Policy Studies Governance

A beginner’s guide to the Senate’s rules

Author

James Wallner
Resident Senior Fellow, Governance

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INTRODUCTION

The overall structure of Senate procedure is derived from five primary sources: The Constitution; the Standing Rules of the Senate; statutory rules passed by Congress and signed into law by the president; standing orders; and informal precedents. It is the interaction of each of these component parts that forms the procedural architecture under which the decisionmaking process unfolds within the institution.

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