An up or down vote refers to a direct vote in the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

or the

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

(or indeed in a

state senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

) on an

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

bill. It is sometimes referred to as a "clean vote." Members vote yea or nay on the matter rather than voting on a related procedural maneuver. Depending upon the rules of order for that particular type of amendment or bill, the vote required for passage might be a 2/3 majority, a 3/5 majority, or a

simple majority Simple majority may refer to: * Majority, a voting requirement of more than half of all votes cast * Plurality (voting), a voting requirement of more votes cast for a proposition than for any other option * First-past-the-post voting, the single-win ...

. The phrase is probably most often used by those who are frustrated by opponents in the House or Senate who delay a bill indefinitely by means of various tactics. The rules of the House and Senate allow a bill to be delayed, even permanently, by various means, such as by

tabling Tabling is a technique first developed for natural language processing, where it was called Earley parsing. It consists of storing in a table (a.k.a. chart in the context of parsing) partial successful analyses that might come in handy for future ...

the bill, recommitting it, or amending it in the second degree. By appealing for an "up or down vote," an advocate of the bill tries to get it out of committee and past all other legislative hurdles and to a

floor vote Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions (formal proposal by members of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action). The regular met ...

. In 2005, the phrase was heard most often from

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in the United States, who occupied 55 seats in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and so lacked the 60 votes required to overcome a

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking ...

maneuver by the Democratic senators. A united Democratic bloc was able to filibuster any objectionable bill, presidential appointment, or other matter before the Senate and to prevent its passage. If the Republicans were able to bring any particular matter to an "up or down vote," they would be able to approve that measure if they were united. Many Republican-affiliated websites and

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

s had urged voters to demand of their senators and representatives an "up or down vote" on various issues. Constitutionally, however, the Senate is not obliged to give any matter an up or down vote. Since taking control of the Senate in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, Democrats have accused Republicans of filibustering almost every proposal so requiring 60 votes to pass any legislation (the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the G ...

, the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health ...

, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act). (Republicans set a record for the most number of filibusters during the 111th congress.) The need for employing the filibuster was removed from 2014-2020 when the Republicans controlled the Senate at the end of the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

and during President Trump's time in office.

References

{{Reflist Terminology of the United States Congress

See also

References