Mae West hold
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mae West hold is a legislative procedure that is used by members of the United States Senate use to prevent consideration of legislation and nominations. The "hold" is a secret move used anonymously to impede the advancement of a bill or measure. The chokehold, and rolling hold are other variants of this procedure.
[edit] Goal
This variant of the anonymous hold is used by the objector's openness to negotiation, inviting the author to "come up and see me sometime."[1] The phrase is a reference to Mae West's line in She Done Him Wrong, the 1933 motion picture.
[edit] Criticism
The practice has drawn criticism from congress observers. In particular, Ron Wyden, a member of the United States Democratic Party who has long sought to ban the practice and supported resolutions [2] to that effect.
[edit] References
- ^ Senate May End an Era of Cloakroom Anonymity article from The New York Times
- ^ A Resolution to Abolish Anonymous "Holds" in the Senate copy of the 2004 resolution published by the Federation of American Scientists
