United States Constitution

PREAMBLE : We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution

ARTICLES

Amendment

Article 1, Section 7

Text of Article 1, Section 7:
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 becomes 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.

The 'Travis Translation' of Article 1, Section 7:
Clause 1: Any bill raising money (taxes) must begin in the House of Representatives, but the Senate must agree with it, just like any other bill.

Clause 2: When a bill passes both the House and the Senate, the bill goes to the President who must sign it to make it the law. If the President agrees with the bill, the President signs it — but if the President does not agree with the bill, within 10 days, the President writes down why and sends that letter and the bill back to the House of Representatives or the Senate, wherever the bill got started. When Congress gets the letter and the bi II back from the President, the House of Representatives or the Senate puts it all in their journal. Then they talk about it again and vote on it again. If two-thirds of the Representatives and Senators vote for the same bill again, it becomes law. The Representatives and the Senators must have their votes written down on this vote in their journal. If the President does not sign the bill, or does not send the bill back to Congress in 10 days (not counting Sundays), then it becomes law, unless Congress officially leaves to go home (adjourns).

Clause 3: Each law passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate must be signed by the President — or the President must agree with it — and the ones the President does not agree with (those that get “vetoed”) must be passed by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate before it can be the law.

The seventh section of Article I deals with bills and vetoes.

In general, for a bill to become law, both Houses must approve of the bill, and then it is sent to the President for approval. This clause requires, specifically, bills relating to money to be first proposed in the House of Representatives and then sent to the Senate for approval (as opposed to other types of laws that may originate in either the House or the Senate).

Once a bill has been passed by both Houses, it is sent to the President. The President then has ten days to consider the bill. If he doesn’t do anything, it automatically becomes a law. If he approves of the bill, he may sign it, and it becomes a law. If he disapproves of the law, he can send it back to Congress with his objections. This is known as a veto. The bill then can only become law if both Houses of Congress override the veto.This can only be accomplished by a 2/3 majority vote in both Houses. Obviously this is not an easy task – of the thousands of vetoes issued by presidents, only a small percentage has been overridden.