Explain the Senate to me.

[Rob Hanesworth]

Does anyone know how the Senate's rules came about, why they are as they are, and what it takes to change them?

My question is prompted by the "hold" Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville has placed on over 300 military promotions, leaving the Army and Marine Corps without confirmed leaders and the position of Joint Chief also coming vacant in September.

Tuberville takes issue with Pentagon policy regarding payment for travel to get abortions. He has not introduced legislation to change the policy.

I don't want to start a debate on abortion policy. We've thoroughly aired our views on that.

Rather, I would like to be educated on how it came to be that a single Senator has the power to hold up legislation and confirmation. Apparently he could do it over any issue--changing uniform colors to pink, mandating kilts, etc.

Acting leaders of a military branch, per reports, don't have full budgeting and planning authority. Also, nominees for promotion and their families are in limbo regarding moving to new offices and bases.

Normally the confirmations are grouped and approved by voice vote. There is a way around the block but would require acting on each promotion separately with several procedural votes to move each promotion along.

Any insights?

[Dub]

From NPR:

How can one senator do this alone?

In two words: unanimous consent. Among the mysteries of Senate procedure that mystify most Americans, perhaps none is more curious than the concept of unanimous consent.

As congressional scholars Casey Burgat and Charles Hunt put it in their 2023 textbook Congress Explained, "the Senate's rules grant incredibly powerful privileges to all Senators ... that greatly affect how and if the chamber schedules" floor action on any subject.

While the House has a Rules Committee that orders the debate and voting on pieces of legislation, the Senate relies heavily on consent agreements negotiated by the party leaders. Such "unanimous consent agreements" have evolved to be a crucial means of bringing Senate business to the floor for formal consideration.

Former Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (who died in 2010 after a record 51 years as a senator) once said unanimous consent was used for "easily 98 percent of the business of the Senate" that reached the floor for consideration.

Link to article- www.npr.org/2023/07/15/1187530846/tuberville-senate-rules-abortion-military