How a bill becomes law — and how we track it

The path of a bill

Seven stages from idea to law

The labels in the gold-tagged boxes are the feed's actual post types — the same wording you'll see on your timeline when a bill takes that step.

1. 1

   Introduction

   A Representative or Senator introduces the bill, and it receives its number — H.R. for House bills, S. for Senate bills — and is referred to the committee(s) that own its subject. Thousands of bills start here; most never move again.

   The feed deliberately doesn't post introductions — at ~10,000 per Congress they would drown out everything that matters. A bill enters the feed when it starts moving.

2. 2

   Committee

   Committees are where Congress does most of its real work — hearings, amendments ("markup"), and the decision whether the bill deserves the chamber's time. Most bills die here, quietly, by simply never being scheduled.

   On the feed

   📋 Reported by Committee 📋 Discharged from Committee 📅 Placed on Calendar ↩️ Recommitted to Committee
3. 3

   First chamber: floor debate and vote

   The bill reaches the floor of its home chamber, is debated, possibly amended, and voted on. A simple majority passes it — and sends it across the Capitol to the other chamber, where the whole process repeats.

   On the feed

   ✅🏛️ Passed House ✅🏛️ Passed House With Amendment ❌ Failed Passage ❌ Tabled
4. 4

   The Senate's 60-vote gate

   In the Senate, debate on most legislation can only be ended by cloture — which takes 60 votes, not 51. This is the filibuster in practice: a bill with majority support can still stall forever if it can't find 60 votes to close debate. The feed tracks each cloture motion as it's filed, and whether it succeeds.

   On the feed

   🗳️ Motion to Proceed Agreed To ⏱️ Cloture Motion Filed ⏱️ Cloture Invoked ⏱️ Cloture Not Invoked ✅🏛️ Passed Senate ✅🏛️ Passed Senate With Amendment
5. 5

   Two chambers, one text

   The Constitution requires both chambers to pass identical text. If the second chamber amended the bill, the chambers either trade amendments back and forth ("ping-pong") until one side accepts, or convene a formal conference committee to negotiate a single compromise text that both chambers then vote on again.

   On the feed

   ✅🏛️ Agreed To Other Chamber's Amendments 📝 Agreed To With A Further Amendment 🤝 Conference Requested 🤝 Conference Report Agreed To
6. 6

   The President's ten days

   Once both chambers have passed identical text, the bill is presented to the President, who has ten days (Sundays excepted) to act: sign it into law, veto it and send it back, or do nothing — in which case it becomes law anyway, unless Congress has adjourned, when silence becomes a pocket veto.

   On the feed

   📌 Presented to President 📜✍️ Signed by the President 📜✍️ Became Public Law ❌ Vetoed ❌ Pocket Vetoed
7. 7

   The override: Congress's last word

   A vetoed bill isn't necessarily dead. If two-thirds of both chambers vote to override, the bill becomes law over the President's objection — one of the hardest thresholds in American politics to reach.

   On the feed

   ✅🏛️ Passed Over Veto ❌ Veto Override Failed

What a post looks like

Anatomy of an update

Every post follows the same discipline: the bill, its sponsor and committees; the dated action, in the record's own terms; and what honestly comes next. When a bill reaches the President, the feed states the real constitutional clock.

US Bill Tracker
@USBillTracker

H.R. 3497 | Medal of Sacrifice Act | Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) | Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Judiciary Committee 📅 11-05-2026 | ✅🏛️ Passed Senate (unanimous consent) What's next: Presidential Review (±10 Days)

A real post from the feed. Vote results, dates and committee names come from the Congress.gov record verbatim; AI-written summaries, when included, carry an [AI-Generated] label.