Senate Amendment Process: General Conditions and Principles

Publication Date: February 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

The amending process in the Senate provides lawmakers an opportunity to make changes in the text of a measure (or pending amendment) during its consideration. Senators generally have wide freedom to offer as many amendments as they want, including nongermane changes. In fact, an important feature of the Senate is that it lacks a general germaneness rule. This absence grants any Senator an opportunity to raise issues and to offer extraneous “riders” to pending legislation. However, Senators' freedom to amend and to offer nongermane amendments can be restricted in certain circumstances, such as when the Senate invokes cloture (which limits further debate on a measure) or agrees by unanimous consent to impose restrictions on the offering of amendments.

The Senate's amending process can be complex, but it is subject to certain conditions and principles. Whether these conditions and principles apply in all circumstances may be problematic, because the Senate might waive them by the unanimous consent of the membership. The point to remember is that sometimes there may be a gap between amendment theory and senatorial practice. (For discussion of details associated with the types (perfecting and substitute), degrees (first degree and second degree), and forms (motions to strike, to insert, or to strike and insert) of amendments, see CRS Report 98-614 GOV, Amendments in the Senate: Types and Forms and CRS Report 93-113 S, The Amending Process in the Senate.).