Negotiating these complex unanimous consent agreements can be a difficult and time-consuming process, the responsibility for which falls primarily on the Majority and Minority Leaders and the leaders of the committee that reported the bill at issue. They consult interested Senators, but it would be impractical to consult every Senator about every bill scheduled for floor action. For this reason, individual Senators and their staffs take the initiative to protect their own interests by advising the leaders of their preferences and intentions. Negotiations sometimes take place on the floor and on the public record, but at least the preliminary discussions and consultations usually occur in meetings during quorum calls or off the floor. Senators prefer to expedite the conduct of legislative business whenever possible, and so normally cooperate in reaching time agreements. But when Senators have special concerns--for instance, when they are intent on offering particular amendments or guaranteeing themselves ample time for debate--their interests must be accommodated. Any Senator who is dissatisfied with the terms of a proposed time agreement has only to object when it is propounded on the floor; so long as any one Senator objects, the standing rules remain in force with all the rights and opportunities they provide. As a result, time agreements may include exceptions to their general provisions in order to satisfy individual Senators. For example, a comprehensive agreement that generally limits debate on each first degree amendment to an hour and prohibits non-germane amendments may identify one or more specific amendments that are exempted from the germaneness requirement, and also may provide different amounts of time for debating them.

In these ways, time agreements can be less restrictive than the one quoted earlier. There may be no agreement at all if one or more Senators decide to fully preserve their rights to debate and offer amendments. On other occasions, however, agreements have been even more restrictive--for example, by prohibiting all amendments to a bill except for a few that are identified specifically in the agreement itself (and perhaps also prohibiting amendments to those amendments). But if the Senate does accept a unanimous consent agreement, whatever its terms, it may be changed at a later time only by unanimous consent.

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