SRES 440 ISCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Improving the Senate cloture process.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

March 4, 2010CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. BENNET submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and AdministrationCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Improving the Senate cloture process.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Senate rules regarding cloture serve the legitimate purpose of protecting the rights of the minority;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Senate has never been intended to operate solely on the basis of majority rule; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the Senate rules should not be abused for the purpose of delaying or otherwise preventing the business of the Senate: Now, therefore, be itCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Resolved,CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. MOTIONS TO PROCEED.

Paragraph 2 of rule VIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended to read as follows:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘2. All motions to proceed to the consideration of any matter shall be determined without debate, except motions to proceed to a proposal to change the Standing Rules which shall be debatable.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. PROCESS FOR ENDING THE DEBATE.

(a) Motion To Reduce Time for Cloture Petition To Ripen- The first sentence of paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by inserting after ‘but one’ the following: ‘(unless by two-thirds affirmative vote of the Senators duly chosen and sworn the Senate has agreed to a motion to reduce time)’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(b) Allowing for a Motion To Reduce Time Postcloture- The fourth undesignated paragraph of paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking the second and third sentences and inserting: ‘The thirty hours may be increased or decreased by the adoption of a motion, decided without debate, by a three-fifths affirmative vote of the Senators present and voting, and any such time thus agreed upon shall be equally divided and controlled by the Majority and Minority Leaders or their designees. However, only one motion to reduce or extend time, specified above, may be made in any one calendar day.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(c) Minority Must Vote in the Negative, or Else Cloture Is Invoked- The second undesignated paragraph of paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking ‘And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn’ and inserting ‘And if that question is decided in the affirmative and there are not negative votes by at least forty-one hundredths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(d) Encouraging Bipartisan Negotiations and Bipartisan Coalition Building- Paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by inserting at the end the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘In the event that 3 attempts to bring the debate to a close on any particular measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, have not received the requisite number of votes to bring the debate to a close under this paragraph, then for any subsequent attempt to bring the debate to a close on that particular measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the threshold required of those voting in the negative in order to prevent the debate from coming to a close shall be 45 hundredths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, unless at least one of the Senators present and voting in the negative, caucuses with the party of the Majority Leader, in which case the threshold required of those voting in the negative in order to prevent the debate from coming to a close shall remain 41 hundredths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn. If there is one member of the Majority voting to maintain the filibuster for purposes of the preceding sentence maintaining the threshold for blocking cloture at 41 hundredths, the threshold shall be raised to 45 hundredths if 3 of those voting in the affirmative to bring debate to a close caucus with the party of the Minority Leader. For purposes of this undesignated paragraph, only those Senators permitted to caucus with the party of the Majority Leader, by the Majority Leader, shall be considered to caucus with the party of the Majority Leader. The Majority Leader shall request that a list of Senators caucusing with the party of the Majority Leader be listed in the Congressional Record, and any time that the Majority Leader shall regard composition of such list as having changed, the Majority Leader shall request that a new and updated list be printed in the Congressional Record.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 3. HOLDS.

The Standing Rules of the Senate are amended by inserting at the end the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘RULE XLV

‘Process for Holds

‘1. A Senator who provides notice either to leadership or during open public debate in the full Senate of intention to object to proceeding to a motion or matter shall disclose the objection in the Congressional Record not later than 2 session days after the date of such notice. Upon the placement of the disclosure of objection in the Congressional Record, the Senate shall only continue to recognize the objection if the objection is raised as provided in this paragraph at least by one Senator who caucuses with the party of the Majority Leader and by one Senator who caucuses with the party of the Minority Leader. Under no circumstance shall a particular objection to a nomination be recognized for more than 30 days.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘2. If a second objection is raised to a nomination, no additional time beyond the 30-day limit of the first objection to the nominee shall be in order unless the second objection is raised by both at least one Senator who caucuses with the party of the Majority Leader but who did not raise the first objection, and also at least one Senator who caucuses with the party of the Minority Leader but who did not raise the first objection.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘3. In this rule, the term ‘with the party of the Majority Leader’ has the same meaning as in rule XXII. The process for determining what Senator caucuses with the party of the Minority Leader under this rule shall be at the discretion of the Minority Leader but shall follow the analogous rule XXII process.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink