Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate

Library of Congress ^ | Jan. 17, 2001 | Stanley Bach

[William McKinley]

The HTML resulting from the PDF is ugly- I recommend reading it from the source site.

Some of the interesting things.

1. Once an item is called, it will come to the vote by the end of the legislative day unless it is tabled.
2. A legislative day can continue over many calendar days if Senators speak long enough.
3. During the debate, each Senator can only give a maximum of two speeches. If they yield the floor, that ends the speech they are giving.
4. Quorum calls can be made at any time. If there is not a quorum, the options are to adjourn (ending the legislative day, letting the process start over) or to have the Sgt. At Arms take steps to bring a quorum to the floor.
5. 60 votes are needed for cloture. This puts the onus on the proponents, since they need to keep their people there to maintain a quorum while the filibustering side only needs to have whoever is speaking be there.
6. There is an exception to that need for 60 votes for cloture. Under Rule XXII, an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting is required to invoke cloture on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules.

Consider the last two items together. One of the difficulties in stopping a filibuster is you need to have your side there to retain a quorum, but the other side only needs to have the one speaking. But that is by Senate rule. A Senate rule could be changed, by introducing a rule change and invoking cloture on it. Of course it would be filibustered, but to break the filibuster you would not need 60 votes but rather a quorum and 2/3 of those present. This would force the Democrats to be present as well as the Republicans, to prevent the rule from being changed.

Just an idea.

[William McKinley]

I should have added-

There is no need for a cloture vote if the debate ends because everyone has exhausted their two allowed speeches during the given legislative day. Once there is no further allowed debate, there is a vote on the motion.

[ken5050]

FYI

[Howlin]

FYI.

[ken5050]

Really interesting idea.....we shall see.....

[Howlin]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together, WM.

[William McKinley]

I doubt we will see it for a while, and it is counter-intuitive. 2/3 of the Senate is more votes than needing 60, but the key is that it is 2/3 of those present, and it would force the Democrats to be there just like the Republicans. If they only had a handful of their Senators there participating in the filibuster actively, the rule change would pass.

I would love to see a rule change that is as simple as "cloture on a judicial nomination can be obtained by a vote of 2/3 of the members elected and present". That would still allow a filibuster on a nomination, but it would make it that the filibustering side would need to keep their people there, just like the side trying to get something through.

And keeping them there would be very, very sweet once we get into campaign season. I am sure that Senators Graham, Lieberman, Kerry and so forth would generate some hard feelings within their party if they tried to say "you guys stay in that room all day, I have fundraising and campaigning to do".

[Sacajaweau]

I keep seeing filibuster as pertaining to "bills", "amendments" and "Legislation". Correct me if any one sees something different.

[ken5050]

Excellent analysis..very telling point about the need for the dem candidates to get out and fund raise...they won't want to be chained to the desk on weekends.......

[William McKinley]

Particularly when the Republican candidate is the sitting President, who does NOT need to be stuck in the Senate chamber.

[justshe]

Thanks for putting this up. That's one heck of a job...and then factor in the HTML. Have bookmarked for future reference.

[richardtavor]

This is pretty close to what my Senator wrote back to me. So they are definitely thinking it through.

[mabelkitty]

Very good. Now how long will it be before the "cave" men come in deny it.

snicker snicker

[killbuckner]

I missed the first and most important item on your list. I didn't see where it said that "Once an item is called, it will come to the vote by the end of the legislative day unless it is tabled". Could you point out that section to me? I read it fast and just missed that part.

[yoe]

Thanks so much for this. I wish or really think Frist ought to hand every Democrat the Washington phonebook and tell them to start reading! Keep phoning, any Senator will do and tell them this sort of politics is not helping America.

[Mo1]

Thanks for the Ping

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for posting this and for your addtional comments. I've skimmed and will come back to this later.

[William McKinley]

When an item is called, it is voted on upon the conclusion of the debate. The conclusion of the debate occurs three ways: by unanimous consent, by cloture, and by there being no one able to be recognized under the rules to continue the debate. When debate is over, the matter is voted on.

[killbuckner]

Wow. Great info.

So how many Democrats do you think would be willing to stand up and speak for 6 hours straight to oppose this nomination? I am thinking that less than 20 would...

[William McKinley]

I should add that this is somewhat different from the legislative process, where Senators can get around the two-speech rule by introducing germane amendments and thereby getting to give two more speeches on the amendment.

On nominations, there is nothing for them to amend.