Cloture: Its Effect on Senate Proceedings

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30-Hour Time Cap..............................................................................................................1
One-Hour of Debate Per Senator........................................................................................1
Pre-Filing of Amendments..................................................................................................1
Role of the Presiding Officer..............................................................................................2
No Nongermane Amendments............................................................................................2
Points of Order and Appeals Not Debatable.......................................................................2
The Unfinished Business....................................................................................................2
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................3

ong known for its emphasis on lengthy deliberation, the Senate in most circumstances
allows its Members to debate issues for as long as they want. Further, the Senate has few
ways either to limit the duration of debates or to bring filibusters (extended “talkathons”) L

to an end. For instance, a Senator may offer a non-debatable motion to table (or kill) an
amendment or he or she might ask unanimous consent to restrict debate on pending matters. The
Senate has one formal rule—Rule XXII—for imposing limits on the further consideration of an
issue. Called the cloture rule (for closure of debate), Rule XXII became part of the Senate’s
rulebook in 1917 and has been amended several times since.
Under its current formulation, Rule XXII requires a cloture petition (signed by 16 Senators) to be
presented to the Senate. Two days later, and one hour after the Senate convenes, the presiding
officer is required to order a live quorum call (often waived by unanimous consent) and, after its
completion, to put this question to the membership: “Is it the sense of the Senate that debate shall
be brought to a close?” If three-fifths of the entire Senate membership (60 of 100) votes in the
affirmative, cloture is invoked and the Senate is subject to post-cloture procedures that will
eventually end the debate and bring the clotured question (a bill, amendment, or motion, for
example) to a vote. (To end debate on a measure or motion to amend Senate rules requires
approval by two-thirds of the Senators present and voting.)
If cloture is invoked under the terms of Rule XXII, then Senate floor activity is thereafter subject
to a variety of conditions and constraints. Several of the main post-cloture features include:
Thirty hours of further consideration is permitted on the clotured question with time used for such
things as roll-call votes or quorum calls charged against the 30-hour cap. As Senate precedents
state, “the time used for roll call votes, quorum calls, reading of amendments, points of order and
inquiries to and responses by the Chair, and the like, is charged against the 30 hours. Therefore, it
is quite possible that the total debate by Senators could be far less than 30 hours.” The 30-hour
period may be extended if three-fifths of all Senators duly chosen and sworn agree to the
increase.
Under cloture, each Senator is entitled to an hour of debate on a “first come, first served” basis.
Senators may yield all or portions of their one hour to a floor manager or a party leader but
neither may be yielded more than two additional hours. “Any Senator may yield back to the Chair
some or all of his 1 hour for debate under cloture,” say the precedents, “but such yielding would
not reduce the total time available for consideration of the clotured matter.”
Only amendments that have been filed before the cloture vote may be considered once cloture is
invoked. First-degree amendments must be filed by 1:00 p.m. on the day after the filing of the
cloture petition; second-degree amendments may be filed until at least one hour prior to the start
of the cloture vote. As Rule XXII explains:
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Under cloture, the presiding officer has authority that he or she does not have during regular
Senate proceedings. For example, on his or her initiative, the presiding officer may rule out-of-
order dilatory motions or amendments, including quorum calls. The chair also has the authority to
count to determine the presence of a quorum. During regular Senate sessions, the chair is
obligated under Senate Rule VI, if a Senator suggests the absence of a quorum, to “forthwith
direct the Secretary to call the roll.... ”
The Senate does not have a general rule of germaneness for amendments. However, once cloture
is invoked, all amendments (and debate) are to be germane to the clotured proposal. Senate
precedents state that “the Chair may take the initiative and rule amendments out of order as not
being germane without a point of order being made, and when obviously non-germane the Chair
may rule the amendment out of order even before it has been read or stated by the clerk.” Senate
precedents add that under cloture “one of the tests of germaneness is whether the amendment
limits or restricts the provisions contained in the bill. If it is clearly restrictive it would be held
germane.”
Rule XXII states that points of order, “including questions of relevancy, and appeals from the
decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate.” Senate precedents make plain
that the chair occasionally has held appeals to be dilatory, but precedents also underscore that “the
right to appeal is a basic right of each Senator and would be held dilatory only in the most
extraordinary circumstances.” Worth noting is that on one occasion, in 1977, “the Chair denied a
Senator the right to make a point of order.”
The invocation of cloture on a measure or matter means, as stated in Rule XXII, that it “shall be
the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.” Senate precedents
buttress this point by adding that the “adoption of a cloture motion on a measure prohibits the
consideration of any other business except that which is transacted by unanimous consent.”

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