Jason is a writer and attorney who holds a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws as well as an MFA in Creative Writing
You are a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. You recently wrote the bill of your career: a bill that would raise revenue for public schools through the use of a new government funding app created by your nine-year-old daughter, Wendy. The bill passed the House with almost unanimous bipartisan support, and you heard great things about it from the Senators you talked to. Then the bill came back. It was gutted. It was unrecognizable. Sitting on your desk, reading through it, only the app section remains. The rest of it is a Senate bill for raising taxes in order to pay for a congressional valet parking service. You run the bill across the hall to your friend and mentor, Congressman Periwinkle.
''It's ludicrous!'' you say to her. ''They can't do that! It violates the Origination Clause!''
''Oh, my young paduan,'' she says, patting you on the back, ''you still have so much to learn about Congress.''
You decide to research the Origination Clause, and you find the following helpful information:
The Origination Clause is found in Article 1, Section 7 of the US Constitution. It states, ''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.'' The clause was created through heated debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. At the time, Senators were elected by state legislators. Members of the House of Representatives, however, were elected by popular vote in each state.
Representatives from large states felt that the power to tax should rest in the congressional body that directly represented the people of each state, the House of Representatives, without the possibility of amendment by the Senate. The representatives from smaller states felt that their power on questions of taxation would be diminished based on the low numbers of their representatives in the House of Representatives and wanted some power over taxation in the Senate, where they were on equal footing with larger states. The debating representatives compromised by creating language that allowed revenue raising activities to originate in the House, but amendments could be proposed and concurred upon in the Senate.
The House of Representatives has interpreted the clause to apply to any legislation that affects revenue. This includes revenue that is generated through taxes and that are deposited in the Treasury for the general use of funding the federal government. The House has interpreted the clause to also apply to any measure that would incidentally affect revenues, such as any ban on the import of certain items. If there is a ban on the import of an item, it would mean that item could not be taxed upon import, reducing revenue.
The Supreme Court, however, has interpreted the clause more narrowly. The Supreme Court has stated that the clause applies only to legislation in which raising revenue is its primary purpose, and not just an incidental effect. Furthermore, the legislation must be for raising revenue for general government expenses, not to fund specific programs. For example, in United States v. Munoz-Flores, the Court found constitutional the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, which required people convicted of certain crimes to pay a monetary assessment toward a special Crime Victims Fund. The Court found that even though the bill had originated in the Senate, because the money assessed was for a specific purpose, the law did not offend the Origination Clause.
The two interpretations serve two purposes. The House interpretation governs procedures for passing bills into law within the House and Senate. The Supreme Court's interpretation affects whether a law already passed by Congress is or is not Constitutional.
The House of Representatives and not the Senate must be the first to propose legislation that raises revenue. This includes a prohibition on the Senate adding a revenue raising amendment to a House originated bill that does not raise revenue. At times, the Senate and the House of Representatives disagree about funding measures. The House has one method to enforce its own version of the legislation in such an instance: blue slipping. Blue slipping occurs when the House of Representatives sends back to the Senate any bill or proposal for an amendment that it feels impinges on its authority under the Origination Clause. The procedure is called blue slipping because the House resolution returning the legislation to the Senate is printed on blue paper.
After reading all of this info, you decide that there's not much you can do. Your bill for raising revenue started in the House, and maybe all the Senate did was make a proposal for amendment. But you won't go down without a fight. You're going to make a resolution to blue slip the copy of the bill sent to the Senate. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but it's worth a try. Wendy is counting on you!
The Origination Clause states that the House of Representatives is the only legislative body that can originate bills for raising revenue. The Senate can propose amendments to bills raising revenue or concur with amendments to the bill that originated in the house. The clause was a compromise between representatives of the Continental Congress who wanted to keep the power to impose taxes on the people in the legislative body that was directly elected by the people: the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has interpreted the clause to apply to any bill for raising revenue, even if raising revenue is an incidental part of the bill. The Supreme Court has interpreted the clause to apply only to bills in which raising revenue is its primary purpose, and the funds raised will be deposited in the Treasury for general use to fund the government. The House enforces the Origination Clause through a process called blue slipping, in which a revenue bill that originated in the Senate is sent back to the Senate.
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Introduction to Political Science: Help and Review22 chapters | 299 lessons | 1 flashcard set
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