Introduced: The first version of legislation that begins the legislative process.
Engrossed: The official copy of a bill or joint resolution, complete with amendments, passed by the House or the Senate and certified.
Enrolled: The version of a bill that has been passed in identical versions by both Chambers to be converted into an Act. The enrolled version will be signed by officers of both Chambers and presented to the President.
Keep in mind this is a very simplified overview of the formal legislative process. Bills will not necessarily follow this process exactly. However, this is the traditional legislative process that most bills follow. Of course, only 3-6% of bills actually become law. This means that most bills stall somewhere in this process. After being introduced and assigned to committees, many bills are never heard from again.
A bill passed by the House and the Senate must be exactly the same for them to be signed by the President. Often bills passed by the House and Senate are are not exactly the same. While the same version might be introduced in both houses, they change by going through different committees and having different amendments. If the House and Senate bills are different, one of three things may happen:
From Congress, the bill moves to the desk of the President:
