III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 440 

Improving the Senate cloture process. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2010 

Mr. BENNET submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Rules and Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Improving the Senate cloture process. 

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 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. MOTIONS TO PROCEED. 

3 Paragraph 2 of rule VIII of the Standing Rules of 

4 the Senate is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘2. All motions to proceed to the consideration of any 

6 matter shall be determined without debate, except motions 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 440 IS 

1 to proceed to a proposal to change the Standing Rules 

2 which shall be debatable.’’. 

3 SEC. 2. PROCESS FOR ENDING THE DEBATE. 

4 (a) MOTION TO REDUCE TIME FOR CLOTURE PETI5 TION TO RIPEN.—The first sentence of paragraph 2 of 

6 rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended 

7 by inserting after ‘‘but one’’ the following: ‘‘(unless by 

8 two-thirds affirmative vote of the Senators duly chosen 

9 and sworn the Senate has agreed to a motion to reduce 

10 time)’’. 

11 (b) ALLOWING FOR A MOTION TO REDUCE TIME

12 POSTCLOTURE.—The fourth undesignated paragraph of 

13 paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the 

14 Senate is amended by striking the second and third sen15 tences and inserting: ‘‘The thirty hours may be increased 

16 or decreased by the adoption of a motion, decided without 

17 debate, by a three-fifths affirmative vote of the Senators 

18 present and voting, and any such time thus agreed upon 

19 shall be equally divided and controlled by the Majority and 

20 Minority Leaders or their designees. However, only one 

21 motion to reduce or extend time, specified above, may be 

22 made in any one calendar day.’’. 

23 (c) MINORITY MUST VOTE IN THE NEGATIVE, OR

24 ELSE CLOTURE IS INVOKED.—The second undesignated 

25 paragraph of paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 440 IS 

1 Rules of the Senate is amended by striking ‘‘And if that 

2 question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths 

3 of the Senators duly chosen and sworn’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘And if that question is decided in the affirmative and 

5 there are not negative votes by at least forty-one hun6 dredths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn’’. 

7 (d) ENCOURAGING BIPARTISAN NEGOTIATIONS AND

8 BIPARTISAN COALITION BUILDING.—Paragraph 2 of rule 

9 XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by 

10 inserting at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘In the event that 3 attempts to bring the debate 

12 to a close on any particular measure, motion, other matter 

13 pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, 

14 have not received the requisite number of votes to bring 

15 the debate to a close under this paragraph, then for any 

16 subsequent attempt to bring the debate to a close on that 

17 particular measure, motion, other matter pending before 

18 the Senate, or the unfinished business, the threshold re19 quired of those voting in the negative in order to prevent 

20 the debate from coming to a close shall be 45 hundredths 

21 of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, unless at least one 

22 of the Senators present and voting in the negative, cau23 cuses with the party of the Majority Leader, in which case 

24 the threshold required of those voting in the negative in 

25 order to prevent the debate from coming to a close shall 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 440 IS 

1 remain 41 hundredths of the Senators duly chosen and 

2 sworn. If there is one member of the Majority voting to 

3 maintain the filibuster for purposes of the preceding sen4 tence maintaining the threshold for blocking cloture at 41 

5 hundredths, the threshold shall be raised to 45 hundredths 

6 if 3 of those voting in the affirmative to bring debate to 

7 a close caucus with the party of the Minority Leader. For 

8 purposes of this undesignated paragraph, only those Sen9 ators permitted to caucus with the party of the Majority 

10 Leader, by the Majority Leader, shall be considered to 

11 caucus with the party of the Majority Leader. The Major12 ity Leader shall request that a list of Senators caucusing 

13 with the party of the Majority Leader be listed in the Con14 gressional Record, and any time that the Majority Leader 

15 shall regard composition of such list as having changed, 

16 the Majority Leader shall request that a new and updated 

17 list be printed in the Congressional Record.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. HOLDS. 

19 The Standing Rules of the Senate are amended by 

20 inserting at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘RULE XLV 

22 ‘‘PROCESS FOR HOLDS

23 ‘‘1. A Senator who provides notice either to leader24 ship or during open public debate in the full Senate of 

25 intention to object to proceeding to a motion or matter 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 440 IS 

1 shall disclose the objection in the Congressional Record 

2 not later than 2 session days after the date of such notice. 

3 Upon the placement of the disclosure of objection in the 

4 Congressional Record, the Senate shall only continue to 

5 recognize the objection if the objection is raised as pro6 vided in this paragraph at least by one Senator who cau7 cuses with the party of the Majority Leader and by one 

8 Senator who caucuses with the party of the Minority 

9 Leader. Under no circumstance shall a particular objec10 tion to a nomination be recognized for more than 30 days. 

11 ‘‘2. If a second objection is raised to a nomination, 

12 no additional time beyond the 30-day limit of the first ob13 jection to the nominee shall be in order unless the second 

14 objection is raised by both at least one Senator who cau15 cuses with the party of the Majority Leader but who did 

16 not raise the first objection, and also at least one Senator 

17 who caucuses with the party of the Minority Leader but 

18 who did not raise the first objection. 

19 ‘‘3. In this rule, the term ‘with the party of the Ma20 jority Leader’ has the same meaning as in rule XXII. The 

21 process for determining what Senator caucuses with the 

22 party of the Minority Leader under this rule shall be at 

23 the discretion of the Minority Leader but shall follow the 

24 analogous rule XXII process.’’. 

Æ 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS