Meeting the Challenges of Senate Leadership

Political scientists have long acknowledged the substantial challenges of and obstacles to effective majority leadership in the Senate. As each individual senator, regardless of rank or party affiliation, has the right to object to unanimous consent agreements that govern much of the Senate's business, to offer non-germane amendments to pending legislation, and to engage in extended debate that can only be halted by mustering 60 votes to invoke cloture, the agenda of the Senate leadership can be easily derailed. The tendency of senators to obstruct and delay has been exacerbated over the past half century by the rise of individualism and partisanship in the Senate, which has resulted in commensurate increased challenges for Senate leaders (see, for example, Polsby 1971; Sinclair 2005; Davidson and Oleszek 2006).