Filibusters Are A Waste Of Legislation Time

Thus, Members of the House may only speak on a bill in the time mandated by the House Rules Committee vis-à-vis their judgments for that particular bill. It is also possible for the House to meet as the Committee of the Whole, which has more streamlined debating rules – though the Committee of the Whole cannot pass a bill. The Senate debate rules differ with the debate rules of the House of Representatives, as Senators have an unlimited time to debate bills – this lack of limit allows a filibuster to occur. The course materials state, “Debate can be closed by unanimous consent, or by invoking ‘cloture,’ which requires a three-fifths majority (at least 60 votes) of the entire Senate” (Unit 3 the Congress, 10). Once a bill passes through the House of Representatives, or the Senate, it must pass through the other chamber of Congress before it becomes law.

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

The bill then went to the senate where there was much debate and procrastination. Many senators opposed to the bill tried to use the “filibuster” technique, which basically is an extended talk for the purpose of killing a bill or getting drastic modifications. In fact, it was the longest debate in Senate history lasting 534 hours in total. The final vote in the Senate was 76 to 18 to pass their version of the bill since they made minor amendments to it (Bureau of National Affairs 18-21). A quote from Senator John Lesinski, democrat, showed why some were opposed to the bill, “There are still many private rights in America that under our Constitution are beyond the power of government to regulate and one of these is the right to pick and chose one’s associates, one’s friends and one’s customers in a private business” (Calls Bill Unconstitutional 33). The final vote in the House over the amendments the senate made was 289 to 126. This set the way for the bill to be signed by the President to become a law.

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.

Congressional gridlock is not a modern invention in the world of politics. Alexander Hamilton use to complain about the deadlock “flaw” in the design of Congress. In politics, “Congressional gridlock” is a situation in Congress where there are complications in passing laws for the people. Gridlock could be prevented if we had a democracy for the majority and unified. While many view this as frustrating, gridlocks are starting to become a political norm. This leads to a divided government. Congressional gridlock in the states has become an everyday topic that nobody really understands what to do. The creation of gridlock is seen every day. The failure that Congress comes with when trying to agree upon the nation’s budget, or have the right

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.

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

The political climate today is increasingly becoming more turbulent as Republicans and Democrats volley for superiority in Washington. The two parties are becoming more polarized by the hour, and this is affecting the ability of the government to move forward and pass legislation and continue to improve America. The Senate is in a state of gridlock on some of the most important issues to the people of the United States to date, and yet the senators which the people elected are instead caught up in fighting the people on the other side of the aisle. They should be listening to what their constituents need and want. Today Republican senators are using filibusters, scare tactics, and even entire news networks

For Centuries in the United States, Congressional gridlock has been one of the main difficulties of prosperity and progress. The government of the United States has had the opportunity to make the life of its citizens better but due to the epidemic of gridlock a lot of the issues we face are unresolved or ignored. Going forward I will give causes, solutions and some examples of the effect that it has had on the democracy of the United States as well as examples of congressional gridlock.

Congress formally writes out bills. The president votes on the bill and has the option to veto the law where he attaches a veto message explaining the reason for the veto. The president can also constitute use of a pocket veto. The bill dies at the end of ten days if the president, neither sign or vetoes the bills. Congress is then able to overthrow the veto and make the bill into a law if they believe the president is wrong and didn’t make the right decision. Pocket votes are not allowed to be overridden. This veto only becomes effective when the president fails to sign a bill after Congress has been delayed and can no longer override the veto. As for war the president had the power to wage war and negotiate treaties while Congress has the

A filibuster does have “strategic use [in delaying] . . . legislation,” on the other hand it is true that a filibuster is used because legislation made by one party is unwanted by the other (Fisk & Chemerinsky 183). Time is a principal factor in legislative deliberation and a filibuster wastes the time of Senators who need information on the bill to vote up or down. The time allotted for other bills become much smaller and frustrated Senators may allow the bill to die. As such, even the threat of a filibuster poses great concern for a new bill created by either party. Despite a filibuster allowing the minority to voice their concern over the subject matter, it is a power which can be abused by either party to stop a bill because of differences based on ideal, not logic. The party which has been subjected to these methods is forced to cooperate with the other party. In all, legislative participation is objectively good, however if a bill is hindered because of ideology, then that form of participation lowers legislative

Desperate situations call for uncoventional actions. In the video “The Devils Miner” Basilio Vargas a 14 year old boy who works in the trecharerous, labor-intensive and grueling, Cerro Rivo Silver Mines takes the responsibility of an adult at a young age. Basilio takes the father figure of his family working to provide basic needs for his family: shelter, clothing, and food. If Basilio, a mature and determined 14 year old can take on the positon of being head of the household, then a child who has the mental and physical capactiy to work can start crontributing to his family. If you are like Basilio, fatherless and have sibilings to support, the older sibiling should rise to the occasion to provide for his or her family. A child who is

A filibuster is when a senator holes long speeches in order to health congresses progress in passing a new bill or revising an amendment. I said previously, the upper chamber of Congress can stop a filibuster. The upper chamber of Congress consist of the one hundred senators. Stopping a filibuster takes a lot of work, you have to get sixteen signatures in order to evoke closure and then the Senate has to vote on permanent closure. This particular filibuster was led by a minority in the concern of gun control. Minorities or people who don't agree on a certain law or bill are often the ones who will conduct filibusters. When a bill is about to be considered and has to go through special review in Congress. The majority will ask consent to except it's amendment or request a conference in order to discuss or debate over the amendment. However, if a senator does not want the amendment to go through they can hold a

I believe that time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time because you are enjoying yourself. For example, if you are lying in bed singing and you enjoy it, you are not wasting any time.