[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 85 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 85

 To amend paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 13, 2003

 Mr. Miller submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
               the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 To amend paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate.

    Resolved, That paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of 
the Senate is amended to read as follows:
    ``2. (a)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or 
any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by 16 
Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, 
other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is 
presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the 
direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to 
the Senate, and 1 hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar 
day but 1, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that 
the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is 
present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the 
Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question: ``Is it the sense of the 
Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?''.
    ``(2) If the question in clause (1) is agreed to by three-fifths of 
the Senators duly chosen and sworn--except on a measure or motion to 
amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote 
shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting--then that 
measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the 
unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion 
of all other business until disposed of.
    ``(3) After cloture is invoked, no Senator shall be entitled to 
speak in all more than 1 hour on the measure, motion, or other matter 
pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments 
thereto, and motions affecting the same, and it shall be the duty of 
the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. 
Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be proposed after the 
vote to bring the debate to a close, unless it had been submitted in 
writing to the Journal Clerk by 1 o'clock p.m. on the day following the 
filing of the cloture motion if an amendment in the first degree, and 
unless it had been so submitted at least 1 hour prior to the beginning 
of the cloture vote if an amendment in the second degree. No dilatory 
motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment not germane shall be in 
order. Points of order, including questions of relevancy, and appeals 
from the decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without 
debate.
    ``(4) After no more than 30 hours of consideration of the measure, 
motion, or other matter on which cloture has been invoked, the Senate 
shall proceed, without any further debate on any question, to vote on 
the final disposition thereof to the exclusion of all amendments not 
then actually pending before the Senate at that time and to the 
exclusion of all motions, except a motion to table, or to reconsider 
and one quorum call on demand to establish the presence of a quorum 
(and motions required to establish a quorum) immediately before the 
final vote begins. The 30 hours may be increased by the adoption of a 
motion, decided without debate, by a three-fifths affirmative vote of 
the Senators duly chosen and sworn, and any such time thus agreed upon 
shall be equally divided between and controlled by the Majority and 
Minority Leaders or their designees. However, only one motion to extend 
time, specified above, may be made in any 1 calendar day.
    ``(5) If, for any reason, a measure or matter is reprinted after 
cloture has been invoked, amendments which were in order prior to the 
reprinting of the measure or matter will continue to be in order and 
may be conformed and reprinted at the request of the amendment's 
sponsor. The conforming changes must be limited to lineation and 
pagination.
    ``(6) No Senator shall call up more than 2 amendments until every 
other Senator shall have had the opportunity to do likewise.
    ``(7) Notwithstanding other provisions of this rule, a Senator may 
yield all or part of his 1 hour to the majority or minority floor 
managers of the measure, motion, or matter or to the Majority or 
Minority Leader, but each Senator specified shall not have more than 2 
hours so yielded to him and may in turn yield such time to other 
Senators.
    ``(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this rule, any Senator 
who has not used or yielded at least 10 minutes, is, if he seeks 
recognition, guaranteed up to 10 minutes, inclusive, to speak only.
    ``(9) After cloture is invoked, the reading of any amendment, 
including House amendments, shall be dispensed with when the proposed 
amendment has been identified and has been available in printed form at 
the desk of the Members for not less than 24 hours.
    ``(b)(1) If, upon a vote taken on a motion presented pursuant to 
subparagraph (a), the Senate fails to invoke cloture with respect to a 
measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the 
unfinished business, subsequent motions to bring debate to a close may 
be made with respect to the same measure, motion, matter, or unfinished 
business. It shall not be in order to file subsequent cloture motions 
on any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, 
except by unanimous consent, until the previous motion has been 
disposed of.
    ``(2) Such subsequent motions shall be made in the manner provided 
by, and subject to the provisions of, subparagraph (a), except that the 
affirmative vote required to bring to a close debate upon that measure, 
motion, or other matter, or unfinished business (other than a measure 
or motion to amend Senate rules) shall be reduced by 3 votes on the 
second such motion, and by 3 additional votes on each succeeding 
motion, until the affirmative vote is reduced to a number equal to or 
less than an affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators duly chosen 
and sworn. The required vote shall then be an affirmative vote of a 
majority of the Senators duly chosen and sworn. The requirement of an 
affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators duly chosen and sworn 
shall not be further reduced upon any vote taken on any later motion 
made pursuant to this subparagraph with respect to that measure, 
motion, matter, or unfinished business.''.
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