Evening star., 1922-05-31
Senator Kellogg Gives His Views
On Proposed Cloture in Senate

TN an interview with The Star sena-
tor Frank B. Kellogg Of Minnesota
gives his views on the proposal to
= bring about limitation Of debate
in the Senate as follows:
'"The Senate of the United States
has reached point today where It Is
practically impossible for 1t to do
business except by unanimous con-
sent. The reason for this situation is
found in the power Of each OF the
ninety-six members of the Senate to
engage in unlimited debate. The
cure for the situation, which is In
tolerable, is to be found In the
adoption of a sensible rule which will
permit the. curtailment OF depase
after a reasonable opportunity mas
measures before the Senate. Such
a rule would permit a majority OF
the Senate to limit debate after a
bill had been before the senate ior
reasonable time, say nve or zen uass'
with provision that debate on amend
ments which were offered thereafter
should be restricted to five or ten min
utes for each senator on each amend
u1ent.
1.-THE lOng-draWn-out QeDate on 'he
pending tariff bill has emphasized the
importance Of the Senate's amend
ing its rules. The matter has peeh
brought to. the attention OF the re-
publican conference Of the Senate. l
am hopeful that action will be taken
which will make it possible at least
to limit debate on the tarin Dill.
81 have no desire to restrict the
freedom OF debate in the Senate.
recognize that it is of tremendous nm
portance that there should pe 1uli
and free discussion of the measures
that come before the Senate. But the
time has arrived when the business
Of the country, the interests or the
many sections of the country, ana the
needs OF the people as whole nave
become so vast that congress snouio
be able to transact the pubic busl-
ness freely and without obstruction.
The government of the United States
is founded on the principle that a
majority shall rule. 1t Is essential
that a majority shall control in leg
islative matters. The practice or the
Senate today frequently prevents a
majority of the Senate from express
ing it's true views in the legislation
enacted.
I'VE have in the Senate today a rule
which permits cloture when ordered
by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.
This has been on the books for sew
eral years, but 1t has been invoked
only once, and that was to bring to
an end the long debate on the Ver-
sailles treaty: With the Senate di-
vided as 1t is between two great po-
litical parties, the invocation OF clo-
ture by two-thirds vote on any
measure which may be held to be a
party measure is impossible. The re-
publicans now have sixty seats In
the Senate and the democrats thirty
six 1t has rarely happened that one
party had such large majority IN
the Senate as the republicans nave
today. But the republicans are short
OF a two-thirds majority in the Sem
ate. II the democrats object-and OF
course they may be counted upon to
object-to an attempt to limit debate
on a republican measure, then the
two thirds cloture rule is of no avail
whatever. 1t would be the same If
the democrats were in control of the
Senate and the republicans were in
the minority. So the present cloture
rule practically requires unan1 nous
consent in order to bring about
limitation of debate.
I'm my own opinion. there should
be a rule which would permit the
limitation Of debate. after a reason
able opportunity had been given for
consideration, on all measures that
come before the Senate with the ex-
ception Of treaties with foreign ma
tions and proposed amendments to
the Constitution. So far as treaties
are concerned. it requires two
thirds vote of the Senate to bring
about ratification. The same is true
in the passage of resolutions propos-
ing amendments to the Constitution;
amendmants to the Constitution are