{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/the-senate-must-reform-cloture", "The Senate Must Reform Cloture", "2016-11-16", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Tom McClintock", "M001177", "mcclintock.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Senate Must Reform Cloture\n\tCongressman Tom McClintock\n\tHouse Chambers, Washington, D.C.\n\tNovember 16, 2016\nMr. Speaker:\nThe American people have given our 45th President and the 115th Congress a clear mandate to revive our economy, secure our borders, restore our nation\u2019s sovereignty, reinstate our Bill of Rights, and uphold the Rule of Law. \u00a0Moreover, they have given us majorities in both houses of Congress to do so. \u00a0There is no excuse for failure.\nPresident Obama and Secretary Clinton set a positive tone for the peaceful transition of power, a tone no doubt shared by many members of Congress and many Americans of good will who did not vote on the prevailing side. \u00a0This represents the best of American statesmanship.\nYet we have also heard reactionary elements of the Democratic Party make a vicious pledge to thwart this mandate and destroy this president. \u00a0One need look no further than Senator Reid\u2019s disgraceful diatribe on Friday to realize that these threats far exceed the lunatic fringe now violently rioting in our streets. \u00a0They reach directly into the halls of Congress. \u00a0\nTo fulfill the mandate of the American people, we will need to deliberate wisely and in good faith, with all sides participating in the discussion and all voices heard. \u00a0But ultimately, those deliberations must result in laws to fulfill that mandate. \u00a0The agenda is daunting and time is fleeting.\nThe greatest single obstacle to this era of reform is the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture in the Senate, and I rise today to urge the Senate to finally reform it. \u00a0Given the record of abuse of this rule and the avowed intentions of many in that body, nothing will change legislatively unless the Senate Republican majority takes action when they organize in January. \u00a0All the reforms that the American people called for and that the President will request and the House will pass will be stopped dead in the Senate. \u00a0\nI do not argue to abandon this rule, but rather to restore it to its original purpose. \u00a0Cloture is rooted in a sound and ancient parliamentary principle: that as long as one third of a deliberative body wants to debate an issue, that debate should continue. \u00a0After all, a minority exists to convince the majority to its way of thinking; this is the essence of deliberation.\nBut this principle assumes it is an actual debate where members are talking to one another \u2013 and it requires that the debate be germane to the question at hand and that it is not dilatory. \u00a0That is how cloture started \u2013 but over the 20th Century it degenerated into a 60-vote administrative threshold just to consider legislation. \u00a0Ironically, a procedure designed to PROTECT debate has now morphed into a procedure that very effectively PREVENTS debate.\nThe two houses of Congress are designed to disagree with each other. \u00a0Once the House and the Senate independently exercise their best judgment on a particular matter, there is a conference process developed over centuries to resolve their differences. \u00a0But this process cannot function if one house simply refuses to consider the other house\u2019s work.\u00a0\nThe modern notion of cloture prevents that process, and the system breaks down. \u00a0During the last several congresses, the House sent hundreds of bills \u2013 including the appropriations bills that fund this government \u2013 to the Senate. \u00a0But instead of amending their ideas into those bills \u2013 or sending us bills of their own \u2013 they have simply refused to consider them by a minority denying cloture.\nSome Senators have said that this mechanism is necessary to preserve collegiality and encourage compromise. \u00a0How can you have collegiality when one side simply refuses to talk to the other? \u00a0How can you have compromise when the matter to be compromised cannot be taken up and discussed?\nOthers have said that since most legislation grows the powers of government, this is an effective brake on that tendency. \u00a0It\u2019s true this rule effectively blocks bad legislation. \u00a0It also very effectively blocks good legislation that is necessary to reverse this trend. \u00a0The current cloture rule provides a ratcheting effect that locks in every expansion of government over the past century. \u00a0\nSome Republicans have said it has been most useful when they\u2019ve been in the minority. \u00a0I ask them: do you want to be a successful MAJORITY or a successful MINORITY? \u00a0You cannot be both as long as cloture exists in its current form. \u00a0\u00a0\nVoters elected Republican majorities in both houses of Congress and they expect action. \u00a0They\u2019ll get it from the President and from the House. \u00a0But in order for the Senate to rise to this occasion, it must reform its cloture rule when it organizes in January. \u00a0\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/the-senate-must-reform-cloture"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6655540093779564, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}