MADISONCENTER FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
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The constitutional text

Article I · Section 7

Select any highlighted phrase to understand what it means.

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

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively, If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Source: National Constitution Center edition. Original wording is preserved; commentary explains historical and superseded provisions.

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Article I, Section 7, Clause 1b

The Senate can amend revenue bills

Current text
but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills

What it means

The Senate may propose or concur in amendments to revenue bills as it does with other bills. The House’s exclusive origination role therefore does not eliminate the Senate’s substantive legislative participation.

Historical setting

This qualification preserves bicameral bargaining while recognizing the House’s special tax-originating position. The founding design did not simply transfer the entire revenue power to one chamber.

What it does

Tax legislation must still emerge as text accepted by both chambers and pass through presentment. An originating House bill can consequently develop into a significantly revised measure through negotiation.

Debate & interpretation

The interpretive issue is how amendment authority interacts with the origination guarantee. More generally, the clause illustrates that a procedural privilege may be important without amounting to exclusive control over policy.

A common misreading

The Senate is not limited to saying yes or no to every revenue proposal exactly as the House first wrote it.

Think it through

At what point would a power to amend threaten to make an exclusive right to originate practically meaningless?

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Sources & further reading

Original Madison Center commentary. Explanations distinguish the text, historical context, and interpretive disagreements.

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