Who signs bills to become laws?

Which answers are accepted?

What does the answer mean?

A bill is a proposal for a law. It starts in Congress, where the House of Representatives and the Senate must each vote to approve the same version. Only then does it reach the President, and a signature turns it into a law.

Both lists accept one answer, the President. This question is about the last step, the signature, and not about who wrote the bill or who voted for it.

Approval by Congress is not the end of the road. The bill then waits for the President to sign it. Or it waits for the Constitution's rules about a veto and about ten days of silence to apply.

Why does USCIS ask it?

USCIS asks this to see that you understand how the branches share the work of making law. Members of Congress write and vote, the President signs or vetoes, and the courts later explain what a law means.

Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution says a bill approved by both houses goes to the President. A President who objects can return it, and two thirds of each house can still make it a law. If the President neither signs nor returns it within ten days, Sundays excepted, it normally becomes a law anyway.

How the officer asks it

The officer asks who signs bills to become laws, and the answer is two words: the President. Another question on the lists asks who vetoes bills, and that answer is the same person. Listen for the verb, sign or veto, then pick the matching row in the check.

What are the common wrong answers?

These people work close to lawmaking, but none of them signs a bill into law.

• The Speaker of the House. The Speaker leads the House, which votes on bills but cannot make one a law alone.
• The Chief Justice. The Chief Justice leads the Supreme Court, and courts explain laws instead of signing them.
• The Senate Majority Leader. This senator helps run the Senate's work, and the Senate is only one half of Congress.

How can I remember it?

Picture the bottom of a page. Congress writes the page, and the President signs at the bottom. Sign belongs with President, and a signed bill is a law.

Which questions are related?

• Who is Commander in Chief of the U.S. military?The President leads the armed forces as Commander in Chief, which keeps the military under an elected civilian.
• What does the President’s Cabinet do?The Cabinet is the group of senior advisers to the President, mostly the leaders of the executive departments.
• What are two Cabinet-level positions?Two jobs from the long list of Cabinet-level positions, such as Attorney General or Secretary of State.
• What does the judicial branch do?The courts: explaining laws, reviewing them, settling disputes and checking them against the Constitution.

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