Mae West hold

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.

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." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/washington/02ethics.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin Senate May End an Era of Cloakroom Anonymity] article from The New York Times] The phrase is a reference to Mae West's line in "She Done Him Wrong", the 1933 motion picture.

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 [ [http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2003/sres216.html A Resolution to Abolish Anonymous "Holds" in the Senate] copy of the 2004 resolution published by the Federation of American Scientists] to that effect.

References