[20080519]98-225_参议院一致同意协议.pdf

Order Code 98-225Updated May 19, 2008Unanimous Consent Agreements in the SenateWalter J. OleszekGovernment and Finance DivisionThe Senate is fundamentally a “unanimous consent” institution. This means that therules and precedents of the Senate are set aside regularly by the unanimous consent of themembership. Party leaders and other Senators propound unanimous consent requestsevery day the Senate is in session. Without its tradition of unanimous consent, the Senatewould find it harder to process its complex workload. In a comment that is still relevanttoday, a Senator pointed out during a September 25, 1990, discussion on the floor:The way the Senate conducts its business hour after hour, day after day, week afterweek, year after year, is Senators voluntarily waive the rights which they possessunder the rules. I would guess in the course of a typical week we probably enter intoanywhere from 10 to 200 unanimous consent agreements, literally, where Senators byunanimous consent, with 100 Senators agreeing to yield some right that they may have the right to debate, the right to do this, that or the other thing waive their rightsso that the body may proceed in a way that seems expeditio