The correct interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause might — just might — be the single most important question of American constitutional law.
The Necessary and Proper Clause would have been familiar to Founding-era people from their everyday lives. Then, as today, people often designated agents to act on their behalves in various circumstances, ranging from selling goods overseas to managing farms to serving as guardians for minor children.
The legal documents creating those agency relationships would expressly identify the main, or principal , powers to be exercised by the agents. Questions would naturally arise about whether the agents could exercise implied, or incidental , powers in carrying out their tasks.
For example, could agents selling goods overseas agree to a sale on credit or could they only accept cash? Could someone charged with managing a farm lease it to a third party or even sell the farm outright if an attractive offer came along? A legal document could try to specify some of those incidental powers, but to anticipate every circumstance would be both hopeless and expensive. It was drafted by a Committee of Detail consisting of four practicing lawyers familiar with writing agency documents and a businessman familiar with applying them.
Several important conclusions follow from the agency-law origins and character of the Necessary and Proper Clause. First, the initial question for a law enacted under the Clause is not whether the law is necessary, proper, or for carrying into execution other federal powers. The initial question is always whether the law represents exercise of a truly incidental power or instead tries to exercise a principal power that would need to be specifically enumerated.
In private law contexts, such questions were often informed by customs. By the late eighteenth century, for example, the power to manage a farm presumptively included as an incident the power to lease the farm, but it did not presumptively include the power to sell the farm.
If you wanted to let an agent sell the farm, you needed to spell that out as a principal power in the document. As is true with almost any plausible constitutional principle, applying the distinction between principal and incidental constitutional powers is not always easy. It is a close question as a matter of original meaning, for example, whether Congress can incorporate a national bank as an incident to its enumerated financial powers.
But some questions are easy. Congress can clearly create federal offices and impose penalties for violation of federal law as incidents to its principal powers. Comstock , is patently a principal rather than incidental power. The power to regulate intra-state commerce, which grounds much of the modern federal regulatory regime, may also qualify as a principal power. If so, no amount of necessity, convenience, or helpfulness can turn a principal power into an incident.
Subcommittees report their findings to the full committee. Finally there is a vote by the full committee - the bill is "ordered to be reported.
If substantial amendments are made, the committee can order the introduction of a "clean bill" which will include the proposed amendments. This new bill will have a new number and will be sent to the floor while the old bill is discarded. The chamber must approve, change or reject all committee amendments before conducting a final passage vote. In the House, most bills go to the Rules committee before reaching the floor. The committee adopts rules that will govern the procedures under which the bill will be considered by the House.
A "closed rule" sets strict time limits on debate and forbids the introduction of amendments. These rules can have a major impact on whether the bill passes. Debate House: Debate is limited by the rules formulated in the Rules Committee.
If passed, it is then sent to the other chamber unless that chamber already has a similar measure under consideration.
If either chamber does not pass the bill then it dies. If the House and Senate pass the same bill then it is sent to the President. If the House and Senate pass different bills they are sent to Conference Committee. Most major legislation goes to a Conference Committee. Conference Committee Members from each house form a conference committee and meet to work out the differences.
The committee is usually made up of senior members who are appointed by the presiding officers of the committee that originally dealt with the bill.
The representatives from each house work to maintain their version of the bill. If the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it prepares a written conference report, which is submitted to each chamber.
The conference report must be approved by both the House and the Senate. The President The bill is sent to the President for review.
A bill becomes law if signed by the President or if not signed within 10 days and Congress is in session. If Congress adjourns before the 10 days and the President has not signed the bill then it does not become law "Pocket Veto. The chamber that originated the legislation can attempt to override the veto by a vote of two-thirds of those present. If the veto of the bill is overridden in both chambers then it becomes law.
Types of Legislation Bills - A legislative proposal that if passed by both the House and the Senate and approved by the President becomes law. Public Bill - A bill that affects the general public if enacted into law. Other Terms Calendar Wednesday - A procedure in the House of Representatives during which each standing committees may bring up for consideration any bill that has been reported on the floor on or before the previous day.
Anyone elected to either body can propose a new law. A bill is a proposal for a new law. A bill can be introduced in either chamber of Congress by a senator or representative who sponsors it. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill.
If the bill passes one body of Congress, it goes to the other body to go through a similar process of research, discussion, changes, and voting. Once both bodies vote to accept a bill, they must work out any differences between the two versions. Then both chambers vote on the same exact bill and, if it passes, they present it to the president.
The president then considers the bill. The president can approve the bill and sign it into law or not approve veto a bill. If the president chooses to veto a bill , in most cases Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law. But, if the president pocket vetoes a bill after Congress has adjourned, the veto cannot be overridden.
The Senate and the House have some procedural differences between them. How a bill becomes law when it originates in the House of Representatives.
How a bill becomes law when it originates in the Senate. Active legislation in the Senate. Congress creates and passes bills. The president then may sign those bills into law. Federal courts may review the laws to see if they agree with the Constitution.
If it passes, the measure is referred to the other chamber, where this process begins anew. When a majority in the House, and in the Senate, agree the bill should become law, it is signed and sent to the president.
The president may sign the act of Congress into law, or he may veto it. Congress can then override the president's veto by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate thereby making the vetoed act a law.
Congressional Documents and Debate.
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