The Senate has many ways to advance legislation under its existing rules. Cloture - and the closed process senators now use almost exclusively - is only one of them.
Senators can debate legislation and offer amendments on the floor. They can force their opponents to sustain the obstruction rather than rely on cloture to advance their priorities. Or they can defer to party leaders to negotiate the process in advance, restrict amendments, and rely on cloture to move legislation toward an up-or-down vote.
Today’s senators overwhelmingly prefer the second approach - even though they regularly complain about it—because it gives them predictability, convenience, and insulation from responsibility.
