In the United States Senate, vote-a-ramas have been a feature of the consideration of budget resolutions and reconciliation bills[2][3] since the 1980s,[4] and they became a fixture since conflict between the political parties intensified in the mid-1990s.
[6] The practice of vote-a-rama developed by custom through agreements between party leaders to accelerate voting on amendments after the 50 hours for debate[7] allotted by the 1974 Budget Act expire.
[1] The rules for Senate vote-a-ramas in their current form were first agreed upon in 1993 when the statutory time expired on the fifth day of the budget resolution's consideration.
[4] In the Senate, for each amendment, its sponsor and a designated opponent each normally have thirty seconds[2] or one minute[1] of speaking time to make their case.
[2] This applies especially in the case of budget resolutions, because many of their provisions are not legally binding and are therefore a sort of suggestion to the executive branch[2] or an instruction to the respective Congressional committee.