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Comparative analysis of proposed amendments to Rule XXII (relating to
cloture)-Continued

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1 For the purposes of this tabulation it has been necessary to alter slightly the texts of some of the proposals. These changes, however, do not affect the legislative intent.

2S. Res. 17 differs from the other proposals by providing for 2 votes: (1) On the following calendar day but one with a vote of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting required; and, if that should fail, (2) on the fifteenth calendar day thereafter with a vote of a majority of the Senators duly chosen and sworn required.

3 Effective only after fifteenth calendar day. (See footnote 2, supra.)

[S. Res. 17, 85th Cong.. 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That section 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended to read as follows:

"2. (a) If at any time, notwithstanding the provisions of rule III or rule VI or any other rule of the Senate, a motion, signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate pursuant to this subsection, the Presiding Officer shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the Secretary call the roll, and, upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question: "Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?' "And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by a two-thirds vote of the Senators present and voting, then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.

"Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the same, and it shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be in order after the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless the same has been presented and read prior to that time. No dilatory motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment not germane shall be in order. Points of order, including questions of

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relevancy, and appeals from the decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate.

"(b) If at any time, notwithstanding the provisions of rule III or rule VI or any other rule of the Senate, a motion, signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate pursuant to this subsection, the Presiding Officer shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the fifteenth calendar day thereafter (exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays), he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the Secretary call the roll, and, upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without further debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:

"Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?' "And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by a majority vote of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.

"Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the same, and it shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be in order after the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless the same has been presented and read prior to that time. No dilatory motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment not germane shall be in order. Points of order, including questions of relevancy, and appeals from the decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate.'

""

SEC. 2. Section 3 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is repealed.

[S. Res. 19, 85th Cong. 1st sess.]

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That the Senate do now adopt as its rules for the Eighty-fifth Congress the rules which prevailed during the Eighty-fourth Congress except that rule 22 of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking from subsection 2 the words "two-thirds of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" and inserting in lieu thereof "two-thirds of the Senators present and voting but in no case less than a majority of the Senators duly chosen and sworn."

[S. Res. 21, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That subsection 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, relating to cloture, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"If at any time, notwithstanding the provisions of rule III or VI or any other rule of the Senate, a motion, signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the Secretary call the roll, and, upon the ascertainment that quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:

"Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?' "And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by a majority vote of those voting, then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.

"Thereafter no Senator shall be entitled to speak in all more than one hour on the measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, the amendments thereto, and motions affecting the same; except that any Senator may yield to any other Senator all or any part of the aggregate period of time which he is entitled to speak; and the Senator to whom he so yields may

speak for the time so yielded in addition to any period of time which he is entitled to speak in his own right. It shall be the duty of the Presiding Officer to keep the time of each Senator who speaks. Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be in order after the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless the same has been presented and read prior to that time. No dilatory motion, or dilatory amendment, or amendment not germane shall be in order. Points of order, including questions of relevancy, and appeals from the decision of the Presiding Officer, shall be decided without debate.

SEC. 2. Subsection 3 of such rule is hereby repealed.

[S. Res. 28, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate (relating to cloture) is modified as follows:

(1) The first paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out “except subsection 3 of rule 22".

(2) The first paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out "on the following calendar day but one" and inserting in lieu thereof "on the twelfth calendar day thereafter (exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays)”.

(3) The second paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out "by twothirds of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" and inserting in lieu thereof "by the vote of a majority of the authorized membership of the Senate". (4) Subsection 3 is hereby deleted.

[S. Res. 29, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that section 3 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, having operated as an infringement on the constitutional right of the Senate to make its own rules, is null, void, and of no further effect during the Eighty-fifth Congress.

[S. Res. 30, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That subsection 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended (1) by striking out "except subsection 3 of rule XXII,", and (2) by striking out "two-thirds of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" and inserting in lieu thereof "two-thirds of the Senators present and voting".

SEC. 2. Subsection 3 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking out "and of subsection 2 of this rule”.

SEC. 3. Rule XXXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by inserting "1." immediately preceding "At", and by adding at the end thereof a new paragraph as follows:

"2. The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules.”

[S. Res. 32, 85th Cong., 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate (relating to cloture) is modified as follows:

(1) The first paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out "except subsection 3 of rule 22."

(2) The first paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out "on the following calendar day but one," and inserting in lieu thereof, "on the fifth calendar day thereafter (exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays).”

(3) The second paragraph of subsection 2 is amended by striking out "by two-thirds of the Senators duly chosen and sworn," and inserting in lieu thereof, "by the vote of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting."

(4) Subsection 3 is hereby deleted.

[S. Res. 171,1 85th Cong., 1st sess.]
RESOLUTION

Resolved, That subsection 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate (relating to cloture) is amended by inserting before the word "following" in the eighth line of such subsection the word "fifth", and by striking out "by twothirds of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" and inserting in lieu thereof "by two-thirds of the Senators present and voting".

Senator JAVITS. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to insert in the record of the hearing an analysis made by the Legislative Reference Service entitled "Limitation of Debate in the United States Senate, dated December 1956, which I think is one of the typically fine factual analyses of that service. It was compiled by George B. Galloway, senior specialist in American Government.

Senator TALMADGE. No objection.

(The document referred to may be found in the appendix as exhibit 1, p. 291.)

Senator TALMADGE. Senator Cooper, do you want to make a statement?

Senator COOPER. Just a short one, please.

Senator TALMADGE. We are very happy to have you here.

In fact, we had hoped at this particular meeting and also the meeting which we have scheduled for Friday to hear Senators. A number of them have expressed their desire to testify, but apparently they are not ready at this particular time.

We are delighted and honored to have with us a member of our Rules Committee, the distinguished Senator from Kentucky. Senator Cooper, we will be happy to hear from you at this time if you desire to make a statement.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHERMAN COOPER, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF KENTUCKY

Senator COOPER. Mr. Chairman and Senator Javits-I think you are cochairmen-I do not wish to make at this time a statement on the merits of the resolutions which are before you.

As you know I am not a member of this subcommittee, although I am a member of the Committee on Rules.

Neither am I a sponsor of any of the resolutions that are before this committee. Nevertheless, I wanted to attend the opening of the hearings and attend from time to time because I am a member of the Rules Committee, and I want to be able in a more informed way to make a determination when a resolution comes before the full committee.

I might say also that, when the time comes, I expect to support a resolution which I hope will enable us to preserve reasonable debate and at the same time permit a decision upon issues which come before the Senate.

1 S. Res. 171, submitted by Mr. Jenner and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration subsequent to these hearings, is identical in text to his resolution S. Res. 20, 83d Cong., 1st sess., which was reported by the committee May 12, 1953, but not acted upon by the Senate.

My chief purpose in being here is to seek information and to support the subcommittee. It is unique in being a two-man subcommittee. I believe it has great possibilities for arriving at some solution of this problem.

Senator TALMADGE. We are delighted to have you with us, Senator, and we would be happy to have you, as a member of the Rules Committee, attend as many sessions as you can. We would also be happy to have any other Members of the Senate sit in with us at any time.

I notice the distinguished junior Senator from the State of South Carolina is with us and we are happy to have you, Senator Thurmond. If you care to make a statement at this time, sir, we will be delighted to have you do so.

STATEMENT OF HON. STROM THURMOND, UNITED STATES

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Senator THURMOND. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. As I understand it, you are now considering changes to Rule 22; is that correct?

Senator TALMADGE. Yes, we are taking testimony on seven resolutions that seek to change rule 22.

Senator JAVITS. Senator, may I suggest if you would be more comfortable seated, it is fine with us.

Senator TALMADGE. We are quite informal.

Senator THURMOND. Thank you very much, but I would just as soon stand.

I am opposed to any change in the rule that will weaken the right of free debate.

There are four reasons why I oppose any such change. The first, free debate is the best means of bringing out the pertinent points and arguments with reference to any question.

When debate is limited, there is great likelihood that all points and questions will not be answered and that all Members of the Senate will not have the opportunity to be fully informed on the matter under consideration.

Second, that limiting debate would prevent the views of people of the United States from being fully presented by their duly elected representatives in the Senate.

Third, that under present rules of the Senate, it is already possible to limit debate through a unanimous consent agreement if there is no need or request to continue debate.

Also there is already in rule 22 a provision for cutting off debate if two-thirds of the Senators wish to do so.

Fourth, the limiting of debate would in effect be strengthening the executive branch of the Government at the expense of the legislative branch, if a strong executive had control of the leadership in the Senate.

If rule 22 is weakened, it would be much simpler for a President to dictate to the Senate than at present, provided he controlled the leadership and had a majority of his party in the Senate.

It is my firm conviction that the elements who are now pushing the movement for a change in the rules will be among those who might be hurt in the future. I believe that the present rule is a reasonable one and that we should not weaken it; if anything we should strengthen

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