Senator Bernie Sanders has placed a "hold" on the vote to reconfirm Ben Bernake as chair of the Federal Reserve. Even if they are supportive of this move, many people seem to be asking what a "hold" actually does.
A motion to proceed is required for the full Senate to debate, and eventually vote, on a confirmation or piece of legislation. A "hold" is when one Senator denies unanimous consent on a motion to proceed. Without unanimous consent on a motion to proceed, a cloture vote is required to pass a motion to proceed. The cloture process is difficult, because it requires 60 votes for passage and quite a bit of time to unfold.
Here is a description of the cloture process on motions to proceed which I received from a Senate aide. The specific topic of the discussion was health care, but really it could apply to any bill or confirmation:
Leader Reid moves to proceed to an HR [House of Representatives] bill, which will be the vehicle for the Senate health care bill, and files a cloture motion on the motion to proceed
Two calendar days later, the cloture motion on the motion to proceed ripens (there has to be one intervening calendar day between the day you file cloture and the day you have the vote)
The cloture vote on the motion to proceed occurs one hour after we convene on the third day (If cloture is filed on Wednesday, the cloture vote is Friday. If cloture is filed on Thursday, the cloture vote is on Saturday, etc)
Assuming 60 Senators vote to limit debate on the motion to proceed and end the filibuster, the Senate invokes cloture on the motion to proceed
Thirty hours after cloture is invoked the Senate will proceed to vote on adoption of the motion to proceed itself (This assumes (a) consent will not be granted to yield back any post-cloture time on the motion to proceed and (b) consent will not be granted to adopt the motion to proceed itself---adoption of the motion to proceed itself is routinely agreed to by UC but Rs could force a roll call vote).
Upon adoption of the motion to proceed, the Senate will be on the Health Care bill
A shorter version is that it takes about three days, and 60 votes, to overcome a "hold." Sanders has bought opponents of Bernanke some time.
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