The Filibuster has been the Senate Buster…

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone I know about the 911 first responders bill and I mentioned the role of the filibuster in the Senate.   She promptly asked me "what exactly is a filibuster?"  Well - had I not had a mother who was a radio interviewer back in the day where segregation and civil rights issues were regularly being filibustered on the Senate floor - I too would be confused.

So to all of you out there who keep hearing the terms "cloture" and "filibuster" - this is for you.



The filibuster rule is not in the constitution. It is described in the Senate rules.  Its purpose is to short circuit what our founding fathers called "the tyranny of the majority" upon the minority.   It is a mechanism by which the minority can successfully prevent a bill from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

The cloture rule is related to the filibuster rule in that (currently) 60 "yea'  votes are required for bringing a vote to the Senate floor for an up or down vote.  Once on the floor - the majority rules where  51 "yea" votes is required for passage.   Cloture technically "ends the filibuster."

But where is the actual filibuster in all this?

The traditional filibuster was a fairly dramatic act.   The best depiction of the "old-school filibuster" can be seen in the video below in the classic movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" with Jimmy Stewart as a young freshman Senator who has taken the floor of the Senate and is attempting a one-man filibuster.   In the "old days" that my mother described, the Senators on each side of the filibuster would bring in cots and sleep in turns while their colleagues each took a turn on the floor reading and speaking aimlessly - blocking the bill in question from coming to the floor. This action also blocked any other usual business from proceeding until the issue at hand was either denied cloture or brought to the floor.

Changing the Rules - the Filibuster goes Virtual...

In 1975 the rules were changed so that the present 60 votes were required for cloture (down from a 2/3  vote).  At the same time, they made the filibuster  "invisible" and painless for those blocking cloture.  Under the present rules - it only requires 41 Senators to say that their intention is to filibuster - but they don't actually have to do this.

This is certainly more convenient for a minority bent on thwarting the majority.  But it creates a situation where literally almost EVERYTHING can be denied cloture.  no muss, no fuss.  No embarrassing shut down until the filibuster is resolved, no reporters reporting about Senators reading out of the phone book.   Not surprisingly,  the use of the filibuster increased and in the present Congress - its use has gone to alarming new heights. Cloture has been denied.  In the present Congress the need for a "supermajority" has become the norm - creating massive gridlock.

The United States Senate actually posts the numbers. The number of motions for cloture filed more than doubled the year the Democrats gained the majority from 68 to 139 in the 110th Congress and 136 in the 111th Congress.  This represents a stunning attempt to gum up the works on the part of the republicans.  Not that anyone's hands are clean on this issue.  I went so far as to create a chart on the motions for cloture over the past 40 years.  The red bars indicate the years that the Republicans had a Senate majority and the blue bars indicate democratic control.  The party filing the cloture motions is the minority party for obvious reasons.  The chart also shows a pattern of increasing abuse by both parties since the early 90s.  But the over 100% increase in cloture motions that occurred when the Democrats gained the majority is nothing short of staggering.

Note:  The legend indicates the Congress sitting during that two year period - I started with the 91st Congress which ended in 1970 - 40 years ago.  The years indicate the year that Congress ENDS.

© 2011 - Ruthmarie G. Hicks - All rights reserved.