What is a filibuster?
A filibuster is a parliamentary delaying tactic used to prevent a vote on a bill. Here’s how it works in the US Senate:
- A bill comes out of committee for debate on the senate floor.
- A formal end to debate called “cloture” may be voted on. It takes a three-fifths majority — also known as a “super majority” — to agree to cloture. In the Senate this is currently sixty votes.
- It then takes a simple majority, or one vote more than 50%, to pass the bill.
Because it’s harder to end debate on a bill than it is to actually pass it, the minority position may often prevent an actual vote on the bill by refusing to accept cloture. This is called “filibustering.”
Why is it important that you understand this now? Because a lot of people are making hash of the word.
Diane Sawyer:
It certainly is. Senators facing an all-nighter now as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vows to filibuster, talking all night to close out all topics besides a vote on Iraqi troop withdrawals. [ On Good Morning America, Sawyer falsely claimed Reid "vows to filibuster" ]
Fred Barnes:
I mean, that — I mean, their defense is laughable. In effect, you know, Harry Reid is going to keep everybody in the Senate overnight. All he’s doing is filibustering his own bill, which Republicans said, “OK, agree to the 60-vote margin, bring up the bill tomorrow,” you know, the Levin bill.
What has been happening is this: on a host of bills, not just those related to the Iraq war, Republicans have indicated that they are not willing to vote for cloture. Rather than let this delay other business, Senate Majority Leader Reid has been content to move on to less controversial issues. In effect, the threat of filibuster has been used to delay passage of bills like the “Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act.” But because Reid has backed down from these threats — instead of actually forcing a filibuster — Republicans have been able to do wield the filibuster quietly, more or less on paper and out of the public eye.
Reid has refused to acquiesce this time, forcing the Republicans to do so in the open. He is not filibustering, the Republicans are. A filibuster is an obstruction to an up-or-down vote on the bill, and since Reid has not, as near as I can tell, voted against cloture he is fighting the filibuster. Not causing it. And certainly not filibustering himself.
