What to know about a vote-a-rama, the Senate's voting marathon
Few if any of the amendments are expected to win enough support to add or remove provisions from the bill. But it is still a rare occasion when senators can get votes on nearly any subject before the final vote to approve the entire legislative package.
Here's what you need to know about a vote-a-rama.
What is a vote-a-rama?
A vote-a-rama is a legislative event that was born out of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, according to the Senate's website.
Following a debate on a budget resolution or reconciliation bill, senators can introduce an unlimited number of amendments with each receiving a vote.
Republicans on June 28 offered up different interpretations on the importance of the amendment process, with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, signaling she too had things she'd seek to revise that will go a long way toward helping her support the package.
"There's some very good changes that have been made in the latest version, but I want to see further changes," Collins said.
Collins' GOP colleague, Sen. Brian Moreno of Ohio, painted a different and more partisan picture on the amendment slog ahead. "I want everybody watching this to remember this as you listen to probably what's going to be 30-plus hours of complete nonsense from the other side," the freshman Republican said on the floor.
The Senate previously defined a vote-a-rama as a piece of legislation voted on 15 times or more in a day. Daniel S. Holt, Associate Historian for the U.S. Senate Historical Office, told USA TODAY in an email that the change was made to align the chamber's definition with its connections to budget bills.
"While the term is completely colloquial and has no firm definition in any official manner, we thought this was more in-line with the historical use of the term," Holt said.
When was the first vote-a-rama?
The Senate credits the first vote-a-rama to votes on a budget resolution taken on May 12, 1980.
The chamber's website states that staff had been using the term as early as 1992. When Republican Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi was quoted by United Press International in 1996 using the phrase to refer to the event, it stuck.
How many vote-a-ramas have there been?
The Senate counts 45 vote-a-ramas.
Which vote-a-rama had the most votes?
The vote-a-rama held on March 13, 2008, holds the current record for most amendments voted on: 44.
How does a vote-a-rama work?
Votes in a vote-a-rama work differently than during regular Senate order.
Senate rules preclude debate on an amendment during the marathon of votes, though they can be waived to allow an opponent and a supporter of an amendment to speak for 30 seconds - according to former Senate aide Keith Hennessey.
Votes are taken consecutively, and senators agree to shorten the window for votes from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, according to Hennessey.
Can senators eat or drink during a vote-a-rama?
Senate rules prohibit food on the floor. But the good news is they do not have to remain on the floor for the entirety of the proceedings.
One quirk in precedent allows for members to drink milk while in the chamber. On January 24, 1966, then Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Illinois, asked the presiding officer if a page could go to a restaurant and return with a glass of milk while debating a bill to repeal a portion of the Taft-Hartly Act. The Congressional record from the day shows the presiding officer saying that there was nothing in the rules prohibiting it.
Senators also do have access to candy throughout the proceedings through "the candy desk" currently held by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma. The tradition of keeping candy in the desk nearest to the busiest entrance in the chamber began in 1965 when then Sen. George Murphy, R-California, kept lozenges to help soothe his throat following surgery and shared them with members across the aisle, according to the Senate.
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