One way is by simply placing a “hold” on a particular bill. Tom Coburn has done it on several gun control bills recently. I must admit that I haven’t read those rules as well as I could have so I suppose there are other ways to do it too. Suffice to say there are a bunch of people working there who have made it their life’s work to know those rules and to squeeze as much out of them as possible.
There is no "hold" in the senate rules.