More information is available at About.com:
Rule 22
The filibuster is related to "cloture," a rule adopted almost 100 years ago [to end a filibuster] with a two-thirds vote. At times this was two-thirds of those voting; for a limited time, it was two-thirds of membership.
In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes needed to invoke cloture to three-fifths (60) of Senate membership. At the same time, they made the filibuster "invisible" by requiring only that 41 Senators state that they intend to filibuster; critics say this makes the modern filibuster "painless."
And Wikipedia:
The filibuster is a tactic used to defeat bills and motions by prolonging debate indefinitely. A filibuster may entail long speeches, dilatory motions, and an extensive series of proposed amendments. The longest filibuster speech in the history of the Senate was delivered by Strom Thurmond, who spoke for over twenty-four hours in an unsuccessful attempt to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Senate may end a filibuster by invoking cloture. In most cases, cloture requires the support of three-fifths of the Senate; however, if the matter before the Senate involves changing the rules of the body, a two-thirds majority is required. Cloture is invoked very rarely, particularly because bipartisan support is usually necessary to obtain the required supermajority. If the Senate does invoke cloture, debate does not end immediately; instead, further debate is limited to thirty additional hours unless increased by another three-fifths vote.
Ironically, the Democrats famously opposed Republican efforts in the 109th Congress to amend Senate Rules to disallow the filibuster. This was the so-called "Nuclear Option" averted by the "Gang of 14" -- a bi-partisan group of Senators who compromised on the submission of Bush judicial nominees for confirmation.
2 comments:
Seth - what's the schedule throughout the rest of the year for this Bill? When can we expect to see actual reports of discussion in the Senate?
Check out the March 9, 2007 post here. I've passed along a link to a great piece by Kilpatrick Stockton's government relations folks. It is definitely worth a read.
In a nutshell, the passed House version of the bill has been "engrossed," and formally read in the Senate. All indications are that Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will introduce his own version of the bill in the Senate. He has done so each time the House took up the EFCA in previous sessions of Congress, and has released a statement promising to move on the issue "soon."
The first stop for the bill in the Senate will be the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee -- chaired currently by Sen. Kennedy himself.
Post a Comment