An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Government and is legally empowered by the United States Constitution. A statute is a formal written enactment of a Legislative authority that governs a Country, State, City, or County. The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. The legislation is passed, and therefore becomes federal law, when it receives a simple majority in both houses of Congress and is subsequently signed by the President. Legislation (or " Statutory law " is law which has been promulgated (or " Enacted quot by a Legislature or other Governing A majority of representatives in both the lower house, the House of Representatives, and the upper house, the Senate, must vote for the legislation and the President must sign it before it is declared federal law. The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives

Contents 1 Paths to Promulgation 2 Other uses 3 See also 4 References

Paths to Promulgation

A statute or resolution adopted by both houses of Congress must pass through one of the following processes in order to become law:

1. Signature by the President of the United States,
2. Inaction by the President after ten days from reception (excluding Sundays) while the Congress is in session, or
3. Reconsideration by the Congress after a Presidential veto during its session. This article concerns the legal meaning of the term resolution. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by A veto, Latin for "I forbid" is used to Denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of Legislation. (A bill must receive a 2/3 majority vote in both houses to override a president's veto).

The President promulgates acts of Congress made by the first two methods. Promulgation or enactment is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring new statutory or Administrative law when it receives final approval ^[1] If an act is made by the third method, the presiding officer of the house that last reconsidered the act promulgates it. ^[2]

Under the United States Constitution, if the President does not return a bill or resolution to Congress with objections before the time limit expires, then the bill automatically becomes an act; however, if the Congress is adjourned at the end of this period, then the bill dies and cannot be reconsidered (see pocket veto). A pocket veto is a legislative maneuver in American federal Lawmaking that allows the President to indirectly Veto a bill In addition, if the President rejects a bill or resolution while the Congress is in session, a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Congress is needed for reconsideration to be successful.

Acts of Congress that become law are published in the United States Statutes at Large. The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large and abbreviated Stat Nearly all acts are drafted as amendments to the United States Code (published by private companies for the benefit of practicing lawyers), so the United States Code will change to reflect the addition, modification, or removal of text by a particular act. The United States Code ( USC) is a compilation and Codification of the general and permanent federal Law of the United States.

No act of Congress may violate the Constitution, nor otherwise exceed the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. Otherwise, the United States Supreme Court can declare the act to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary.

The judicial declaration of an act's unconstitutionality does not excise it from the United States Code. It merely implies that any further attempt to enforce the act in the courts would be futile. The modified statutes in the versions of the United States Code will be annotated with warnings indicating that the statute is no longer good law. But the statute will continue to be present in the Statutes at Large, and it will not disappear from the United States Code unless and until another act of Congress explicitly removes it.

Other uses

• Also used technically for a bill that has been passed by one House of Congress.
• An act of Congress can also refer to acts by legislative bodies called Congress elsewhere around the world like in the Philippines. A congress is a formal meeting of representatives from different countries (or by extension Constituent States, or independent organisations (such as different Trade The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP
• Sometimes used in informal speech, to indicate something for which getting permission is burdensome. As in "It takes an act of Congress to get a building permit in this town. "

See also

• List of United States federal legislation for a list of prominent Acts of Congress. This is a partial list of notable United States federal legislation, in chronological order
• Act of Parliament
• Federal Register

References

• http://bensguide.gpo.gov/6-8/glossary.html

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