To amend the Standing Rules of the Senate to reform the filibuster rules to improve the daily process of the Senate.

SA 3. Mr. LEE proposed an amendment to the resolution S. Res. 15, to improve procedures for the consideration of legislation and nominations in the Senate; as follows:

At the end of the resolution, insert the following:

SEC. ____. REFORM THE FILIBUSTER RULES.

(a) Motions to Proceed.--Paragraph 2 of rule VIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking “to proceed to the consideration of bills and resolutions are debatable.” and inserting the following: “to proceed to the consideration of any matter, and any debatable motion or appeal in connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 4 hours, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the majority leader and the minority leader or their designees except for--

“(a) a motion to proceed to a proposal to change the Standing Rules which shall be debatable; and

“(b) a motion to proceed to executive session to consider a specified item of executive business and a motion to proceed to consider any privileged matter which shall not be debatable.”.

(b) No Filibuster After Complete Substitute Is Agreed to.--Paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following:

“If a complete substitute amendment for a measure is agreed to after consideration under cloture, the Senate shall proceed to the disposition of the measure without intervening action or debate except one quorum call if requested.”.

(c) One Motion Related to Committees on Conference.--Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following:

“10. (a) A single motion to disagree with a House amendment or amendments or insist on a Senate amendment or amendments, request a conference with the House, or agree to the conference requested by the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and authorize the Chair to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate shall be in order, shall not be divisible, and shall not be subject to amendment.”.

(d) Time Pre-cloture.--Paragraph 2 of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended--

(1) in the first undesignated subparagraph--

(A) by inserting “for a measure, motion, or other matter that is subject to amendment, at any time after the end of the 12-hour period beginning at the time the Senate proceeds to consideration of the measure, motion, or other matter and, for any other measure, motion, or other matter,” before “at any time”;

(B) by striking “any measure” and inserting “the measure”; and

(C) by striking “one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one” and inserting “24 hours after the filing of the motion”; and

(2) in the third undesignated subparagraph, by striking the second sentence and inserting “Except by unanimous consent, no amendment shall be proposed after the vote to bring the debate to a close, unless it had been submitted in writing to the Journal Clerk 12 hours following the filing of the cloture motion if an amendment in the first degree, and unless it had been so submitted at least 1 hour prior to the beginning of the cloture vote if an amendment in the second degree.”.

(e) Ability of Senators to Offer Amendments.--Rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following:

“6. (a) If cloture is invoked on a measure or matter that is subject to amendment, each Senator who has not offered an amendment during consideration of the measure or matter may offer 1 amendment to the measure or matter (without regard to whether the amendment is actually pending and notwithstanding the expiration of the time for consideration of the measure or matter under paragraph 2 of rule XXII or any other rule of the Senate) if--

“(1) the Senator submitted written notice of the intent of the Senator to offer an amendment in accordance with this paragraph not later than 12 hours after the filing of the motion to invoke cloture on the measure or matter; and

“(2) the amendment is timely filed, germane, and otherwise meets the requirements for an amendment under paragraph 2 of rule XXII.

“(b) If a Senator fails to submit written notice in accordance with subparagraph (a), the right to offer an amendment under this paragraph is forfeited.

“(c) An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn shall be required to sustain an appeal of a ruling by the Chair that an amendment offered under this paragraph is not germane.”.