Cloture: Its Effect on Senate Proceedings

Cloture: Its Effect on Senate Proceedings

Order Code 98-780 GOV
Updated March 7, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Cloture: Its Effect on Senate Proceedings
Walter J. Oleszek
Government and Finance Division
Long known for its emphasis on lengthy deliberation, the Senate in most
circumstances allows its Members to debate issues for as long as they want. Further, the
Senate has few ways either to limit the duration of debates or to bring filibusters
(extended “talkathons”) to an end. For instance, a Senator may offer a nondebatable
motion to table (or kill) an amendment or he or she might ask unanimous consent to
restrict debate on pending matters. The Senate has one formal rule — Rule XXII — for
imposing limits on the further consideration of an issue. Called the cloture rule (for
closure of debate), Rule XXII became part of the Senate rules in 1917 and has been
amended several times since. This fact sheet, one in a series of fact sheets on legislative
process, discusses cloture. For more information on legislative process, see
[http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml].
Under its current formulation, Rule XXII requires a cloture petition (signed by 16
Senators) to be presented to the Senate. Two calendar days later, and one hour after the
Senate convenes, the presiding officer is required to order a live quorum call and, after
its completion, to put this question to the membership: “Is it the sense of the Senate that
debate shall be brought to a close?” If three-fifths of the entire Senate membership (60
of 100) votes in the affirmative, cloture is invoked and the Senate is subject to post-
cloture procedures that will eventually end the debate and bring the clotured bill,
amendment, or motion to a vote. (To end debate on a measure or motion to amend Senate
rules requires two-thirds of the Senators present and voting.)
If cloture is invoked under the terms of Rule XXII, then Senate floor activity is
thereafter subject to a variety of constraints. The main post-cloture features include:
30-Hour Time Cap. Thirty hours of further consideration is permitted on the
clotured question with time used for such things as rollcall votes or quorum calls charged
against the 30-hour cap. As Senate precedents state, “the time used for roll call votes,
quorum calls, reading of amendments, points of order and inquiries to and responses by
the Chair, and the like, is charged against the 30 hours. Therefore, it is quite possible that
the total debate by Senators could be far less than 30 hours.” The 30-hour period may be
extended if three-fifths of all Senators duly chosen and sworn agree to the increase.
One-Hour of Debate Per Senator. Under cloture, each Senator is entitled to an
hour of debate on a “first come, first served” basis. Senators may yield all or some of
their hour to a floor manager or a party leader but neither may be yielded more than two
additional hours. “Any Senator may yield back to the Chair some or all of his one hour
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for debate under cloture,” say the precedents, “but such yielding would not reduce the
total time available for consideration of the clotured matter.” Also, Rule XXII guarantees
each Senator at least 10 minutes to speak if the 30 hour period has expired and a Senator
has not used or yielded at least 10 minutes of time in debate.
Pre-Filing of Amendments. Under Rule XXII, except by unanimous consent,
only amendments that have been filed before the cloture vote may be considered once
cloture is invoked. First-degree amendments must be filed with the journal clerk by 1:00
p.m. on the day after the filing of the cloture petition; second-degree amendments may be
filed until at least one hour prior to the start of the cloture vote.
Role of the Presiding Officer. Under cloture, the presiding officer has authority
that he or she does not have during regular Senate proceedings. For example, on his or
her initiative, the presiding officer may rule out-of-order dilatory motions or amendments,
including quorum calls. The chair also has the authority to count to determine the
presence of a quorum. During regular Senate sessions, the chair is obligated under Senate
Rule VI, if a Senator suggests the absence of a quorum, to “forthwith direct the Secretary
to call the roll....”
No Nongermane Amendments. The Senate does not have a general rule of
germaneness for amendments. However, once cloture is invoked, all amendments (and
debate) are to be germane to the clotured proposal. Senate precedents state that “the Chair
may take the initiative and rule amendments out of order as not being germane without
a point of order being made, and when obviously non-germane the Chair may rule the
amendment out of order even before it has been read or stated by the clerk.” Senate
precedents add that under cloture “one of the tests of germaneness is whether the
amendment limits or restricts the provisions contained in the bill. If it is clearly restrictive
it would be held germane.”
Points of Order and Appeals Not Debatable. Rule XXII states that points of
order, “including questions of relevancy, and appeals from the decision of the Presiding
Officer, shall be decided without debate.” Senate precedents make plain that the chair
occasionally has held appeals to be dilatory, but precedents also underscore that “the right
to appeal is a basic right of each Senator and would be held dilatory only in the most
extraordinary circumstances.” Worth noting is that on one occasion, in 1977, “the Chair
denied a Senator the right to make a point of order.”
The Unfinished Business. The invocation of cloture on a measure or matter
means, as stated in Rule XXII, that it “shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion
of all other business until disposed of.” Senate precedents buttress this point by adding
that the “adoption of a cloture motion on a measure prohibits the consideration of any
other business except that which is transacted by unanimous consent.”