You probably remember the cartoon with the singing scroll on the Capitol steps. It got the basics right. It left out how hard the trip is.
Most bills never get a vote
Thousands of bills are introduced in each two-year Congress. The large majority never get out of committee. A bill gets sent to a committee, and if the chair doesn’t schedule it, that’s usually the end.
If it survives committee
The committee can hold hearings, rewrite the bill (that’s called markup), and vote to send it to the full chamber. Then party leaders decide whether and when it gets a floor vote. In the House, a majority is enough. In the Senate, most bills also have to get past the filibuster, which takes 60 votes.
Then it has to happen twice
The House and Senate have to pass the exact same text. If their versions differ, they negotiate a single version, and both chambers vote again.
The last step
The president can sign it or veto it, or do nothing. If Congress is in session and the president does nothing for ten days, not counting Sundays, it becomes law without a signature. A veto can be overridden with two-thirds of both chambers, which rarely happens.
Why this matters
When a politician says they “introduced a bill,” that’s step one of a long road. The better question is whether it has a committee hearing scheduled.