Order Code 98-225 GOV
Updated February 20, 2001
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Unanimous Consent Agreements in the
Senate
Walter J. Oleszek
Senior Specialist
Government and Finance Division
The Senate is fundamentally a “unanimous consent” institution. This means that the
rules and precedents of the Senate are set aside regularly by the unanimous consent of the
membership. Party leaders and other Senators propound unanimous consent requests
every day the Senate is in session. Without its tradition of unanimous consent, the Senate
would find it harder to process its complex workload. As a Senator pointed out during
a September 25, 1990 discussion on the floor:
[T]he way the Senate conducts its business hour after hour, day after day, week after
week, year after year, is Senators voluntarily waive the rights which they possess under
the rules. I would guess in the course of a typical week we probably enter into
anywhere from 10 to 200 unanimous consent agreements, literally, where Senators by
unanimous consent, with 100 Senators agreeing to yield some right that they may
have—the right to debate, the right to do this, that or the other thing—waive their rights
so that the body may proceed in a way that seems expeditious.
It is worth distinguishing between simple unanimous consent requests and complex
unanimous consent agreements. Simple unanimous consent requests cover such routine
matters as dispensing with quorum calls, asking that certain staff aides have floor privileges
during consideration of a proposition, waiving the reading of amendments, setting aside
amendments, or inserting material in the Congressional Record.
Complex unanimous consent agreements (sometimes called “time limitation”
agreements or, informally, "u.c. agreements") establish the procedural guidelines for
considering measures or matters on the floor. They are proposed orally on the floor, often
by the majority leader, and they often result from lengthy negotiations among numerous
Senators. They are printed in the Congressional Record, the daily Calendar of Business,
and the Senate Journal. The Senate often begins consideration of a measure without such
an agreement, but then adopts, piecemeal, agreements that are limited in their procedural
scope (restricting debate on amendments, for instance).
These tailor-made procedural agreements differ in content and coverage. For
example, some are more comprehensive than others in addressing procedural issues with
respect to floor action a measure or matter. They may identify when a measure is to be
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brought to the floor, set time limitations for debate on all amendments and motions,
structure the offering of amendments, waive points of order against the measure or
amendments thereto, or impose a requirement that all amendments be relevant to the
measure under consideration.
In sum, a complex unanimous consent agreement is akin to a negotiated “contract”
among all Senators, and it can only be changed by another unanimous consent agreement.
Whether comprehensive (covering floor consideration of an entire bill) or piecemeal, these
agreements both expedite action on legislation and establish some predictability in the
processing of legislation. They are a form of "voluntary cloture," and their use facilitates
the management of the Senate's agenda and workload.
Purposes and Features of a Complex
Unanimous Consent (or "Time Limitation") Agreement
Broad Purposes
General Features
•
Impose time limits on debate
•
A negotiated "contract" accepted
by all Senators
•
Expedite scheduling the Senate's
•
Changed only by another
workload
unanimous consent agreement
•
Establish predictability and permit
•
Comprehensive or partial in
flexibility
character
•
Limits debate on measures and any
motions related thereto
•
Structures the amendment process
•
Requires the germaneness or
relevancy of amendments
•
Waives points of order

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