The rules provide individual Senators and numerical minorities with impressive means to influence the Senate's agenda and decisions. But this decision requires an extraordinary majority vote. Rule XXII provides that three-fifths of the entire Senate must vote to invoke cloture under most circumstances; on a proposal to amend Senate rules, the required majority is two-thirds of the Senators present and voting. The right to debate offers ample means to delay in the Senate. And a strategy of delay, even the threat of delay, can be used with telling effect to influence whether a measure will be considered or what happens to it while it is being considered. Furthermore, most amendments also are subject to being amended. Beyond the potent power to delay the Senate's proceedings through debate or these other tactics, a Senator or a group of Senators can try to promote their legislative goals by taking advantage of other parliamentary rights and opportunities that are provided by the Senate's formal procedures and customary practices. Under Rule XIV, bills may be referred to committee only after having been read twice by title.
The rules of the Senate emphasize the rights and prerogatives of individual Senators and, therefore, minority groups of Senators. The most important of these rules allows unlimited debate on a bill or amendment unless an extraordinary majority votes to invoke cloture. Senators can use their right to filibuster, and simply the threat of a filibuster, to delay or prevent the Senate from even considering a bill they oppose. The Senate's rules also are a source of other minority rights, including the right to propose non-germane amendments to most bills and to prevent bills from being referred to committees that might not consider and report them.
This report will be revised when necessary to reflect significant changes in relevant Senate rules, precedents, and practices.