Post by Jackal on Apr 18, 2008 23:54:59 GMT -5
RULE I
APPOINTMENT OF A SENATOR TO THE CHAIR
In the absence of the Vice President, the Senate shall choose a President pro tempore, who shall hold the office and execute the duties thereof during the pleasure of the Senate and until another is elected or his term of office as a Senator expires.
In the absence of the Vice President, and pending the election of a President pro tempore, the Acting President pro tempore or the Secretary of the Senate, or in his absence the Assistant Secretary, shall perform the duties of the Chair.
The President pro tempore shall have the right to name a Senator to perform the duties of the Chair.
RULE II
SUSPENSION AND AMENDMENT OF THE RULES
No motion to suspend, modify, or amend any rule, or any part thereof, shall be in order, except by the two-thirds vote of the Senate, except as otherwise provided by the rules.
The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules.
RULE III
VOTING PROCEDURE
When the yeas and nays are ordered, each Senator shall, without debate, declare his assent or dissent to the question; and no Senator shall be permitted to vote after the decision shall have been announced by the Presiding Officer, but may for sufficient reasons, change or withdraw his vote. No motion to suspend this rule shall be in order, nor shall the Presiding Officer entertain any request to suspend it by unanimous consent.
A Member, notwithstanding any other provisions of this rule, may decline to vote, in committee or on the floor, on any matter for any reason.
RULE IV
RECONSIDERATION
When a question has been decided by the Senate, any Senator voting with the prevailing side or who has not voted may move a reconsideration; and if the Senate shall refuse to reconsider such a motion entered, or if such a motion is withdrawn by leave of the Senate, or if upon reconsideration the Senate shall affirm its first decision, no further motion to reconsider shall be in order unless by unanimous consent. Every motion to reconsider shall be decided by a majority vote.
RULE V
BILLS, JOINT RESOLUTIONS, AND RESOLUTIONS
Every bill and joint resolution shall be submitted directly to the Senate Hopper, where it shall be open for cosponsorships and questioning of a technical nature.
Every bill and joint resolution shall require a plain English summary to provide a non-technical description of the bill's objective.
Debate shall not be entertained in the hopper.
No bill or joint resolution shall remain in the hopper for less than 24 hours or more than 72 hours except by a two-thirds vote.
Upon leaving the hopper, a bill or joint resolution shall be referred to one committee of the Senate, except by a two-thirds vote to refer it to the Senate Floor for debate, or by unanimous consent to refer it directly to the Senate Voting Booth for yeas and nays.
RULE VI
AMENDMENTS AND MOTIONS
1. An amendment shall be submitted during debate on any bill or joint resolutions with a motion to amend.
Any motion, amendment, or resolution may be withdrawn or modified by the mover at any time before a decision, amendment, or ordering of the yeas and nays, except a motion to reconsider, which shall not be withdrawn without leave
It shall not be in order to consider any proposed committee amendment (other than a technical, clerical, or conforming amendment) which contains any significant matter not within the jurisdiction of the committee proposing such amendment.
RULE VII
REFERENCE TO COMMITTEES; MOTIONS TO DISCHARGE; REPORTS OF COMMITTEES; AND HEARINGS AVAILABLE
1. Except as provided in paragraph 3, in any case in which a controversy arises as to the jurisdiction of any committee with respect to any proposed legislation, the question of jurisdiction shall be decided by the presiding officer, without debate, in favor of the committee which has jurisdiction over the subject matter which predominates in such proposed legislation; but such decision shall be subject to an appeal.
2. A motion simply to refer shall not be open to amendment.
3. (a) Upon motion by both the majority leader or his designee and the minority leader or his designee, proposed legislation may be referred to two or more committees jointly or sequentially. The motion shall be privileged. No amendment to any such motion shall be in order. Debate on any such motion, and debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than two hours.
( B) Proposed legislation which is referred to two or more committees jointly may be reported only by such committees jointly and only one report may accompany any proposed legislation so jointly reported.
© A motion to refer any proposed legislation to two or more committees sequentially shall specify the order of referral.
(d) Any motion under this paragraph may specify the portion or portions of proposed legislation to be considered by the committees, or any of them, to which such proposed legislation is referred, and such committees or committee shall be limited, in the consideration of such proposed legislation, to the portion or portions so specified.
(e) Any motion under this subparagraph may contain instructions with respect to the time allowed for consideration by the committees, or any of them, to which proposed legislation is referred and the discharge of such committees, or any of them, from further consideration of such proposed legislation.
4. (a) All reports of committees and motions to discharge a committee from the consideration of a subject, and all subjects from which a committee shall be discharged, shall lie over one day for consideration, unless by unanimous consent the Senate shall otherwise direct.
Whenever any committee (except the Committee on Appropriations) has reported any measure, by action taken in conformity with the requirements of committee procedure, no point of order shall lie with respect to that measure on the ground that hearings upon that measure by the committee were not conducted in accordance with the provisions of committee procedure.
RULE VIII
BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM SESSION TO SESSION
At the second or any subsequent session of a Congress the legislative business of the Senate which remained undetermined at the close of the next preceding session of that Congress shall be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if no adjournment of the Senate had taken place.
RULE IX
DEBATE
1. When a Senator desires to speak, he shall rise and address the Presiding Officer. No Senator shall interrupt another Senator in debate without his consent, and to obtain such consent he shall first address the Presiding Officer.
2. No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.
3. No Senator in debate shall refer offensively to any State of the Union.
4. If any Senator, in speaking or otherwise, in the opinion of the Presiding Officer transgress the rules of the Senate the Presiding Officer shall, either on his own motion or at the request of any other Senator, call him to order; and when a Senator shall be called to order he shall take his seat. Any Senator directed by the Presiding Officer to take his seat, and any Senator requesting the Presiding Officer to require a Senator to take his seat, may appeal from the ruling of the Chair, which appeal shall be open to debate.
5. Whenever confusion arises in the Chamber or the galleries, or demonstrations of approval or disapproval are indulged in by the occupants of the galleries, it shall be the duty of the Chair to enforce order on his own initiative and without any point of order being made by a Senator.
Former Presidents of the United States shall be entitled to address the Senate upon appropriate notice to the Presiding Officer who shall thereupon make the necessary arrangements.
RULE X
QUESTIONS OF ORDER
1. A question of order may be raised at any stage of the proceedings, except when the Senate is voting, and, unless submitted to the Senate, shall be decided by the Presiding Officer without debate, subject to an appeal to the Senate. When an appeal is taken, any subsequent question of order which may arise before the decision of such appeal shall be decided by the Presiding Officer without debate; and every appeal therefrom shall be decided at once, and without debate.
The Presiding Officer may submit any question of order for the decision of the Senate.
RULE XI
PRECEDENCE OF MOTIONS
1. When a question is pending, no motion shall be received but
To adjourn.
To take a recess.
To lay on the table.
To postpone indefinitely.
To postpone to a day certain.
To commit.
To amend.
Which several motions shall have precedence as they stand arranged; and the motions relating to adjournment, to take a recess, to lay on the table, shall be decided without debate.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and 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 three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn -- except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting. Should the question obtain the necessary majority, debate shall be ended by the presiding officer not more than 24 hours after the announcement of the result of the question.
RULE XII
STANDING COMMITTEES
The following standing committees shall be appointed at the commencement of each Congress, and shall continue and have the power to act until their successors are appointed, with leave to report by bill or otherwise on matters within their respective jurisdictions:
Committee on Armed Forces and Foreign Affairs
Committee on Judicial Affairs and Homeland Security
Committee on Economic Affairs and Transportation
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Social Services
Committee on Energy, Science, Agriculture, and Environmental Affairs
Each committee shall consist of an equal number of Senators from the majority and minority parties determined by the Majority and Minority Leaders, plus a chairperson from the majority.
Committee chairpersons shall be allowed to debate, however they may not vote unless in the case of a tied result after all yeas and nays have been counted.
RULE XIII
FILIBUSTERS AND CLOTURE
1. Should one take the floor and refuse to yield it, they shall be assumed to be filibustering.
2. (a) During a filibuster, no motion can be taken other than to invoke cloture.
(b) Cloture requires a second to be recognized and shall be recognized within 24 hours of a second.
© Upon being recognized, Senators shall vote on cloture for 24 hours, which shall require a 2/3 supermajority to pass.
(d) Cloture will end debate on the piece of legislation immediately upon its passage.
3. During a filibuster, no debate on the legislation being filibustered shall be entertained.
4. A filibuster is ended when cloture is successfully invoked, the Senator filibustering yields the floor, or the Senator filibustering fails to speak within 12 (RL) hours of their last speech.