On April 27, the Senate once again failed to invoke cloture on legislation (S. 2346) aimed at alleviating the marriage tax penalty. The Senate’s cloture motion would have limited debate on H.R. 6 to one substitute amendment reflecting S. 2346. The vote was 51-44, falling short of the 60 required for cloture.
A similar cloture attempt failed on April 13, when the Senate defeated two cloture motions—one on H.R. 6 and the other on S. 2346 (see The Source, 4/14/00, p. 1). In both cases, cloture petitions were filed by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), who objected to Democratic attempts to offer a number of amendments, including substitute marriage tax penalty proposals.
