M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: Secret holds reform in the U.S. Senate.
DA: Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Senator Chuck Grassley, co-author of the resolution adopted in 2011 to end the practice of secret holds in the U.S. Senate, made this comment about the lack of disclosure about an objection made to a Senate resolution hotlined last Wednesday.
Grassley comment:
“An important reform made in 2011 to the way the U.S. Senate does business is in question. A resolution honoring former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was hotlined last Wednesday by the Senate cloakrooms. The resolution has not been brought up because a senator has objected. Yet, no senator has filed the required holds disclosure in the Senate Calendar, disclosure that is required within two business days of a hold being placed. As a result, the no-secret-holds reform has been violated. If the Senate leadership does not enforce disclosure requirements for Senate holds, no matter what the subject matter, then the reform is jeopardized and claims of a new way of doing business ring hollow. I urge the Majority Leader to enforce the requirements and uphold his commitment to end secret holds and bring about greater accountability. His support for our effort helped to make the reform a reality, and it is needed now or the change will be ineffective and secrecy will take hold again.”
Background information:
To move forward on a resolution, nomination or bill, the two Senate cloakrooms routinely alert senators with hotlines. Individual senators have the right to object to moving forward. The reform sponsored by Senator Grassley and Senator Ron Wyden and put in place two years ago established requirements that objections to unanimous consent requests to proceed to a measure or matter be made public within two Senate business days through a disclosure filing made with either the Republican or Democratic cloakroom for the public record.
Click here to read a Dear Colleague sent to senators from Senators Grassley and Wyden at the beginning of the 112th Congress, right after the passage of their resolution in January 2011, about how secret holds reform works.
