# US Senate works at 2:AM? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566 "2013-04-24T04:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/1 "2013-04-24T04:17:40Z")
A few days ago, listening to NPR, there was an ‘article’ talking about a squeaking-by repeal of a certain stock-market trading bill POTUS had signed before, but was found highly impractical (something about Senators and Representatives needing to disclose financial interests in their home states, etc.). It was a vote by “unanimous consent,” that passed, despite the bill being introduced on the floor at two in the morning. Am I to understand that the Senate is in session 24/7 when it’s. . . ‘in session’? Do they really pull all-nighters or shifts? Are those on the swing shifts pulling some kind of hinky power-play to pass random laws the rest of Congress isn’t aware of? Tripler This would explain some of the 24-hour Chinese buffets I’d seen in D.C. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/2 "2013-04-24T05:23:42Z")
They don’t pull all-nighters as a matter of course, but will do so when the workload requires it. A quorum of 51 Senators is required to conduct business. However, the Senate generally assumes it has a quorum until someone moves for a quorum call, at which point it must be proven that there are 51 people there. Unanimous consent allows a Senator to move that a procedural rule be set aside as long as no one objects. However, a bill can not be passed by unanimous consent; a vote must be taken. I’m not familiar with the legislation in question, but my guess would be that the Senators decided by unanimous consent to end debate or committee work on the subject so that it could be voted on as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/3 "2013-04-24T05:26:42Z")
> **[Senate Passes Budget After Late-Night 'Vote-A-Rama'](https://www.npr.org/2013/03/23/175119400/senate-passes-budget-after-late-night-vote-a-rama)** > > It took until the wee hours of this morning, but the United States Senate has passed a budget for the first time in four years. But before senators could vote on the budget itself, they had to work their way through dozens of amendments, in a process... They had to pass a budget before they blocked supply. It wasn’t quite the fiscal cliff, but a follow on from it (? ). They had to have the budget passed, especially as they had to show support for the fiscal cliff fix, and fix up more of the problems. So starting on Friday March 22 they ran into the early hours of Saturday March 23. Perhaps they wanted to finish it so they could sleep properly when they got home… Even if they then repeal many of the votes that were silly , it all LOOKED GOOD, … got the proper date stamps and so on 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/4 "2013-04-24T05:27:55Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > However, a bill can not be passed by unanimous consent; a vote must be taken. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not sure if that’s correct. I’m no expert on Senate rules, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/5 "2013-04-24T13:36:29Z")
It isn’t common practice for either house of Congress to have really late nights continuously, but it certainly does occur. [You can see the House](http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.aspx) schedule here, and if you click on “calendar” in the upper right you can select days and see what time they convene and adjourn. The only comparable schedule I can find for the Senate is [here,](http://www.senate.gov/galleries/pdcl/archives.htm) where you can click on a month and see a summary of all activity by day. At the end of each entry is the time the Senate adjourned. Normal operating hours seem to be around 9:30 am to maybe 6-8 pm, depending on the day of the week. > [@friedo](#): > > However, a bill can not be passed by unanimous consent; a vote must be taken. That’s categorically false. I would bet that a substantial majority of laws over the last couple decades were passed by unanimous consent. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/6 "2013-04-24T13:57:08Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > That’s categorically false. I would bet that a substantial majority of laws over the last couple decades were passed by unanimous consent. I’ll take that bet. The Senate uses Roll Call votes for bills. Unanimous consent is limited to procedural votes. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/7 "2013-04-24T14:29:05Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > That’s categorically false. I would bet that a substantial majority of laws over the last couple decades were passed by unanimous consent. You don’t pass bills by unanimous consent, because unanimous consent isn’t required to pass a bill. Unanimous consent requests apply to rules that can only be waived or privileges that can only be granted by unanimous consent. The presiding officer asks if there are objections, and a single objection derails the request. Passage of a bill is not such a waiver or privilege. A single objection does not derail a bill. You may pass a non-controversial bill by voice vote, but that is still a _vote_ wherein the majority wins, not a unanimous consent request where a single objection would have prevailed. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/8 "2013-04-24T17:41:19Z")
The Senate rules say that unless someone from the floor formally suggests that a quorum is not present, the presumption is that a quorum is present. Further, the presiding officer may not personally count to see if a quorum is present. So, presumably, all it would take is one junior senator serving as the presiding officer and another in the audience to yell “aye!” when the matter is brought up for a voice vote. Unless there is a controversy, this is most likely what happens at a 2:00 am session. [Read this article (pdf)](http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/96-452.pdf) for an eye-opening summary of Senate quorum and voting procedures. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/9 "2013-04-24T17:45:30Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Passage of a bill is not such a waiver or privilege. A single objection does not derail a bill. You may pass a non-controversial bill by voice vote, but that is still a _vote_ wherein the majority wins, not a unanimous consent request where a single objection would have prevailed. Correct. But let me just add, that a single Senator can demand a roll call vote. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/10 "2013-04-24T19:06:55Z")
I see that I erred in posting above. The modern-day Senate does indeed pass amendments and even bills by unanimous consent, using a procedure known as [“hotlining”](http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/?p=HoldingSpending) not covered in the rules. Please disregard my earlier post. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-senate-works-at-2-am/656566/11 "2013-04-24T19:08:52Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I’ll take that bet. The Senate uses Roll Call votes for bills. Unanimous consent is limited to procedural votes. > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > You don’t pass bills by unanimous consent, because unanimous consent isn’t required to pass a bill. > > Unanimous consent requests apply to rules that can only be waived or privileges that can only be granted by unanimous consent. The presiding officer asks if there are objections, and a single objection derails the request. > > Passage of a bill is not such a waiver or privilege. A single objection does not derail a bill. You may pass a non-controversial bill by voice vote, but that is still a _vote_ wherein the majority wins, not a unanimous consent request where a single objection would have prevailed. Oh, hell yeah, I’m taking this bet. The links I found on [thomas.loc.gov](http://thomas.loc.gov) don’t seem to be permalinks, so I have to summarize. There were 283 public laws passed in the 112th Congress. Thomas reports part of the status of P.L. 112-282 thusly: “9/13/2012 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.” Other laws passed by unanimous consent include: P.L. 112-281, P.L. 112-280, P.L. 112-279, P.L. 112-278, P.L. 112-274, P.L. 112-273, P.L. 112-270, P.L. 112-269, P.L. 112-268, P.L. 112-267, P.L. 112-266, P.L. 112-265, P.L. 112-264, P.L. 112-263, P.L. 112-262, and P.L. 112-261. I could cite more, but it is time intensive to look up each one and I think I’ve made my point. If you wish, you can look up these laws individually [here.](http://thomas.loc.gov/home/LegislativeData.php?&n=PublicLaws&c=112) Click on a range of public laws, then the bill number, and finally “Major Congressional Actions” on the right hand side. > [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Correct. But let me just add, that a single Senator can demand a roll call vote. It takes one senator to request a roll call vote, and one-fifth of those present to second the motion.