[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 164 (Wednesday, November 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H6243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                     THE SENATE MUST REFORM CLOTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, the American people have given our 45th 
President and the 115th Congress a clear mandate to revive our economy, 
secure our borders, restore our Nation's sovereignty, reinstate our 
Bill of Rights, and uphold the rule of law. Moreover, they have given 
us majorities in both Houses of Congress to do so. There is no excuse 
for failure.
  President Obama and Secretary Clinton set a positive tone for this 
peaceful transition of power, a tone no doubt shared by many Members of 
Congress and many Americans of good will who did not vote on the 
prevailing side. This represents the best of American statesmanship.
  Yet, we have also heard reactionary elements of the Democratic Party 
make a vicious pledge to thwart this mandate and destroy this 
President. One need look no further than Senator Reid's disgraceful 
diatribe on Friday to realize that these threats far exceed the lunatic 
fringe now violently rioting in our streets.

                              {time}  1015

  They reach directly into the Halls of Congress.
  To fulfill the mandate of the American people, we will need to 
deliberate wisely and in good faith, with all sides participating in 
the discussion and all voices heard. But, ultimately, those 
deliberations must result in laws to fulfill that mandate. The agenda 
is daunting, and time is fleeting.
  The greatest single obstacle to this era of reform is the 60-vote 
threshold to invoke cloture in the Senate, and I rise today to urge the 
Senate to finally reform it. Given the record of abuse of this rule and 
avowed intentions of many in that body, nothing will change 
legislatively unless the Senate Republican majority takes action when 
they organize in January. All the reforms that the American people 
called for, that the President will request, and that the House will 
pass will be stopped dead in the Senate.
  Now, I don't argue to abandon this rule, but rather to restore it to 
its original purpose. Cloture is rooted in a sound and ancient 
parliamentary principle that, as long as one-third of a deliberative 
body wants to debate an issue, that debate should continue. After all, 
a minority exists to convince the majority of its way of thinking. This 
is the essence of deliberation.
  But this principle assumes it is an actual debate where Members are 
talking to one another, and it requires that the debate be germane to 
the question at hand and that it is not dilatory. That is how cloture 
started. But over the 20th century, it degenerated into a 60-vote 
administrative threshold just to consider legislation. Ironically, a 
procedure designed to protect debate has now morphed into a procedure 
that very effectively prevents debate.
  The two Houses of Congress are designed to disagree with each other, 
but once the House and the Senate independently exercise their best 
judgment on a particular matter, there is a conference process 
developed over centuries to resolve their differences. This process 
cannot function if one House simply refuses to consider the other 
House's work.
  The modern notion of cloture prevents that process and the system 
breaks down. During the last several Congresses, the House has sent 
hundreds of bills--including the appropriations bills that fund this 
government--to the Senate; but instead of amending their ideas into 
those bills or sending us bills of their own, they have simply refused 
to consider them by a minority denying cloture.
  Now, some Senators have said that this mechanism is necessary to 
preserve collegiality and encourage compromise, but how can you have 
collegiality when one side simply refuses to talk to the other? How can 
you have compromise when the matter to be compromised cannot be taken 
up and discussed?
  Others have said that since most legislation grows the powers of 
government, it is an effective brake on that tendency. It is true this 
rule effectively blocks bad legislation. It also very effectively 
blocks good legislation that is necessary to reverse this trend. The 
current cloture rule provides a ratcheting effect that locks in every 
expansion of government over the past century.
  Now, some Republicans have said that it has been most useful when 
they have been in the minority. I have to ask them, do you want to be a 
successful majority or a successful minority? You cannot be both as 
long as cloture exists in its current form.
  Voters elected Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress, and 
they expect action. They will get it from the President and from the 
House. But in order for the Senate to rise to this occasion, it must 
reform its cloture rule when it organizes in January.

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