Constitution

Article I, Section 7: How a Bill Becomes Law

Section 7 says revenue bills start in the House, every bill must pass both houses and go to the President, and a veto can be overridden by two-thirds of each.

4Conservative Editors · Published November 8, 2026

The text

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

In plain English

Clause 1: the Origination Clause. Bills "for raising Revenue," meaning tax bills, must start in the House. The Senate may amend them as freely as other bills. In practice the Senate has often taken a House-passed revenue bill and replaced its entire text, a practice the clause has been read to permit.

Clause 2: the Presentment Clause and the veto. A bill becomes law only after it passes both houses in identical form and is presented to the President. The President has three choices:

  • Sign it, and it becomes law.
  • Veto it by returning it with written objections to the house where it started. Each house may then override by a two-thirds vote, recorded by name.
  • Do nothing. If ten days pass (Sundays excepted) while Congress is in session, the bill becomes law without a signature. If Congress adjourns and prevents its return, the bill dies; this is the "pocket veto."

Clause 3: orders and resolutions. Congress cannot evade the President by calling a measure a "resolution" instead of a "bill." Anything requiring the agreement of both houses, except a vote to adjourn, must also go to the President. (Proposed constitutional amendments are a long-settled exception, since Article V sends them to the states.)

What the Founders said

The Origination Clause carried weight at the Convention. It was part of the bargain over representation: large states accepted equal state votes in the Senate in exchange, among other things, for the rule that tax bills begin in the popularly elected, population-based House. It also echoed the English principle that the Commons, not the Lords, controls the purse.

In Federalist No. 58 Madison called the House's power over the purse "the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people."

Hamilton defended the veto in Federalist No. 73. He gave two reasons: it allows the President to defend his office against legislative encroachment, and it provides a further check against laws passed in haste or by faction. He acknowledged the risk that good laws would sometimes be stopped, and answered that the injury from occasionally blocking a few good laws is outweighed by the advantage of preventing a number of bad ones. The override, set at two-thirds rather than the three-quarters some delegates proposed, kept the veto from becoming absolute.

How the courts have read it

  • The Pocket Veto Case (1929): an adjournment of Congress at the end of a session that prevents the President from returning a bill within ten days triggers a pocket veto.
  • Twin City Bank v. Nebeker (1897): a bill whose main purpose is something other than raising revenue, even if it imposes a charge, is not a "Bill for raising Revenue."
  • United States v. Munoz-Flores (1990): Origination Clause challenges can be heard by courts; a special assessment funding a crime victims' fund was not a revenue bill.
  • INS v. Chadha (1983): a one-house "legislative veto" of executive action violated both bicameralism and presentment. Lawmaking requires passage by both houses and presentment to the President.
  • Clinton v. City of New York (1998): the Line Item Veto Act was unconstitutional because it let the President cancel parts of signed laws, in effect amending them without following Section 7.

Why it matters now

Section 7 is the Constitution's recipe for lawmaking, and its steps are not optional. Every shortcut, from one-house vetoes to line-item cancellations, has eventually run into the text. The same principle applies to rules written by agencies: they bind citizens without ever passing through either house or reaching the President's desk as a bill. Statutes such as the Congressional Review Act try to restore some of that accountability within the limits Chadha set.

The Origination Clause reflects a principle conservatives have long championed: taxation should start with the representatives closest to the people and most frequently answerable to them. The modern habit of passing enormous, last-minute packages, often drafted outside regular order, weakens that principle even when the formal steps are followed.

The veto, finally, is a feature of separated powers, not a defect. It gives the one officer elected by the whole nation a role in lawmaking, while leaving the final word to a broad supermajority in Congress.

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