[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1184-S1185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SENATE RESOLUTION 440--IMPROVING THE SENATE CLOTURE PROCESS

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

                              S. Res. 440

       Whereas the Senate rules regarding cloture serve the 
     legitimate purpose of protecting the rights of the minority;
       Whereas the Senate has never been intended to operate 
     solely on the basis of majority rule; and
       Whereas the Senate rules should not be abused for the 
     purpose of delaying or otherwise preventing the business of 
     the Senate: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. MOTIONS TO PROCEED.

       Paragraph 2 of rule VIII of the Standing Rules of the 
     Senate is amended to read as follows:
       ``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.''.

     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)''.
       (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.''.
       (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''.
       (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:
       ``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.''.

     SEC. 3. HOLDS.

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

                               ``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.

[[Page S1185]]

       ``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.
       ``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.''.

                          ____________________