Anyone may draft a bill; however, only members of Congress can introduce legislation, and by doing so become the sponsor(s). There are four basic types of legislation: bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions. The official legislative process begins when a bill or resolution is numbered--H.R. signifies a House bill and S. a Senate bill--referred to a committee and printed by the Government Printing Office.

Congressional Record:

The Congressional Record is a daily account of House and Senate floor debate, votes, amendments, bills introduced, cosponsor changes and member's remarks.

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Floor Amendments:

A floor amendment is a motion offered on the floor of the House or Senate to change the text of a bill or another amendment.

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Committee Amendments

Committee members offer and vote on proposed changes to the bill's language, known as amendments, during the committee markup hearings.

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Committee Reports

Committee Reports are prepared by House or Senate committees to explain the content of a bill being reported after the committee has completed its amending work on a bill. They contain views of committee members, a cost impact analysis, and comparisons of the bill to current law.

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Federal Register:

Published by the Office of the Federal register, National Archives and Records Administration, the Federal Register is the Official daily public for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

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Markups:
Markups are committee meetings held to review the text of a bill before reporting it out. Committee members offer and vote on proposed amendments to the bill's language.

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Bills:

There are four different types of congressional legislation: simple resolutions (H.Res., S.Res.), concurrent resolutions (H.Con.Res., S.Con.Res.), joint resolutions (H.J.Res., S.J.Res.) and bills (H.R., S.). If bills and joint resolutions pass both chambers and receive presidential approval, they become law. Simple and concurrent resolutions are only binding on the chamber in which they passed.

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