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Hi All, A Canadian has been reading up on US House and Senate process. Please jump in and clarify if I say something wrong here. Final Report of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress Dec. '93 http://www.house.gov/rules/jcoc2.htm Reading how debate works in the House vs. the Senate... Debate: In the House, the standing rule is to limit debate to 1 hour per bill & change this rule via unanimous consent only. The rules limit discretion re: amending bills on floor. Committees in House thus control amendments. In the Senate, the standing rule is to have unlimited debate. The rules permit more floor amendments. This weakens powers of Committees & Chairs. Filibuster- An attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by talking indefinitely, thus preventing the Senate from doing any work. Cloture- A motion in the Senate to limit debate. 60 votes are needed to invoke cloture. Invoking cloture will end a filibuster. (60 votes = 3/5 majority) How does a Federal Bill Become a Law??? http://www.votescount.com/books/fedlaw.htm Senate Trivia - News & Views http://www.senate.gov/~nickles/newsviews/releases/safety.htm Here is an example of what can happen... 1999 The Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Act of 1999 This legislation creates a lock box by setting aside the entire $1.9 trillion surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund in order to provide retirement security for the next three generations of Americans. The act passed the House but the Senate failed to invoke cloture and therefore it was not considered. (I take this to mean the House passed this bill, referred it to the Senate and the Senate was unable to obtain 60% (3/5) vote to end debate and call for a vote, so the bill has "languished") Searching in the Library of Congress... http://thomas.loc.gov/ There are 3 versions of Bill Number H.R.1259 for the 106th Congress 1 . Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Box Act of 1999 (Introduced in the House)[H.R.1259.IH] 2 . Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Box Act of 1999 (Engrossed in House )[H.R.1259.EH] 3 . Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Box Act of 1999 (Placed on the Calendar in the Senate)[H.R.1259.PCS] Bill H.R.1259.PCS Status in Senate 6/8/1999: Received in the Senate. 6/10/1999: Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 152. 6/14/1999: Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. 6/14/1999: Cloture motion on the bill presented in Senate. 6/16/1999: Considered by Senate. 6/16/1999: Cloture not invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 55-44. Record Vote No: 170. 7/16/1999: Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 152. 14 months have passed and this Bill "sits" somewhere (Calendar No. 152) Getting back on track.... All of this leads me to believe that Senator Brownback does indeed intend to "fillibuster" if Majority Leader Trent Lott schedules Bill S.2015 (Stem Cell Research Act) for debate in the coming week. Given the Republican majority in the Senate, and the 3/5 requirement to invoke cloture, I see a great degree of difficulty in achieving a successful result. S.2015 will be returned to the calendar where 391 bills are currently "languishing". It's been a slice.... murray