III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 416 

Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to provide for cloture to be 

invoked with less than a three-fifths majority after additional debate. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2010 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and 

Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to provide for 

cloture to be invoked with less than a three-fifths majority after additional debate. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SENATE CLOTURE MODIFICATION. 

3 Paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of 

4 the Senate is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or 

6 rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a 

7 motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the 

8 debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending 

9 before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 416 IS 

1 to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direc2 tion of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion 

3 to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on 

4 the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion 

5 before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, 

6 and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the 

7 Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Sen8 ate by a yea-and-nay vote the question: ‘Is it the sense 

9 of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?’ 

10 And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative 

11 by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn— 

12 except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, 

13 in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two14 thirds of the Senators present and voting—then said 

15 measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Sen16 ate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished 

17 business to the exclusion of all other business until dis18 posed of. 

19 ‘‘Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in 

20 all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other 

21 matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished busi22 ness, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the 

23 same, and it shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer 

24 to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. Except by 

25 unanimous consent, no amendment shall be proposed after 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 416 IS 

1 the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless it had been 

2 submitted in writing to the Journal Clerk by 1 o’clock p.m. 

3 on the day following the filing of the cloture motion if an 

4 amendment in the first degree, and unless it had been so 

5 submitted at least one hour prior to the beginning of the 

6 cloture vote if an amendment in the second degree. No 

7 dilatory motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment 

8 not germane shall be in order. Points of order, including 

9 questions of relevancy, and appeals from the decision of 

10 the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate. 

11 ‘‘After no more than thirty hours of consideration of 

12 the measure, motion, or other matter on which cloture has 

13 been invoked, the Senate shall proceed, without any fur14 ther debate on any question, to vote on the final disposi15 tion thereof to the exclusion of all amendments not then 

16 actually pending before the Senate at that time and to 

17 the exclusion of all motions, except a motion to table, or 

18 to reconsider and one quorum call on demand to establish 

19 the presence of a quorum (and motions required to estab20 lish a quorum) immediately before the final vote begins. 

21 The thirty hours may be increased by the adoption of a 

22 motion, decided without debate, by a three-fifths affirma23 tive vote of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, and any 

24 such time thus agreed upon shall be equally divided be25 tween and controlled by the majority and minority leaders 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 416 IS 

1 or their designees. However, only one motion to extend 

2 time, specified above, may be made in any one calendar 

3 day. 

4 ‘‘If, for any reason, a measure or matter is reprinted 

5 after cloture has been invoked, amendments which were 

6 in order prior to the reprinting of the measure or matter 

7 will continue to be in order and may be conformed and 

8 reprinted at the request of the amendment’s sponsor. The 

9 conforming changes must be limited to lineation and pagi10 nation. 

11 ‘‘No Senator shall call up more than two amendments 

12 until every other Senator shall have had the opportunity 

13 to do likewise. 

14 ‘‘Notwithstanding other provisions of this rule, a Sen15 ator may yield all or part of his one hour to the majority 

16 or minority floor managers of the measure, motion, or 

17 matter or to the majority or minority leader, but each Sen18 ator specified shall not have more than two hours so yield19 ed to him and may in turn yield such time to other Sen20 ators. 

21 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of this rule, 

22 any Senator who has not used or yielded at least ten min23 utes, is, if he seeks recognition, guaranteed up to ten min24 utes, inclusive, to speak only. 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 416 IS 

1 ‘‘After cloture is invoked, the reading of any amend2 ment, including House amendments, shall be dispensed 

3 with when the proposed amendment has been identified 

4 and has been available in printed form at the desk of the 

5 Members for not less than twenty-four hours. 

6 ‘‘(b)(1) If, upon a vote taken on a motion presented 

7 pursuant to subparagraph (a), the Senate fails to invoke 

8 cloture with respect to a measure, motion, or other matter 

9 pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, 

10 subsequent motions to bring debate to a close may be 

11 made with respect to the same measure, motion, matter, 

12 or unfinished business. It shall not be in order to file sub13 sequent cloture motions on any measure, motion, or other 

14 matter pending before the Senate, except by unanimous 

15 consent, until the previous motion has been disposed of. 

16 ‘‘(2) Such subsequent motions shall be made in the 

17 manner provided by, and subject to the provisions of, sub18 paragraph (a), except that the affirmative vote required 

19 to bring to a close debate upon that measure, motion, or 

20 other matter, or unfinished business (other than a meas21 ure or motion to amend Senate rules) shall be reduced 

22 by three votes on the second such motion, and by three 

23 additional votes on each succeeding motion, until the af24 firmative vote is reduced to a number equal to or less than 

25 an affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators duly choVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:48 Feb 11, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR416.IS SR416

srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS
6 

•SRES 416 IS 

1 sen and sworn. The required vote shall then be an affirma2 tive vote of a majority of the Senators duly chosen and 

3 sworn. The requirement of an affirmative vote of a major4 ity of the Senators duly chosen and sworn shall not be 

5 further reduced upon any vote taken on any later motion 

6 made pursuant to this subparagraph with respect to that 

7 measure, motion, matter, or unfinished business.’’. 

Æ 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with BILLS