Federal

A resolution providing for sufficient time for legislation to be read.

Source: Congress.gov · 383 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This resolution creates a waiting period before the Senate can vote on bills and other legislative measures. Senators must wait a certain number of days based on how long the legislation is before they can consider it.

Who It Affects

Senators in the U.S. Senate and anyone whose bills or resolutions require Senate consideration.

Key Provisions

• The Senate cannot consider any bill, resolution, message, conference report, amendment, treaty or other measure until at least one session day (a day the Senate meets) passes for every 20 pages of the measure, plus one additional session day for any remaining pages under 20 pages (Sec. 1(a)) • Any Senator can raise an objection (called a point of order) if the Senate tries to consider something before the waiting period ends, and this objection cannot be dismissed through a standard motion to dismiss (Sec. 1(b)(1)) • The waiting period rule can only be skipped if three-fifths of all Senate members vote to skip it, and any debate on skipping the rule is limited to three hours total (Sec. 1(b)(2))

What Changes

If passed, the Senate would be required to follow this waiting period before voting on legislation based on its length. Currently, no such waiting period is required.

Important Definitions

None defined.

III 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 46 Providing for sufficient time for legislation to be read. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 9, 2023 Mr. PAUL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration RESOLUTION Providing for sufficient time for legislation to be read. Resolved, 1 SECTION 1. TIME FOR READING OF LEGISLATION. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order for the 3 Senate to consider any bill, resolution, message, con- 4 ference report, amendment between the Houses, amend- 5 ment, treaty, or other measure or matter until 1 session 6 day has passed since introduction for every 20 pages in- 7 cluded in the measure or matter in the usual form plus 8 1 session day for any number of remaining pages less than 9 20 in the usual form. 10 (b) POINT OF ORDER.— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Feb 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR46.IS SR46 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •SRES 46 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Any Senator may raise a 1 point of order that consideration of any bill, resolu- 2 tion, message, conference report, amendment, treaty, 3 or other measure or matter is not in order under 4 subsection (a). A motion to table the point of order 5 shall not be in order. 6 (2) WAIVER.—Paragraph (1) may be waived or 7 suspended only by an affirmative vote of three-fifths 8 of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. All motions 9 to waive under this paragraph shall be debatable col- 10 lectively for not to exceed 3 hours equally divided be- 11 tween the Senator raising the point of order and the 12 Senator moving to waive the point of order or their 13 designees. A motion to waive the point of order shall 14 not be amendable. 15 (c) CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—This resolution 16 is adopted pursuant to the power granted to each House 17 of Congress to determine the Rules of its Proceedings in 18 article I, section 5, clause 2 of the Constitution of the 19 United States. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Feb 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR46.IS SR46 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

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