Filibuster Rule Analysis

The tactic, filibuster has a long history dating back to the 1800’s; it is used to delay bills being passed. It has been a way to win votes for the people and gives senates time to attain the votes they need or get they’re points across (US Site). Many don’t find this move very appealing because it is used mostly by the minority party to give some-kind of power over the majority. In fact, some senates argue that it should be abolished, there have been actions placed to end debates such as the cloture and the nuclear option. However, it is a lengthy process that does not guarantee an end to a filibuster.

“The filibuster has been used 1,300 times since 1917” and in the last “12 years [from 2010 to 1998]... the filibuster was used nearly 600 times!” This causes a massive slowdown in Congress making bills inefficient to pass. Each of these stands takes hours and hours so for using it that much is a waste of time. “There is no certain number of days that a bill has to become law, but it must be voted on in the same congressional session, or same year, that it is introduced. If it is not voted on during the session, it can be reintroduced the following year, when it must start its journey over again” and the “most popular stage for a bill to die [is] Committee of the chamber bill is introduced in”. These all point to the fact that people are abusing the right of using a filibuster to make rules they don’t like by delaying them. This realization is the start of the nuclear option, a bill that could make filibusters eliminated or almost completely limited from

Shields of the filibuster alert against changing the framework, saying that the delay is a critical security of minority-gathering rights. They say the filibuster backtracks to the authors' desire to make a national government with deliberately built balanced governance and that increasing the procedure debilitates the very condition of American majority rules system. A few Republicans call the thought of demolishing the delay a Democratic power grab.

Today, Supreme Court Nominee’s, Neil Gorsuch, Confirmation hearing came near conclusion on a very confrontational note with the Senate’s Principal Democrat threatening to filibuster. This would complicate the way the senate “conducts its business”. The Republicans eager to confirm Gorsuch only have a 52-majority instead of the 60-majority that is necessary. However, they say he will be confirmed anyway, even if it means removing the filibuster option and allowing nominees to be confirmed with a simple majority vote. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s decision to filibuster was not unexpected but it will increase tension in the senate. “If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes — a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees, and George Bush’s last two nominees — the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” he said. Although the democrats do not have the votes to block this motion, his filibuster will publicize the resistance in the Congress.

Otto von Bismarck once said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” The arduous process that a bill undergoes in order to become a law may seem grueling and pointless; however, the processes high caliber of difficulty allows for the extreme prestige and exclusivity of bills that are passed. Because the process is so exhausting, and filibusters, subsequently requiring a super-majority vote to pass a bill, have always been such a threat in Congress, historically, bills that attempt to reform sensitive issues have not fared well in the legislative branch. However, when Congress does pass controversial laws, it then also faces the task of effectively enforcing them. But, when the process is carried out to

In the event a bill is strongly favored by the committee the Congress leaders have a floor debate. “Major bills must first go to the Rules Committee, which decides where bills will appear on the legislation calendar and the terms under which bills will be debated by the House” (Greenberg, 351). Specific rules include; the nature of the amendments, how much time can be spent debating, and a number if necessary. The committee has the power to have a “closed ruling” which allows for a yes or no vote. In a floor debate, the Senate determines the final form of the bill also, “The threat of a hold or a filibuster means that the minority in Senate plays an important role in determining the final step of legislation” (Greenberg, 352). After this step, the members of the chamber either vote once the bill has been reported or after the amendments have been added. Once

Filibusters are also too much power given to senators to stop progress, without this power more issue can be brought up and dealt with, such as global warming, rather than wasting time with unhappy senators.

The filibuster, a result of following Vice President Aaron Burr’s request to clean up the Senate’s rule book in 1805, once used to hold procedure by Senators to allow them time to arrive and debate or vote on legislation has been hijacked by minority Republicans into indefinite vetoes of legislation and administration nominations. While scarcely used by Senators to block legislation - President Woodrow Wilson attempt to prepare the U.S. for WWI found it difficult to pass legislation in preparation of the war introduced the cloture rule to close debate by a two-thirds majority vote that was modified in 1975 to a only three-fifths majority - Republicans have exploited this procedure to where even just the threat of a filibuster can block legislation and nominations creating mass gridlock. It was once required, if a Senator wanted to filibuster a bill, to stand on the Senate floor and speak nonstop in an attempt to coerce his cohorts to alter their stance. The filibuster has given a minority in the Senate the ability to veto legislation even if a majority of legislators in both houses and the president approve of the bill. The filibuster, with no precedent in the U.S. Constitution, has given a small minority of 41 the power to control and sway critical legislation in a way not envisioned by the founding framers as they constructed the United States governmental

The legislation was originally submitted on February 7, 2017 and sent to the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee. On April 6, 2017 it was submitted from the subcommittee to the House Veterans Affairs committee for a full voice vote. In order for the bill to become a law, an idea must be presented to a member of Congress. There may be a companion bill, one in the House one in the Senate. There are several steps in passing legislation and many areas where a bill could fail. Associations and lobbyist are often involved in drafting legislation. They are also involved in lobbying members. The bill is then sent to a specific committee for the first review where either changes or made or the bill is rejected. If a bill is accepted, it is sent out from the committee to full House or Senate vote. If it passes, it will go to the opposite side of the legislative branch for a second vote. The bill most be voted on in the same way in both chambers in order to be passed. If a bill passes both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it goes to the President to be signed and made a law. If the President veto’s the bill, a two-thirds majority can override the president and make the bill a law without him or her. Every bill has a two -year deadline to either pass or die by default. The speaker of the House of Representative is in charge of the agenda for the House to vote on. Although the Vice President is the “President” of the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader sets the agenda for the

A filibuster was first intended to let a minority opinion be heard during a senate meeting. It allowed any senator the right to speak. It later became a way for a senator to halt the progress of a bill. The rule was first allowed back in 1806. When it began to become a problem senate urged President Woodrow Wilson to pass a rule called cloture. Cloture was a way for the senate to vote to end a filibuster. It was put in place in 1917. The problem was, it didn’t vote out many attempts at a filibuster because cloture required a 2/3 vote to end a filibuster.

After Senator Boxer's unsurprising re-election to Senate, one of her most noteworthy decisions was to urge Senate to keep the filibuster. A filibuster is something that the Senators use to postpone or delay actions from being made. Recently, the Republican Party wanted to do away with the filibuster so that the Democrats could not use it against their judges. In 1995, Senator Boxer voted to get rid of the filibuster and admitted she did so out of "frustration". The Senate came to an agreement that if the Democrats use filibuster free votes for Judges Priscilla Owen, Janice Brown, and Wilson Pryor, they can block the nominations on Judges Henry Saad and William Myers without the Republicans trying to do away with the filibuster again.

The filibuster continues to be an area of controversy in the United States Senate. Critics of the rule claim that it has corrupted and even broken the institution, while proponents claim that the rule is a savior for the minority against unpopular laws instituted by the majority. Throughout history, the filibuster has shown its potentially dangerous side as well as its positive benefits. After any major party shift in the Senate, it seems that there is always talk of filibuster reform by the new majority. Although reform debates persist, rules and procedures regarding the filibuster have yet to be significantly changed since 1975, when the cloture rule was last amended. The debate has been revived

In 1789, the Senate and House of Representatives ordered a rule where only a majority vote was needed to conclude a debate. Although the House of Representatives kept that rule, the Senate got rid of it in 1806 without replacing it with another. This soon led to the opening idea of a filibuster. The initial purpose for a filibuster was to ensure that the minority opinions were apprehended and understood. Currently, some people still regard the filibuster as a strategy to protect the right of free speech and minorities.

The majority of the senate's legislative review is done within it's committee system, as committee’s have always been part of the senate(Ray, 2013). “What the author fails to mention is that the senate standing

Most bills must have simple majority to pass. At this point of development, the process is especially exemplary because the bill in the Senate is now considered by debate to better illustrate its strengths and/or weaknesses. To summarize, the bill has now been passed by both houses of congress.