Final answer:
The procedure to bring a bill to the House floor for a vote if a House committee refuses to report it is through a discharge petition. This requires a majority of the House (218 members) to sign the petition, allowing the bill to bypass the committee and be considered directly on the House floor.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a House committee refuses to report a bill, there is a procedure to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote. The primary method is through a discharge petition. If a majority of the House (218 members) signs the discharge petition, the bill can bypass the committee stage and be brought directly to the floor for consideration. Regardless of the committee's inaction, the discharge process allows the full House to retrieve a bill and vote on it.
The procedure requires strict adherence to rules and often a strategic collection of signatures, sometimes across party lines, to achieve the necessary majority. This is typically seen as a challenge to the committee's authority and is used sparingly as it can create tension within the ranks of the governing party.
The legislative process is complex and requires a bill to pass through various stages, including hearings, debates, and the possibility of being amended by both the House and Senate before it can be presented to the President to be signed into law. Along the way, the bill can be tabled or rejected at several points, but mechanisms like the discharge petition exist to ensure that proposed legislation has multiple avenues to potentially become law.