Rather, its emergence was made possible in when the Senate— at the advice of Vice President Aaron Burr —removed from its rules a provision formally known as the previous question motion allowing a simple majority to force a vote on the underlying question being debated. This decision was not a strategic or political one—it was a simple housekeeping matter, as the Senate was using the motion infrequently and had other motions available to it that did the same thing.
Filibusters then became a regular feature of Senate activity, both in the run-up to and aftermath of the Civil War. Senate leaders from both parties sought, but failed, to ban the filibuster throughout the 19th century. Opponents would simply filibuster the motion to ban the filibuster. In , as part of a debate over a proposal to arm American merchant ships as the U. More recently, in , the number of votes needed to invoke cloture on legislative matters was reduced to three-fifths or 60, if the Senate is at full strength.
In and , the Senate further limited debate once the Senate had imposed cloture on the pending business. Consequently, for many matters in the Senate, debate can only be cut off if at least 60 senators support doing so.
This is not universally true, however, and we will see several consequential counterexamples below. While Senate rules still require just a simple majority to actually pass a bill, several procedural steps along the way require a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate on bills. Senators are not required to formally register their objection to ending debate until a cloture motion actually comes up for a vote.
If Senate leaders know that at least 41 senators plan to oppose a cloture motion on a given measure or motion, they often choose not to schedule it for floor consideration. But the number of cloture motions filed is a useful proxy for measuring filibusters, and as we see below, the number of such motions has increased significantly during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Senators have two options when they seek to vote on a measure or motion. If no objection is heard, the Senate proceeds to a vote. One involves nominations to executive branch positions and federal judgeships on which, thanks to two procedural changes adopted in and , only a simple majority is required to end debate.
A second includes certain types of legislation for which Congress has previously written into law special procedures that limit the amount time for debate. Because there is a specified amount of time for debate in these cases, there is no need to use cloture to cut off debate. Perhaps the best known and most consequential example of these are special budget rules, known as the budget reconciliation process, that allow a simple majority to adopt certain bills addressing entitlement spending and revenue provisions, thereby prohibiting a filibuster.
The most straightforward way to eliminate the filibuster would be to formally change the text of Senate Rule 22 , the cloture rule that requires 60 votes to end debate on legislation. Absent a large, bipartisan Senate majority that favors curtailing the right to debate, a formal change in Rule 22 is extremely unlikely.
A more complicated, but more likely, way to ban the filibuster would be to create a new Senate precedent. The nuclear option leverages the fact that a new precedent can be created by a senator raising a point of order, or claiming that a Senate rule is being violated.
If the presiding officer typically a member of the Senate agrees, that ruling establishes a new precedent. The Senate chamber is 9, square feet in area. It would take giant vats of mashed potatoes to impact that space.
However, potatoes could be used strategically to unite or divide delegations from, say, Maine and Idaho. It would certainly be messier. Needless to say, mashed potatoes are delicious and should not be wasted. What filibuster is being discussed—all kinds? From Parker Schnell. What else would it block? See below. Could you explain the nuclear option. Can the party in power extend it at will?
From Al Anderson. Shinesomelight2 and Meg Lamme had related questions. We are now at the heart of the matter. It is so named because the nuclear option blows up the filibuster rule and destroys some of the basic structure of the Senate.
It is the ultimate procedural bomb. They removed the vote threshold and moved to majority votes for most nominees, except to the Supreme Court. Republicans followed suit in , triggering the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominees as well.
Technically, yes. But it is a precarious move, especially in years of closely divided Senates. While the party in power now may gain enormously from the nuclear option, they would lose their main tool in the Senate down the road if they find themselves in the minority again.
In addition, it is seen as breaking faith with the members of the other party, something that has profoundly raised tension and led to further divisions in the chamber. Proponents of the nuclear option have pointed out that it restores majority rule, which they feel was the idea envisioned in the Constitution.
Any chance that two or more Republican senators might so vote? From A36Roger. Related question from 1TonUpstate. Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.
BUT, note the wording here. Some would-be reformers argue that the filibuster need not be eliminated but could simply be lowered or changed. Perhaps 55 votes instead of 60? After all, the threshold was two-thirds, or 67 votes, until The move to 60 votes was a compromise between 67 votes and Smith Goes to Washington.
Here is the rule to remember. The party in power always has the ability to change the filibuster but is unlikely to do so until it finds itself with a critical bill or issue that its members all agree on, but which cannot muster 60 votes. That will be the moment when the next, real conversation about the filibuster happens. What is the history with regards to racism and Jim Crow politics?
Did southern senators guide the use and goals? According to information from the Senate Historical Office, for the first half of the 20th century the filibuster was used most prominently by Southern Democrats to oppose civil rights and voting protections for people of color. By the s, it was well-known as a tool of segregationists aiming to preserve racist power structures. What are the most notable examples of the filibuster? From Derek Aupperlee.
The record for the longest individual filibuster in U. Strom Thurmond, R-S. As above, it is an example of a segregationist opposing civil rights legislation. It was one of many filibusters by white Southern Democrats, including one by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Step 1: Say Democrats have a draft bill ready for a vote on the Senate floor, but they expect some level of opposition.
Step 2: A motion to proceed requires a vote and can be filibustered. If a filibuster has already begun or is expected, the senators in favor of the bill can present a cloture motion that same day. Step 3: Cloture would end debate, stopping the filibuster, but it also requires a vote. On Wednesday, the Senate votes to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.
If the cloture vote is a success, a hour period of consideration begins before senators can first vote on the motion to proceed. This includes time used for debate, roll call votes, quorum calls and other such actions. Assuming the Senate keeps to eight hours in session per day, Monday through Friday, that period lasts nearly four workdays.
If that vote to proceed succeeds, the bill can head to the floor for consideration. Senators who oppose the bill might not be done yet. Now they have a second opportunity to initiate another filibuster, this time on the bill itself.
Stopping this requires those in favor of the bill to file another cloture motion step 5. Step 6: Like with cloture on the motion to proceed, the vote to invoke cloture on the bill itself takes place two days after the motion is filed, on Wednesday.
That means the Senate has spent 15 calendar days on these filibuster-preventing actions before they can vote on the bill itself.
Cloture ends filibusters because it ends everything else, too. Now, instead of debating legislation one bill at a time, lawmakers cram as much into every bill as they can. There are fewer bills passed.
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