Would you please define the Senate's "hold" procedure and explain how it is used to kill a bill? San Jose, California - 7/28/00

A "hold" describes a Senator's request to his party leader that a specific piece of legislation or a nomination not be considered on the Senate floor. A hold may be lodged as a bargaining chip so that the Senator is consulted as a measure proceeds, or it may be meant as an ultimate barrier to a bill.

Holds are not a part of the Senate's written rules or standing orders. They are an informal practice begun by the leadership of the past and honored -- to varying degrees -- by the leadership of the present. The status of holds as an informal practice means that Senate leaders have the discretion to honor holds for a short period of time, for an indefinite period, or not at all.

The underlying reasons for lodging a hold vary greatly. A Senator may lodge a hold to receive assurance that a bill or a nomination will not be called up in his/her absence. A hold may be lodged to gain time to gather information and prepare opposition to the pending matter. A hold may be lodged to gain entree into any negotiations the leaders conduct on the conditions for the consideration of the legislation, e.g. debate time and amendment procedures.

The more serious holds seek to kill a bill or nomination. These signal outright opposition combined with a willingness to use every procedural tactic possible to keep a measure from moving forward. Such holds are implicit threats to filibuster or to offer troublesome non-germane amendments to a measure, or to raise a series of objections to the many unanimous consent agreements which drive daily Senate floor action.

The leaders have several options in responding to a hold. (1) When an issue is of great political importance, the leader may ignore the implied threat and proceed to the measure or nomination's consideration. He must then confront the procedural consequences posed by the Senator with the hold. (2) The leader may wait to see if the reason for the hold dissipates with time and changing political events. (3) The leader may assess the hold as real and the Senator as determined to prevent the matter from proceeding. If the leader feels that significant Senate floor time will be wasted if the hold is confronted, he may decide to honor the hold and allow it to delay proceedings.

While the practice in the Senate has been to keep holds a secret between the leaders, the practice of strict secrecy ended in 1999. The Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, and the Minority Leader, Tom Daschle, came to an agreement to revise the practice, and announced it to their colleagues in a March 3, 1999 letter. Senators now have to notify the sponsor of a measure and the leaders of the committee with jurisdiction over it, as well as the two party leaders, in writing, of their intent to issue a hold.

While the notifications are not published in the Congressional Record, with that many people in the know, it would be highly unlikely that the source of a hold would remain unknown for long. Depending on the issue, it is sometimes quite obvious which Senator has a hold, or someone leaks it, or the Senator with the hold reveals it. Once the identity of the Senator with the hold is known collegial pressure is often brought to bear on the Senator involved in an attempt to get him/her to lift it.

Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are credited with bringing about the change in practice. In a bi-partisan 3-year effort, the two had offered resolutions to change the practice, made floor statements against it, lobbied the floor leaders, and offered an amendment on the Senate floor requiring that holds become public by having them printed in the Congressional Record. The amendment was adopted by voice vote in the Senate on September 30, 1997, but it was a rider to an appropriations bill and was later dropped in a conference with the House. They proposed another amendment to a defense authorization bill in 1998, which was also adopted by voice vote on June 25, 1998, and again dropped in conference.