Post on 18-Dec-2015
Making Law: The Senate
Chapter 12 Section 4
Key Terms
• Filibuster• Cloture• Veto• Pocket veto
The Senate Floor
• Chief difference between house and Senate is consideration of measures on the floor
• Measure– Introduced by a Senator– Read twice– Sent to a standing
committee
Senate Floor
• Proceedings are less formal
• Rules less strict• Senate has only one
calendar for bills• Bills called to the floor
by the majority leader
Rules for Debate
• Unrestrained in the Senate
• Called the greatest deliberative body in the world
• Usually can speak for as long as they want
• Can talk about anything they want
Rules of Debate
• Most bills in the senate come to the floor with unanimous consent agreement
• Majority leader negotiates these agreements with the minority leader
• This agreement usually limits floor debate
Rules for Debate
• Has a two speech rule– May only speak twice on
a given issue in a day
• By recessing and not adjourning they extend the day
• Freedom of debate is to encourage fullest possible discussion o floor matters
The Filibuster
• Filibuster- is an attempt to talk a bill to death, stalling tactic used by a minority Senator
• Used to monopolize the Senate floor to either have a bill dropped or change it
• Talk and more talk is the filibusters weapon
The Filibuster
• Can also use quorum calls, and other parliamentary procedures to delay
• Senator Hughie Long talked for 15 hours in 1935 reading the Washington phone book
The Filibuster
• Strom Thurmond holds the record at 24 hours 18 minutes in a one-person-effort to stop civil rights legislation in 1957
• Most filibusters are team efforts
• Over 300 measures have been killed by filibuster
Filibuster
• Senate tries to beat off filibusters by holding day and night sessions
• Enforce rules– Must stand– Not sit or lean on desk– Not walk about– These countermeasures
rarely work
The Cloture Rule
• Senate’s real check on filibuster
• Cloture rule XXII– Adopted 1917 filibuster
had lasted three weeks– Dealt with arming
civilian vessels– Passed the House 403-
13
The Cloture Rule
• Rule is not used often• Brought in play by special
procedure• Vote taken two days after
petition• If 3/5ths or 60 Senators
vote for it• If successful no more than
90 hours of floor time can be used for the measure
The Cloture Rule
• 700 attempts• Only 1/3 have been
successful• Many Senators do not
vote for cloture because– They honor the tradition
of free debate– Worry that frequent use
will undercut its value
Situation Today
• Filibusters more common in recent years
• Party control of the upper house has been narrow
• Minority party has made frequent use of the filibuster
• 60 votes are needed to pass a bill same as cloture
• Minimum number to pass an important bill
Conference Committees
• Bill must survive a number of challenges
• If it makes it through committee it must survive a vote in both houses
• Must be passed in identical form
• If houses pass different versions
Conference Committees
• When one house will not accept the others bill is sent to conference committee
• Conference managers named by respective presiding officers
• Mostly leading members of standing committees
Conference Committees
• Can only consider the parts of the bill that they disagreed on
• Once they agree they report the bill
• Must be accepted or rejected without amendment
• Rarely does either house turn down their work
Conference Committees
• Two reasons for this– The powerful
membership of the typical conference committee
– Report usually comes near the rush of adjournments
• Conference committee is a strategic step called “the third house”
The President Acts
• Constitution requires that bills and resolutions be sent to the president– The President may sign
the bill and it becomes law
– President may veto the bill (return to the house it originated from)
– Can be overridden by 2/3 votes
The President Acts
• The President may allow it to become law without signing it, by not acting on it for 10 days after receiving it
• Pocket veto- if congress adjourns within 10 days of submission and President does not sign does not become law
The President Acts
• Since Congress can seldom get enough votes to override a veto it is powerful
• The mere threat of a veto is enough to defeat a bill