S.Res. 444: Providing for En Bloc Consideration of Military Nominations

S.Res. 444: Providing for En Bloc Consideration of Military Nominations

INSIGHTi

S.Res. 444: Providing for En Bloc
Consideration of Military Nominations
November 9, 2023
On October 31, 2023, Senator Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, submitted
S.Res. 444, a resolution proposing a temporary process to allow the Senate to consider more than one
military nomination at a time (referred to as en bloc consideration). The resolution was referred to the
Committee on Rules and Administration, and the committee has announced its intention to meet to
consider the resolution on November 14, 2023.
Background
Every year, the President submits to the Senate, for its advice and consent, thousands of nominations for
noncivilian military appointments and promotions. These nominations are sometimes submitted as lists of
names for appointment to the grade indicated, such that one presidential message can contain multiple
individual nominations. Such a list is usually assigned a single Presidential Nomination (PN) number by
the Senate with the expectation that the individual nominations will be considered together by unanimous
consent. Military nominations are referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has the option
of reporting them to the full Senate.
The Senate, by unanimous consent, routinely takes up and confirms reported military nominations en bloc
when no Senator objects to their consideration. For example, on September 30, 2023, the Senate took up
and confirmed 4,280 military nominees en bloc by unanimous consent. Under current procedures,
unanimous consent is the only way to consider multiple nominations simultaneously. (For more
information regarding current procedures for considering nominations absent unanimous consent, see
CRS Insight IN12200, Holds on Nominations.)
Procedures Proposed by S.Res. 444
The procedures proposed in S.Res. 444 would apply to military promotions and appointments reported
favorably by the Armed Services Committee, excluding nominations to the 8 positions that make up the
Joint Chiefs of Staff (defined by law) and excluding nominations to be a commander of the 11 combatant
commands (also defined by law, including separate provisions of law concerning the combatant command
for special operations forces and for cyber operations).
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S.Res. 444 would allow a group of military nominations to be considered under the same cloture process
that can currently be used for a single nomination. Specifically, under S.Res. 444, the steps to confirm a
group of military nominations in the absence of unanimous consent would include the following:
• The majority leader (or his designee) makes a motion to proceed to consider a group of
military nominations. Qualifying military nominations can only be included in the motion
if they were reported favorably by the Armed Services Committee on or before the
previous calendar day.
• The Senate votes on the motion to proceed; this motion is not debatable and requires
majority support for approval.
• If the Senate agrees to take up the group of nominations, a single cloture motion can be
filed on that group of nominations.
• Two days of session later, the Senate votes on cloture. If a majority of Senators voting
support cloture, then cloture is said to be invoked, and further consideration of the
nomination is limited.
• The Senate conducts postcloture consideration on the nominations for a maximum of two
hours.
• After the two hours of postcloture consideration expires, or when no Senator seeks
recognition to continue consideration of the nominations, the Senate takes a single vote to
confirm the group of nominations, which requires majority support.
• The motion to reconsider the confirmation vote is considered made and tabled (i.e.,
adversely disposed of). This action makes the confirmation vote on the group of
nominations final and immediately triggers notification to the President of Senate
approval of the nominations.
Under the terms of S.Res. 444, at no time during this process can a Senator force consideration of each
nomination separately by demanding a division of the question. Although infrequent, under regular Senate
procedures, a single Senator can cause some questions that consist of multiple parts, such as an
amendment inserting several sections into a bill, to be divided for a separate debate and vote on each
component part. S.Res. 444 explicitly states that this parliamentary action would not be permitted.
S.Res. 444, if agreed to, would be in effect only during the 118th Congress. There is no limit on the
number of times this motion to consider military nominations en bloc could be used during the Congress.
Process for Consideration of S.Res. 444
S.Res. 444 does not propose to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate. Changes to Senate procedure that
do not amend Senate rules are routinely referred to as standing orders. Major standing orders that affect
Senate floor procedure are published in a section of the Senate Manual. Standing orders operate with the
same authority as standing rules and are enforceable on the Senate floor in the same way. (For more
information on the various parliamentary authorities that govern Senate proceedings, see CRS Report
RL30788, Parliamentary Reference Sources: Senate).
If the Senate wished to consider the proposed standing order, the first step would be for the Rules and
Administration Committee to report S.Res. 444. The Senate could then consider S.Res. 444 under its
usual procedures, which could require cloture on the motion to proceed to the resolution and also again on
the resolution itself. Senate Rule XXII, paragraph 2, lays out the vote thresholds necessary to invoke
cloture. For most questions (including for consideration and approval of standing orders), invoking
cloture requires the support of three-fifths of Senators duly chosen and sworn (60 Senators, assuming no
more than one vacancy in the chamber). However, the rule also establishes a higher vote threshold for
bringing debate to an end on a “measure or motion to amend the Senate rules,” requiring an affirmative

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vote of two-thirds of Senators present and voting. Under long-standing Senate practice, a measure or
motion is only subject to a two-thirds cloture threshold when it explicitly would amend the text of the
Standing Rules of the Senate. Because S.Res. 444 does not amend any Senate rule, invoking cloture on
questions related to its consideration would be subject to a three-fifths affirmative threshold.

Author Information

Michael Greene
Elizabeth Rybicki
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

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