Senate Cloture Rules
Senate Procedure for Ending Debate
Cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to set an end to a debate without also rejecting the bill, amendment, conference report, motion, or other matter it has been debating. A senator can make a nondebatable motion to table an amendment, and if a majority of the Senate votes for that motion, the effect is to reject the amendment. Thus, the motion to table cannot be used to conclude a debate when senators still wish to speak and to enable the Senate to vote for the proposal it is considering. Only the cloture provisions of Rule…
