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A plain-language guide to the congressional jargon you actually run into — 15 explainers, no jargon used to explain the jargon.

Congressional action text is written by and for people who already know how Congress works. “Placed on the Union Calendar.” “Motion to reconsider laid on the table.” “Read twice and referred.” If you have ever looked at a bill’s history and wondered whether any of it meant the bill was actually going anywhere, these pages are for you.

Every explainer here started from a phrase that shows up in real Congress.gov bill histories. Each one tells you what the phrase means, what it signals about a bill’s prospects, and what to look for next. They are scrupulously nonpartisan: we describe how the machinery works and take no position on what it should be used for.

How these explainers were written

These pages were drafted with AI assistance and checked against the Congress.gov legislative glossary and Congressional Research Service primers, which are cited at the foot of every entry. We hold this reference material to the same standard we ask of you elsewhere on the site: treat it as a starting point, follow the citations, and verify anything that matters on Congress.gov. Where congressional practice is genuinely contested or unsettled, we say so rather than picking an answer. See our full disclosure on how this site uses AI.

Start here

How a bill becomes a law A bill has to clear the same set of gates in order: introduction, committee, floor vote in the first chamber, the whole thing again in the second chamber, identical text in both, and then the President. Most bills never get past the second gate. Bill vs. resolution Bills (H.R., S.) and joint resolutions (H.J.Res., S.J.Res.) can become law. Simple resolutions (H.Res., S.Res.) and concurrent resolutions (H.Con.Res., S.Con.Res.) cannot — they handle internal congressional business and express opinions.

Committee stage

Referred to the Committee on… The bill has been assigned to the committee with jurisdiction over its subject. This is a routine, near-automatic step that happens to essentially every bill — and it is where the large majority of bills quietly stop. Read twice and referred A Senate formality. Senate rules require a bill to be read by title twice before it can go to committee; both readings normally happen the same day by unanimous consent, so the whole thing collapses into one line of action text. Markup A markup is the meeting where a committee goes through a bill, debates amendments, and votes on them. It is the stage where a bill's text is most likely to change substantially — and one of the strongest signals that a bill is being taken seriously. Ordered to be reported The committee has voted to send the bill to the full chamber. "Ordered to be reported" is the vote; "reported" is the paperwork actually being filed, usually with a written committee report a few days or weeks later.

Floor stage

Placed on the Union Calendar A congressional calendar is a waiting list of bills eligible for floor action, not a schedule. The House Union Calendar holds measures involving taxes, spending or property; the House Calendar holds other public measures; the Senate has a single Calendar of Business. Suspension of the rules A House shortcut for less controversial bills: no more than 40 minutes of debate, no floor amendments, and a two-thirds vote of members present and voting required to pass. Cloture and the filibuster The Senate has no general rule that ends debate by majority vote. Cloture is the procedure that does it — normally requiring three-fifths of all senators, or 60 votes when there are no vacancies — and "filibuster" is the name for using unlimited debate to prevent a vote. Unanimous consent and holds Most Senate business happens by unanimous consent — a request that proceeds unless a single senator objects. A "hold" is a senator's private notice that they would object, which is why one member can stall a measure the chamber broadly supports. Motion to reconsider laid on the table A housekeeping step that makes a vote final. A chamber's vote can normally be reconsidered once; by making and immediately tabling that motion, the chamber uses up the opportunity and closes the question for good. Budget reconciliation A special fast-track process for certain budget legislation. Because the Congressional Budget Act limits Senate debate on a reconciliation bill to 20 hours, it cannot be filibustered and can pass the Senate with a simple majority — but the Byrd rule tightly limits what can be in it.

Becoming law

Engrossed, enrolled, presented Three near-identical-sounding words for three different stages. Engrossed is the official copy as passed by one chamber; enrolled is the final copy passed in identical form by both; presented means it has been delivered to the President. Veto, pocket veto, and override The President can sign a bill, return it with a veto, or do nothing. Doing nothing for ten days (Sundays excepted) makes it law if Congress is in session, and kills it if adjournment prevents return — a pocket veto. A returned veto can be overridden by two-thirds of both chambers. Why most bills die Only a small fraction of introduced bills become law. Most simply stop receiving action, and every bill that has not been enacted expires automatically when the two-year Congress ends. Nobody has to vote a bill down for it to die.

Put it to use

The fastest way to make any of this stick is to read a real bill’s history with the vocabulary in hand. Search for a bill you have heard about, or browse what has moved in Congress recently, and work down the action list. Within a few bills the pattern stops looking like noise.

Sources we build from

The Congress.gov Glossary of Legislative Terms and the Congressional Research Service’s legislative-process reports are the authoritative, nonpartisan references on this subject, and they are free to the public. Where we summarize, they are the source; where you need certainty, they are where to go.