Buying safe products, drinking pure water and breathing clean air, working and traveling safely, and living free of discrimination are just a few of the qualities of American life ensured in large measure by government laws and regulations.

Many of the laws passed by Congress authorize government "regulatory" agencies, like the FDA and EPA, to put the laws to work by creating regulations to implement and enforce them. Here you will find a basic explanation of how laws and regulations come to be, what they are, and where to find them.

Congress Creates a Law

• Laws are proposed or "introduced" by a member of either the House or Senate as a "bill." All bills currently being considered by Congress can be found on the Thomas Legislative Information System, a service of the Library of Congress. Daily agendas of bills being considered by Congress can be found on the U.S. Congress Today page of the U.S. Government Info/Resources Web site.
  
  
• If both the House and Senate approve a bill, it is sent to the president who may either approve it or veto it. If the president approves and signs the bill, it becomes an act, and is listed as a Public Law. For more information, see: How Bills Become Laws or Not.
  
  All Public Laws enacted since 1973 (the 93rd Congress) can be found on the Browse Public Laws page of the Thomas Legislative Information System.
  
  Public Laws are further combined or "codified" to become part of the United States Code. 
  
  View the U.S. Code - US Government Printing Office
  Search the U.S. Code - US Government Printing Office
  View or Search the U.S. Code - Cornell University
  Download the U.S. Code - U.S. House of Representatives

Many of the laws created by Congress establish broad general goals. For example, the main goal of the Clean Air Act of 1970 is "to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation's air." 

Congress, however, does not typically establish details of how such broad goals are to be carried out and enforced. Those tasks are assigned to one or more regulatory agencies. In the case of the Clean Air Act, Congress assigns the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to interpret and enforce the goals of the Act.

Once Congress has created a law, the regulatory agencies must put that law to work through the rulemaking process.

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