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Rule (Chapter)21
Sessions With Closed Doors
1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, the Presiding Officer shall direct the galleries to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion the doors shall remain closed.

2. When the Senate meets in closed session, any applicable provisions of rules XXIX and XXXI, including the confidentiality of information shall apply to any information and to the conduct of any debate transacted.

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Rule (chapter)5
Suspension and Amendment of the Rules
1. No motion to suspend, modify, or amend any rule, or any part thereof, shall be in order, except on one day's notice in writing, specifying precisely the rule or part proposed to be suspended, modified, or amended, and the purpose thereof. Any rule may be suspended without notice by the unanimous consent of the Senate, except as otherwise provided by the rules.

2. The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules.

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Please note, that altho others have maintained Rule 21 is ironclad, I have not and do not subscribe to that theory. Rule 5 provides a way to circumvent Rule 21 if the will is there to do so.

Frist simply needs to submit written notification he intends to amend Rule 21 when it is called up on the following day. He would need to send a new notice every day, or have them sent enmass with the date he intends to amend noted on the written notice. (The intended dates of invoking Rule 21 would be every single day from now until well beyond the end of Session) Because Rule 5 calls for precise information, they would need to take care to meet that portion.

Will he do it? Probably not. Why? Because he never knows when one of his wayward Pubbies is going to wander off the Reservation.

The point is this. Altho some refuse to admit it, there are ways to circumvent Rule 21. There would be a major blood letting to do it, but the means are there to get the job done, if the will is there to do it.

And as I read these rules, they can be amended at any time with 24 hrs notice. The debate would probably last several weeks, with filabuster after filabuster, but it could be done. The Majority controls the agenda. The minority controls the time.