•HRES 545 IH 
inactions in both the legislative and executive branches of 
Government; 
Whereas the original intent of the adoption of the cloture rule 
in 1917 was to prevent unreasonable delay, today it is 
used to actually create extended or permanent delay; this 
violates the historical and original intent for the rule and 
in fact exacerbates the very problem it was originally in-
tended to address; and 
Whereas the current cloture rule and the Senate’s informal 
and formal practices related to debate have ultimately 
subordinated the Constitution of the United States itself: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that the Standing Rules of the Senate and de-
bate practices should not be abused for the purpose 
of debilitating the Senate and indefinitely blocking 
debate or a fair, up or down vote on legislative mat-
ters; 
(2) the House of Representatives urges the Sen-
ate to adopt a new precedent that would end the 
abuse of the Standing Rules of the Senate and ardu-
ous practices related to debate in order to restore 
the daily workings of the Senate, in keeping with ac-
countable debate such as the classic standing and 
talking filibuster; 
(3) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that after the Senate sets a new precedent to 
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•HRES 545 IH 
restore its workings, the Senate should negotiate 
and adopt, under its existing rules of a super-
majority vote to invoke cloture, a parliamentarian 
procedure to replace the cloture motion to call up 
legislation and make it pending before the Senate, 
with a ‘‘non debatable motion to proceed to con-
sider’’ that allows for the minority to offer a reason-
able number of germane amendments, subject to de-
bate, once the measure is pending for consideration; 
(4) the House of Representatives further en-
courages the Senate to forbid threats of a filibuster 
derived from an ‘‘anonymous hold’’, and in its place 
reinvigorate the ‘‘traditional standing filibuster’’ or 
‘‘hold the floor’’ mechanism of dissent, with a time 
allocation of up to 100 hours and the ability to trun-
cate debate only by a petition of 60 Senators; 
(5) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that the proposed number of germane amend-
ments and debate hours and mechanism to truncate 
debate described in paragraphs (3) and (4), respec-
tively, could be decreased or increased at the time 
that the rule change is negotiated and adopted, en-
suring the appropriate center between sufficient ad-
versarial debate and the prevention of chronic stale-
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•HRES 545 IH 
mate is both a Senate majority and minority deter-
mination; 
(6) the House of Representatives believes that 
these proposed changes to the Standing Rules of the 
Senate and debate practices shall— 
(A) reestablish deliberation in the world’s 
most deliberative body, as intended by the 
United States of America’s founding fathers; 
(B) allow the Senate to meet its constitu-
tional responsibilities in a timely fashion and ef-
fectively respond to national needs; 
(C) enhance our democratic system and 
the attending processes that clearly, specifically 
and accurately assign official actions of rep-
resentatives and parties accordingly so that ac-
countability is clearly delineated; and 
(D) encompasses a strong incentive to 
reach consensus in the Senate and still preserve 
the minority’s opportunity to have enhanced ob-
jection and reasonable leverage against any 
overreach on the part of the majority or if the 
minority feels further debate and clarity on a 
given agenda item is particularly important to 
the country; and 
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•HRES 545 IH 
(7) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that nothing in this resolution— 
(A) shall be construed as the House of 
Representatives advocating a wholesale abolish-
ment of a Senate filibuster mechanism or 
supermajority cloture requirement; or 
(B) shall be construed as the House of 
Representatives calling for the classic standing 
and talking Senate filibuster to be abolished; on 
the contrary, the House believes it should be re-
invigorated. 
Æ 
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