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What is Unanimous Consent?
The United States Senate is very strict on its rules of order. Things must be done in a prescribed manner or any action taken may be declared invalid, causing the proposal to start back at the beginning of the process once again. However, some of those procedures are simply not needed and amount to a waste of time. Unanimous consent is a way to bypass some of this red tape.
While many Americans may believe the Senate is nothing but a partisan-based shout fest, there are a number of items that do get unanimous, or nearly unanimous consent. These happen almost on a daily basis. Normally, most Americans do not hear of these actions simply because they are not controversial enough to warrant coverage by the mass media. If they were, they would probably not be a candidate for this method.
Unanimous consent is often used to take care of matters that do not interest the majority of the American population. In some cases, senators may wish to give acknowledgment to a constituency group in their state who has achieved a special milestone, such as a business celebrating a 100-year anniversary. In other cases, senators may ask a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol be donated to someone or some organization for a particular reason. These items are often routine in nature and may be handled by unanimous consent. Treaties and other such measures may also be offered into the Senate record in this way.
While most unanimous consent agreements are for routine matters or are important to an individual senator but hardly worth the time of the body as a whole, some controversial measures can also have a unanimous agreement component to them. Often, senators from both sides of the aisle may agree to limit the time used to debate one of these proposals in this way. While the vote to pass a controversial bill or resolution will not be done by unanimous consent, the agreement could effect the debate on the proposal.
Just because a matter passes a unanimous consent proposal does not mean it has the support of all senators. In some cases, a senator may object to a proposal but understand it has wide support for passage. In order to save time, that senator may agree to unanimous consent, knowing he or she is fighting a losing battle.
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![The House and Senate convene in the U.S. Capital building.]()
By: Al TeichThe House and Senate convene in the U.S. Capital building. -
![An individual must be at least 30 years old to become a U.S. Senator.]()
By: James MartinAn individual must be at least 30 years old to become a U.S. Senator.
Discussion Comments
What would be some historical examples of the use of unanimous consent in the US Congress? It seems like all you hear about these days is partisanship, has this unanimous consent thing ever really been commonly used?
It seems to me that having an option for unanimous consent in congress is a great way to move things along that otherwise would get locked up in debate for far too long. I just wish that they would use unanimous consent for more things than just routine events and limiting the debate time over more controversial issues.
I would love to see congress use their unanimous consent powers to move along more bills that can really help the people and environment. I am not sure how much argument really needs to happen once a bill reaches the congress. Surely there was plenty of time to work out all the kinks in the paperwork before it is even presented. I sometimes feel that certain congressmen protest and hold things up just to keep their party happy.
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