Congress Bill Template: Enacting Clause, Sections, and Amendments

A congressional bill template is the standard skeleton the House and Senate Offices of the Legislative Counsel use to draft every piece of federal legislation. It begins with a mandatory enacting clause, moves through a conventional order of sections (short title, findings, definitions, substantive provisions, authorizations, effective date), follows rigid conventions for amending existing law, and is set in typography controlled by the Government Publishing Office. Rules differ slightly between the two chambers, but the core structure is the same.

The Enacting Clause Comes First

Federal law requires that every Act of Congress open with one exact sentence: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.”¹ No variation is permitted. Without it, a proposal cannot become law. The clause is set in italics on the printed page, separated from everything that follows.

Joint resolutions use a parallel resolving clause: “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.”² If you are drafting a joint resolution rather than a bill, that swap is the only structural difference at the top of the document.

The Standard Order of Sections

The House Office of the Legislative Counsel publishes a general template for ordering a bill’s contents. The office notes it does not rigidly follow the sequence in every case, but it is the default starting point.³ The Senate’s Legislative Drafting Manual sets out a nearly identical order for single-subject bills.⁴ A typical bill moves through the following sections:

Short title and, for longer legislation, a table of contents. Section 1 names the bill (the “short title” like the CHIPS and Science Act) that becomes the common citation form. A separate “long title” runs across the top of the document and begins with a formal description such as “A bill to amend…” or “A bill to establish…”.
Findings and purposes. These prefatory statements are optional and do not create legal rights or duties on their own, but courts sometimes use them to interpret ambiguous language elsewhere in the statute.⁵
Definitions. A dedicated section that pins down how key terms are used throughout the bill. These definitions are legally binding and control how agencies and courts read the law later, which is why drafters place them early.
Substantive provisions. The core policy changes, program authorities, or regulatory mandates, each in its own numbered section with a descriptive heading.
Administrative provisions and regulations. Rules for how agencies implement the law, including any rulemaking authority.
Penalties. Civil or criminal consequences for violations, if applicable.
Authorization of appropriations. This provision recommends a funding level but does not actually spend money. Congress must pass a separate appropriations bill to release funds; the authorization sets a reference ceiling that appropriators are not strictly bound by.⁶
Conforming amendments. Technical changes to other existing laws so they line up with the new bill.
Effective date and termination. When the law kicks in and, if applicable, when it expires.

Numbering Inside a Section

Each section carries a sequential number and a descriptive heading in capital letters. Within a section, the standard hierarchy runs: subsections labeled (a), (b), (c); paragraphs labeled (1), (2), (3); subparagraphs labeled (A), (B), (C); and clauses labeled (i), (ii), (iii). This layered numbering matters because floor amendments and committee markups reference specific subdivisions by label. When a legislator moves to strike “paragraph (2) of subsection (c),” everyone in the room knows exactly which text is at stake.

How a Bill Amends Existing Law

Most bills do not write on a blank slate. They change statutes already on the books, and the conventions for doing so are set out in the House Legislative Counsel’s Manual on Drafting Style. The standard method is called cut-and-bite: the bill identifies the existing text to be removed, then specifies the replacement. A typical instruction reads: “Section 12 of the ___ Act is amended by striking ‘XX’ and inserting ‘YY’.”⁷

A few drafting quirks are worth knowing. The Manual specifies that “strike” is the correct term, not “strike out.” You “insert” material in the middle of existing text but “add” it at the end. And “in lieu thereof” after “insert” is treated as redundant when the new text is meant to go where the old text was removed. When large blocks of text must be removed, the drafter identifies the beginning and ending phrases rather than quoting everything in between.⁷

Boilerplate Provisions to Consider

Certain provisions appear so often in bills that they are effectively standard-issue. Drafters include or exclude them depending on the bill’s scope.

Severability Clauses

A severability clause tells a court that if one provision is struck down as unconstitutional, the rest should survive. Without one, the Supreme Court historically presumed Congress intended the statute to stand or fall as a whole, though modern courts no longer apply that presumption as rigidly.⁸ Including it is cheap insurance; leaving it out invites litigation over whether Congress would have wanted the rest of the law to survive.

Effective Dates

If a bill does not specify when it takes effect, the default under federal practice is the date the President signs it into law. Drafters who want a delayed start, a retroactive application, or a phased rollout must spell that out in the text. Many bills set the effective date as “the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment” to give agencies time to write implementing regulations.

Sunset Provisions

A sunset clause gives legislation an automatic expiration date. If Congress does not renew the law before that date, it lapses. The device is most common in national-security and surveillance legislation, where Congress wants to force periodic reassessment of expanded government powers. Some sunsets require an affirmative vote to renew; others expire unless Congress passes a resolution blocking the expiration.

Formatting and Typography

The Government Publishing Office controls the physical appearance of every printed bill. Bills and resolutions are set in 14-point type with 12-point leading. The text runs in roman type, with italics reserved for the enacting or resolving clause and the word “Provided” in provisos.⁹ Titles are centered within a 30-pica column width. The first page of a long bill should contain no more than 12 lines of body text, with the words “A Bill” positioned slightly above the center of the page.

Line numbers run down the left-hand margin of every printed bill so legislators can pinpoint exact language during markups and floor debate. When a chair says “on page 4, line 17,” everyone can find the phrase immediately. The header at the top of the first page identifies the Congress number, session, and chamber of origin.

Once a bill is enrolled (the final version sent to the President after both chambers pass it), the formatting changes. Enrolled bills are set in smaller 10-point type, solid, with a narrower column, and pages are made up to 50 picas in depth.⁹

The Constitutional Authority Statement

House rules impose one requirement that sits alongside the bill itself. Under House Rule XII, a bill or joint resolution may not be introduced in the House unless the sponsor submits a statement for the Congressional Record citing the specific constitutional power or powers that authorize Congress to enact it. The statement is printed in a designated section of the Record and made publicly available electronically by the Clerk. For Senate bills that reach the House, the chair of the committee with jurisdiction may submit the statement on the bill’s behalf.

The Digital Version: USLM

Bills are also published in a structured digital format called United States Legislative Markup. USLM is an XML schema designed to represent congressional legislation in machine-readable form. It supports conversion and ongoing maintenance of the United States Code, the drafting of new codification bills, and compatibility with other legislative XML formats.¹⁰ The schema uses a hierarchy of elements built on four primitives (marker, inline, block, and content), with a naming convention that follows camelCase for elements and attributes. For anyone building tools that parse legislative text, the USLM User Guide published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel is the definitive technical reference.

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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 U.S.C. 101 – Enacting Clause
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 U.S.C. 102 – Resolving Clause
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Office of the Legislative Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. Quick Guide to Legislative Drafting
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United States Senate. Senate Legislative Drafting Manual
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Congressional Research Service. Understanding Federal Legislation – A Section-by-Section Guide to Key Legal Considerations
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Congressional Research Service. Authorizations and the Appropriations Process
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U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Legislative Counsel. House Legislative Counsel’s Manual on Drafting Style
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Congressional Research Service. Understanding Federal Legislation – A Section-by-Section Guide to Key Legal Considerations
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GovInfo. Bill Style Manual of the United States Government Publishing Office
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. User Guide for the USLM Schema