h is known as a unanimous consent agreement, allows the majority and minority leaders to arrange procedures that will satisfy all senators who have a special interest in the measure at hand. The Senate follows more elaborate rules when the chamber is divided over a bill. These procedures can sometimes slow the proceedings to a crawl. Senators cherish their right to be consulted on bills being considered, to offer amendments, and to speak at length on measures. The Senate rules that permit filibusters give members the power to obstruct legislation merely by threatening to use the procedure. A filibuster can only be stopped if 60 senators vote to invoke cloture, a rule that imposes time limits on further discussion of the issue at hand. Because of the flexible rules for debating, and thereby blocking, legislation, Senate leaders spend much of their time seeking compromises that will satisfy their colleagues and allow the chamber to act. The House of Representatives, in contrast, imposes much more restrictive time constraints on debates.Senate floor debate is quiet and even leisurely compared to that of the House of Representatives, and (as in the House) attendance is usually sparse. Senators address the chamber from assigned desks on the Senate floor, taking their time and engaging their colleagues in prolonged exchanges called colloquies. An informal code of conduct prevents senators from insulting one another. Modern custom dictates that senators not only refrain from personal attacks on one another while on the Senate floor, but that they avoid even mentioning other senators by name. Instead, if a senator wants to challenge a senator from New York, she or he would address the remarks to the president of the Senate (or to whomever is presiding), and refer to the colleague only as "the senator from New York." For floor votes—votes of the entire Senate—a clerk calls the roll and records senators' votes individually. Senators s...
