If a bill receives the approval of the committee it is favorably reported to the Senate or House, as the case may be—­i.e., the bill is returned, accompanied by a report advising the passage of the accompanying bill.  If the bill is not approved by the committee, an unfavorable report is made; bills are seldom passed after such an adverse report.  These reports which accompany the bills, are printed, often at great length, giving reasons for the proposed action in regard to the bills.  When reported by the committee back to the house in which it was introduced, a bill is voted upon, and, if passed, is sent to the other branch.  If passed there, it is ready for the President’s signature; if vetoed, the bill is lost, unless passed over the veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses.  But frequently one house, while not wishing to defeat a measure sent to it from the other house, may desire to change it by some amendment.  If this is done, the bill, as amended, is sent back to the house from which it came, and if then agreed to as amended by it, it is sent to the President for his approval.  Thus by repeated amendments it may pass to and fro between the House and Senate several, times.  In the House of Representatives, many bills are passed through all their various stages by a single vote, by what is known as a “suspension of the rules,” which may be ordered by a two-thirds vote.

The Senate is now divided into between fifty and sixty committees, but the number varies from session to session.  The principal committees are those on (1) Foreign Relations, (2) Privileges and Elections, (3) Judiciary, (4) Commerce, (5) Finance, and (6) Appropriations.  The Senate selects the members for the different committees by ballot, though it is pretty well determined beforehand how each committee shall be constituted by means of party caucuses (informal meetings of members of the same party to determine upon lines of action that will be supported by all).  A committee is always composed of an odd number of members, and both political parties are always represented on every committee, though the majority is, in almost all cases, from that party which has the majority of the members of the Senate.

The House of Representatives is organized into sixty committees, ranging, in their number of members, from thirteen down.  As regards party representation, their constitution is similar to that of the Senate Committees.  The Committee of “Ways and Means,” which regulates customs duties and excise taxes, is by far the most important.

Other important committees are those on (1) Elections, (2) Appropriations, (3) Judiciary, (4) Foreign Affairs, (5) Manufactures, (6) Commerce, (7) Labor.  Every Representative is on one committee, and most of them on several.  Unlike the custom in the Senate, in the House the presiding officer has the sole power of appointment, which makes him, next to the President, the most important and powerful government official.  The chairman of each committee has, of course, a large power over affairs with which his committee is concerned, and for this reason it is often said that it is the chairmen of these committees who rule the land.