Evening star., 1935-03-14
ACTION PROMISED
ON DEBATE LIMIT
Hearings Due Soon on Glass
Proposal to Curb Irrele.
want Talk.
BY J, A. O'LEARY.

The Senate Rules Committee will
meet in the near future, Chairman
Neely said today, to consider the pro-
posal Of Senator Glass of Virginia to
curb irrelevant senatorial debate
while appropriation bills are pending.
Senator Nicely expressed no opinion
as to what action should be taken on
the Glass resolution.
Revision of Senate rules is sug-
gested at frequent intervals. but
changes are few and far between,
especially with regard to customs and
methods of procedure that have been
followed for many years.
In 1896 former Senator Stephen M.
White of California arose in the
Senate and proposed a rule to require
that all debate be relevant and con-
fined to the subject directly before
the Senate"
Had Small Hope.
Recalling how other amendments
to the rules had languished and been
forgotten prior to that time, he was
not very optimistic over the outlook
for his own proposal. He suggested,
however, that the twentieth century
was approaching and ventured to hope
that with the advent of this new era,
progress might include some revision
Of Senate rules.
After the lapse of 40 years, with
intervening discussions, the question
once more is in the public limelight,
through the limited change put for
ward by Senator Glass.
When there is no determined oppo-
sition to a pending bill. and the dis
cusSion has gone on freely for several
days or a week, Senators frequently
submit to a voluntary limitation on
debate to hasten a vote. This is
accomplished by unanimous consent
agreement, fixing limit of Is or 80
minutes on subsequent speeches.
When there is a last-ditch fight
against measure, however, the
unanimous consent rule is Of no
avail, for one objection is sufficient
TO block such an agreement.
Cloture Used in 1917.
In 1877 the Senate forged a parlia-
mentary weapon by which it can force
a limitation on debate in these ex-
treme cases. known as the cloture
rule, it provides that if two-thirds
vote to invoke 1t, each Senator there
after can speak only one hour.
Because of the time -honored GUS
tom of permitting freedom of debate,
Senators hesitate to use the cloture
rule. Although frequently threatened,
it has seldom actually been applied.
sentiment for a bill, it is not easy to
get two-thirds to apply cloture. Sena-
tors who are for bill will not al
ways vote to limit debate.
The Glass proposal, however is not
designed to limit relevant debate, nor
would it apply generally to all legis-
lation. Its sole purpose would be to
prevent the holding up of appropria-
ton bills by extraneous speeches.
Norris Amendment Helps.
The adoption of the Norris lame
duck" amendment to the Constitu-
ton, abolishing short sessions of Con-
gresS which came every other year
after the elections, has resulted in
one marked improvement in Senate
procedure in recent years. 1t has
done away with the opportunity
which existed to stage filibusters in
the closing days of those short ses-
sions. Before adoption of the Norris
Amendment, these short sessions had
to end at noon on March 4. This
gave few Senators the chance to
block important legislation or to force
consideration of other legislation, by
prolonging the debate. Now Congress
itself determines the date on which
it will adjourn each year, and this
makes a filibuster much harder to
stage.