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Why would a Senate bill be stuck on 'Introduced' for over a decade?

What is required to get it going, whatever that voting outcome may be.

The example I came across (while reading on Catch-22's author which led to former Senator Jim Webb) is: S.759 - A bill to prohibit the use of funds for military operations in Iran.

I'm only curious about the topic in general (what appears to be a stuck bill), not the current USA/Iran situation.

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Once a congressional term expires (every two years), any legislation that wasn't passed expires. It will need to be introduced again when the next term starts.

What happened with this bill (and any similar bill from previous terms) is simply that it was introduced, referred to a committee, and that committee didn't act on it before the end of the term. Thus, the last update to its status is that it was introduced, but the bill itself is dead.

I don't know why the status doesn't get updated at the end of the term to indicate that it's now expired, but that appears to be the standard.

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  • A congressional session lasts one year, not two.
    – Steve Melnikoff
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 8:01
  • @SteveMelnikoff - Good call. I've updated it to "Congressional term" instead.
    – Bobson
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 15:41

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