Number: 98-425 Title: Invoking Cloture in the Senate Authors: Christopher M. Davis, Government and Finance Division Abstract: 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 the Senate has been debating. As an alternative, a Senator can make a nondebatable motion to table an amendment, for example, 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 whatever proposal it is considering. Only the cloture provisions of Rule XXII achieve this purpose. Pages: 2 Date: June 4, 2007