The Senate completed its consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (S. 4049; NDAA) on July 23. The legislation passed by a vote of 86 to 14.

THE STATE OF PLAY (A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE)

The steps senators took prior to voting to approve the NDAA are depicted below. Each branch on the amendment tree is color-coded according to its status in that step.

Blue = Underlying legislation to which senators offer amendments
Yellow = Pending amendments
Purple = Amendment Votes
Red = Branches on tree eliminated by pending (yellow) amendments
Green = Open branches
White/No Color = Branches Not yet available

Step 1

There were seven amendments pending to the NDAA at the beginning of the week. All but one of those amendments (McConnell Amdt. 2080) were made pending on July 2 by unanimous consent. The unanimous consent agreement stipulated that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would determine when the Senate would vote on each amendment. The unanimous consent agreement also limited the debate on each amendment to two hours (equally divided between the majority and the minority) and set a 60-vote threshold for passage instead of a simple-majority threshold (typically 51).

Step 2

The Senate first voted on the Schatz Amdt. 2252, which it defeated by a vote of 51 to 49 (60-votes were required to pass the amendment under the previous order).

Step 3

After defeating the Schatz amendment, the Senate adopted the Inhofe Amdt. 2411 by a vote of 90 to 10.

Step 4

James Inhofe, R-Okla., asked unanimous consent to vitiate the previous order so that the Senate could adopt the Shaheen Amdt. 1729 by voice vote.

Inhofe was required to ask unanimous consent to do so because the previous order explicitly stipulated that the Senate dispose of the Shaheen amendment on a recorded vote (with a 60-vote threshold).

Step 5

The Senate next adopted the Cornyn Amdt. 2244 by a vote of 96 to 4.

Step 6

Senators voted 23 to 77 not to adopt the Sanders Amdt. 1788.

Step 7

After disposing of the Sanders amendment, the Senate adopted the Tester Amdt. 1972 (as modified) by a vote of 94 to 6.

Step 8

Under the previous order, cloture ripened on the S. Amdt. 2301 (i.e., came before the Senate) immediately after senators disposed of the Tester amendment. Senators voted to invoke cloture (i.e., to end debate) on the Inhofe substitute amendment by a vote of 87 to 13.

Step 9

The Senate adopted the McConnell Amdt. 2080 by voice vote prior to voting on the question of whether to adopt the Inhofe Amdt. 2301.

Step 10

Rule XXII stipulates that senators may debate a bill for up to thirty hours after they decide to invoke cloture on it. Each senator is permitted to speak for up to one hour during post-cloture debate. The Senate votes on the underlying question at the end of thirty hours or when all senators have spoken who are able. Senators may also circumvent Rule XXII’s post-cloture provisions by unanimous consent, which they did after voting to invoke cloture on the Inhofe Amdt. 2301.

The Senate adopted the Inhofe committee substitute amendment by a vote of 88 to 12 shortly after invoking cloture on it.

Step 11

Cloture on the underlying bill (S. 4049) ripened immediately after the Senate adopted the Inhofe Amdt. 2301. Senators voted to invoke cloture on S. 4049 by a vote of 86 to 14.

Step 12

Senators again circumvented the provisions of Rule XXII by unanimous consent to shorten post-cloture debate time. The Senate adopted S. 4049 (as amended by the Inhofe Amdt. 2301) by a vote of 86 to 14 and only a few hours after senators voted to invoke cloture on it.

Future Steps

The next step is to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. The most likely scenario is a joint House-Senate conference to work out those differences. However, the two chambers could also resolve their disagreements directly via an iterative process of amendment exchange.

The Takeaway

The amendment process during the Senate’s consideration of the NDAA was tightly controlled from the debate’s beginning to its end. Senators had limited opportunities to offer amendments to which the bill’s floor managers (Inhofe and Jack Reed,D-R.I.) or the majority and minority leaders (McConnell and Schumer) objected.

The NDAA Amendment Process: An Update