How A Bill Becomes Law

How does a bill become law? It’s a surprisingly direct process that takes place in the legislative branch of our government.

The legislative branch of our government is composed of 100 Senators, 435 members of the House of Representatives and 12,719 registered lobbyists. That’s 23 registered lobbyists for every member of Congress.

Now, let’s say a corporation, a special interest group or even a very wealthy individual wants to enact a law that will benefit them. For example, let’s say you are Charles Koch and you own industries that, among other things, transport crude oil, petroleum products, liquified natural gas and other chemicals through 4,000 miles of pipelines. You also own an exploration company that develops petroleum and natural gas properties in the United States and Canada. You’re 78 years old, you live in a huge mansion, you’re worth 40 billion dollars and life is good.

But then you find out that some greedy homeowners are installing reasonably-priced solar panels on their homes and selling the excess energy back to the utility companies. The nerve of these people! They’re reducing their electric bills and doing something good for the environment at the same time. This has to stop.

What do you do? Simple. You pass a law that would impose a surtax on this nefarious practice. Then the greedy homeowners won’t be so anxious to install those evil solar panels and help the environment. And your carbon-spewing industries will continue to thrive as they always have.

But how do you get that law passed? That’s the easy part. You have one of the many lawyers on your staff write a bill for you. Then you buy enough members of Congress to pass the bill into law.

And that, dear children, is how a bill becomes law.

By: Dave

Dave is the webmaster of StrangerAmerica.com, a website devoted to the greatness that is Dick Cheney.

He is also the creator of RonnieReagan.com, a site devoted to a man considered by some to have been one of the better B-grade actors to portray a U.S. president.

You will find the complete writings of Dave at LookAmerica.com, including his quest for the perfect meatball and his encounters with Pat the Nazi and the Psycho Dentist.