Legislative Issues for Creating Political Change

 by Edward Ulrich, updated September 23, 2022



This article explains legislative issues concerning creating political change, including summarizing the process of how a bill becomes a law; explaining the major political systems being used in the world today; explaining issues of United States politicians being loyal to political backers; explaining how the governmental system of the United States has migrated away from its original Constitutional principals; and explaining the public’s general lack of knowledge about the activities of Congress.

This page is part of the article Creating Political Change Through Communication and Legislation.











A summary of the process of how a bill becomes a law


— Every bill starts out as an idea that is sponsored by a Senator who introduces it as a bill.  A bill can be introduced into either the Senate or the House of Representatives.  The Senate is made up of two elected Senators from each state, and the House of Representatives is made up of over 435 elected representatives, the number coming from each state being determined based on the population of that state.

— Once the bill is introduced, it will be sent to a committee of pre-selected members of Congress which specialize in one issue, such as Agriculture, Energy, and Banking.  Once the bill is debated, modified, and approved by a particular committee, it can continue to the full house.

— Once the bill is approved by a committee, it is then introduced into either the full House of Representatives or Senate where the members may discuss, debate, and then vote on the bill.  If more than half of the Senators approve the bill, then it goes to the other house of Congress.  If the bill is not approved, it can either be sent back to the committee or it can be abandoned.

— Once the bill has passed one particular house of Congress, it is sent to the other house where the same process of approval by committee, debate, and vote by the full house takes place.  If more than half of those Senators vote in favor of the bill, it passes and is then sent to the President to sign.  If the president signs the bill, it becomes a law.  If the President vetoes the bill, it is sent back to Congress where it can either be changed to suit the President’s liking, or the veto can be overridden by two-thirds of both Houses of Senate.


View a directory of House Committees  |  View a directory of Senate Committees



















Issues with politicians being loyal to financial backers such as special interest groups and political action committees


The corrupting influence of Lobbyists, Political Action Committees, and Earmarks

Members of Congress often rely on taking money from lobbyists and political action committees (PACs.)  This is a problem because politicians are then indebted for favors to those organizations who have contributed to their campaigns.

Some politicians pledge not to accept money from lobbyists and PACs, however this puts those politicians at a disadvantage due to the fact that it deprives them from campaigning resources which their competitors collect, and public knowledge of the corrupting effects of lobbyist and PAC contributions is not widespread enough to translate into enough votes to offset the competitor’s advantage.  Also, many politicians accept money from dishonest means yet still attempt to win votes by making campaign claims of not doing so.


“Earmarks” allow members of Congress to decide who gets money spent by the United States Government, and often members of Congress divert such money intended for the public’s benefit to political donors and “pork-barrel” projects.





Campaign Reform

If campaign reforms are not created by way of legislation, those candidates who attempt to voluntarily be ethical in their actions are put at a competitive disadvantage by not having the same campaign resources that their competitors have.  Some states are now enacting “clean election” laws that help to eliminate the influence of special interest groups.  The organization Public Campaign advocates to reform and reduce the role of special interest money in state and federal elections.































Issues with the lack of public knowledge about the activities of Congress


Members of Congress escape accountability and take unethical liberties due to their constituents not being aware of their true agendas.


Lack of transparency about the activities of members of Congress and ways of circumventing the problem

Even with increased media and activist attention, much of the activities of members of Congress would remain a mystery.  A solution to this problem is to increase the transparency of the actions of people in Congress through making their activities public through changes in the law and rules of Congress.  This could involve making members of Congress be required to post weekly updates of their activities including campaign contributions, meetings with registered lobbyists, their latest earmark requests and significant changes to their personal wealth, as suggested by the organization Fix Congress First.



Lack of mainstream media coverage about the activities of Congress and ways of circumventing the problem

Mainstream media outlets rarely mention the daily activities of Congress in ways that are understandable to most people.  This could be fixed by such outlets incorporating quick daily information about the activities of Congress including issues concerning upcoming bills that are explained in layman’s terms.  Media outlets would need to be pressured into doing so because increased public knowledge about the daily activities of Congress would conflict with the agendas of the people who control the decisions of the media.