
When the bill is read through for
amendments, which is the second
votes on recommending its passage.
If this is favorable the committee
then rises and the speaker takes
the chair and calls the house to order,
The chairman of the committee of
the whole reports the proceedings to
the speaker Then the bill comes up
for third reading. 1t is read by title
only and voted on without further
remarks or debate.
Fixed Up in Conference.
If it 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
tackled to ii in the senate. Then 1t
comes back to the house for another
vote. If the house declines to accept
the amendments put in by the senate,
the bill is sent to conference. That
Is, a committee made up of a few
senators and representatives, the
ranking members on the committees
that reported the bill out, consider all
phases, endeavor to compromise diff
~ferences, and when they agree, their
report goes back to both houses and
is usually adopted. Once in awhile
the bill is sent back to conference
several times before n of the
houses is satisfied.
Many a proud father of proposed
legislation does not recognize his
fond offspring when it is finally
passed by both houses and is ready
to be Sent over for the Presidents
signature.
There are several other ways of
getting bills up in the house. Those
pertaining to claims, and pensions,
and of a private nature, come up
under Unanimous consent On con-
sent day the father of the bill has
good reason to be on the anxious
seat, for a single member may "ob-
lA-@t a11 nrnx-avf thn nnnGiHDrptInn
of the bill. Very seldom does a mem
Der object out of spite or on account
Of personal enmity. But there are a
half dozen who make. a speciality Of
studying these bills and stand ready
to see that they are properly amend
ed or objected to. And many an in
nocent looking little bill Is choked to
death on unanimous consent day.
Some bills come up under a special
rule. The rules committee presents
q resolution providing a special rule
for consideration of a bill. The bonus
bill, for instance, came up under a
special rule. Four hours were al
lowed for debate and then the bill
came up for vote without allowing
any amendments to be offered. You
had to take the bin the way 1t was
or not at all. The object, Of course,
was to prevent unreasonable and
harmful amendments being offered or
adopted. Men often vote for an
amendment and then vote against
the bill.
Some think that a curb should per
haps be put on the introduction of
so many bills, but that is hardly pos
sible. Who would be competent to
censor? OF course the greatest free
dom In this respect must prevail. Let
the congress and the country decide
which are worthy and needful. AS a
matter of fact when you come to
think about 1t, the wonder is that
many more bills are not introduced,
for practically every man and at most
every woman In the country has In
his or her system the idea Of some
new law or laws that In his or her
opinion ought to be enacted. Many
Of these ideas Of proposed new legis-
lation find their way in the shape Of
bills to the basket on the clerks desk
in the house of representatives or
in the senate. Many start there. but
very few wind up at the White House
seeking the Presidents signature.