On Dec 13, 2008, at 1:06 PM, Marty Hart-Landsberg wrote:
>
But I am not sure that what happened is in accord with what Carl
> says below, that the democrats "could have passed the bill but
not
> have defeated the filibuster."
>
> According to
the papers the bill did pass, with 52 votes. Doesnt a
>
filibuster take place to stop a vote? Isnt it the case that once a
> filibuster starts, which means talking to stop a vote, that you
need
> 60 votes to force a vote on the motion. But the
papers claim that
> there was a vote on the measure and it
passed.
> I dont think that the Republicans actually launched a
filibuster--so
> when does the threat become real--
It's
one of those arcane procedural things. It needed 60 votes just to bring
it to the floor.
Doug
Comment
Filibuster and Procedural filibuster
The term first came into use in the United States Senate, where Senate rules permit a
senator, or a series of senators, to speak for as long as they wish and on any
topic they choose, unless a supermajority of three-fifths of the Senate (60
Senators, if all 100 seats are filled) brings debate to a close by invoking cloture.[6]
[edit] Procedural
filibuster
In current practice, Senate Rule 22 permits filibusters in which actual
continuous floor speeches are not required, although the Senate Majority Leader may require an actual
traditional filibuster if he or she so chooses. This threat of a filibuster
can therefore be as powerful as an actual filibuster. Previously, the
filibustering senator(s) could delay voting only by making an endless speech.
Currently, they need only indicate that they are filibustering, thereby
preventing the Senate from moving on to other business until the motion is
withdrawn or enough votes are gathered for cloture.
[edit] Preparations
Preparations for a filibuster can be very elaborate. Sometimes cots are
brought into the hallways or cloakrooms for senators to sleep on. While in a
filibuster the senator talking must remain in the same spot and is only
allowed to filibuster twice in a legislative day. A legislative day lasts
until the debate is adjourned, which can take days. According to Newsweek:
"They used to call it 'taking to the diaper', a phrase that referred to
the preparation undertaken by a prudent senator before an extended
filibuster. Strom
Thurmond visited a steam room before his filibuster in order to
dehydrate himself so he could drink without urinating. An aide stood by in
the cloakroom with a pail
in case of emergency."[7]
Filibusters have become much more common in recent decades. Twice as many
filibusters took place in the 1991-1992 legislative session as took place in
the entire nineteenth century.[8]