How a bill becomes a law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How a bill becomes a law - Essay Example There is another possibility, whereby the President neither assents or declines the bill (also called sitting on a bill), where upon passage of 10 working days, the bill is passed as law. There is an exception to this 10-day rule, commonly referred to as a pocket veto. In a pocket veto, â€Å"the President can kill a bill if it goes unsigned and Congress adjourns prior to the 10-day time limit. The term "pocket veto" comes from the fact that if the President knows an adjournment is coming, he can place the bill in his pocket and forget about it.† (Mount, 2010) While there are several routes through which a bill can be brought to the floor for discussion, the most common path is through specialized committees. For example, since bills usually concern a particular topic, like raising the salary of military personnel, most of them will â€Å"fall into a specific sub-committee's area of responsibility. There is a Subcommittee on Pay, Promotion, and Retirement that would consider the pay bill. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee.