Secret Holds

Senators Get New Guidelines In Wake Of Secret Holds

Brian Beutler | February 11, 2011, 12:40PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)

A Senate source passes along a memo that's been circulated to all Democratic offices explaining how things will change now that the rules forbid secret holds.

You can read the entire memo here, though be aware it's written in the inelegant prose of parliamentary procedure.

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Filibuster Reform

Tom Harkin Looks To Courts To Reform The Filibuster

Brian Beutler | January 28, 2011, 9:43AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), a long-time advocate of filibuster reform, was the lone senior senator to publicly align himself with Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in their effort to change the Senate's rules.

Those efforts were neutered this week by the leaders of both parties. With the exception of some modest tweaks, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) agreed that the rules would remain largely unchanged. Beyond that, though,they shook hands and agreed that for the next several years, neither party will attempt to change the filibuster rules on a majority-vote basis -- what's known as the "Constitutional option."

Under these circumstances, Harkin has given up hope that the Senate will ever reassess itself, and is looking to the courts to step in and shake things up.

"It's clear now that the Senate can not change its rules," Harkin told me in an interview Thursday evening. "It can not."

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Senate

Senate Ends Practice Of Secret Holds

Jillian Rayfield | January 27, 2011, 5:49PM

United States Capitol

By a vote of 92-4, the Senate today ended the practice of secret holds, in which a senator can anonymously obstruct legislation.

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Filibuster Reform

Senators Near Consensus On Filibuster Reform Alternative

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 12:41PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

A quick update on the substance, as opposed to the process, of filibuster reform in the Senate.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will pick up where he left off in pursuit of his filibuster reform proposals when the Senate reconvenes this week. But parallel negotiations between Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on a more modest rules reform framework are ongoing. And there's emerging consensus on three flanks.

New to that slate, according to a Senate aide, is a proposal to that would forbid "individual senators [from forcing] the reading of certain pieces of legislation, if they've been posted for certain periods of time." There's still no clarity on what categories of legislation would be exempted from this, or how long they'd have to be public.

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Filibuster Reform

Filibuster Reform Effort Kicks Off Today

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2011, 10:43AM

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

Today, a number of Democrats will launch their attempt to amend the filibuster.

Wednesday afternoon on the Senate floor, armed with a package of reforms, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will take the first in a complicated, unusual series of steps that allows a simple-majority of senators to change the Senate rules.

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Jim DeMint

Jim DeMint Plans To Grind Senate To A Halt

Brian Beutler | September 28, 2010, 11:32AM

Jim DeMint

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is telling members that he plans to grind the already lethargic Senate to a complete halt at the end of the day.

DeMint's staff informed all Senate offices yesterday that he plans to hold all legislation that hasn't been "hot lined" by the end of business on Tuesday, forcing each piece of legislation the Democrats hope to address before the election to overcome days' worth of procedural obstacles.

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Secret Holds

McCaskill Expects Vote On End To Secret Holds Before The End Of The Year

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2010, 11:44AM

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

The push to end the Senate's much-derided practice of allowing individual members to secretly hold legislation and nominees may come to an end before the year is out. After rounding up 67 signatures on a letter calling for an end to the practice, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) says the technical work of changing the rules will begin in earnest tomorrow--and Democratic leadership has her back.

"[Next comes] testimony in front of the Rules Committee Wednesday morning, and then hopefully they will report out a rule change and we'll get a chance to vote on it in the next few weeks," McCaskill told reporters yesterday evening.

Unlike most legislation, which needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, a rules change requires the agreement of two-thirds of the Senate. She nabbed her 67th signatory last week.

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Claire McCaskill

McCaskill: 51 Senators Have Signed My 'No More Secret Holds' Pledge

Eric Lach | May 5, 2010, 1:28PM

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) says 51 Senators have signed her letter pledging to abandon the practice of placing anonymous holds on legislation or nominations.

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