Table, Motion to

Motions to table, or to “lay on the table,” are used to block or kill a pending proposition. When approved, a tabling motion is considered the final disposition of that issue. One of the most widely used parliamentary procedures, the motion to table is not debatable, and adoption requires a simple majority vote.

Motions to table are used regularly with motions to reconsider. (See Reconsider, Motion to.) The tabling of a motion to reconsider makes final a previous legislative action, whether approval or rejection of a bill, amendment, or other parliamentary question. (See Legislative Process.)

Members of Congress often prefer procedural votes, particularly the motion to table, over direct votes for or against a substantive proposal. By voting to table, they can avoid being recorded directly on a controversial bill or politically sensitive issue. The motion to table often will win more support than a vote to defeat the issue.

Motions to table are not used when the House of Representatives considers and amends bills in the committee of the whole; they are used only after the Committee of the Whole has been dissolved and the legislation returned to the full House.

In the Senate, tabling motions on amendments are effective devices to end debate.