By Daniel Engber
Slate.com
Posted Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a "blanket hold" on more than 70 presidential nominees, angering both the White House and Democratic lawmakers. In 2006, Daniel Engber reviewed the history of this legislative maneuver in all its forms, including the "secret hold," the "revolving hold," and the "rolling hold." That column is reprinted below.
Two senators who put "secret holds" on a government accountability bill at the beginning of August were outed this week. Alaska's Ted Stevens admitted to having used the parliamentary tactic on Wednesday, and West Virginia's Robert Byrd fessed up the following day. What's a secret hold?
An anonymous objection that's made before a bill hits the floor. The Byzantine rules of the Senate make it very easy for individual lawmakers to stall ongoing debates. Since anyone can slow down or halt the chamber's business, the Senate must rely on collegiality to keep business moving forward. To that end, the Senate majority leader sets an agenda using "unanimous consent agreements" on what will be discussed and for how long. (In the House of Representatives, the majority leader can more easily set and enforce ground rules for debate.)
The majority leader will try to make sure that no one's going to object to a unanimous consent agreement before it's raised on the floor. She'll consult with her own members ahead of time, and then check with counterparts from across the aisle. At this point, senators can tell party leaders in private that they object to that unanimous consent agreement—or that they would object to if it were brought to the floor. The majority leader takes this into consideration and in most cases holds the bill until the problems can be resolved. In principle, the only people who know the identity of the "holder" are the leader and secretary of his party. (Party leaders sometimes spill the beans to the relevant committee chairs or bill sponsors.)
Unanimous consent agreements have been around since the mid-19th century, and they became official and binding in 1914. But the hold has only been important since the 1960s. As the legislative workload grew, it became more important for the majority leader—then Democrat Mike Mansfield—to set a rigid schedule. To make things run smoothly, Mansfield began to set up a procedure to ensure that consent agreements would be approved ahead of time. Robert Byrd took over the scheduling a few years later and formalized the system of legislative holds.
(More here.)
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