You've heard it before: It's time we get rid of the filibuster. But you may be wondering, "what is the filibuster, and where did it come from?"
Here's what it is, and here's why it stinks:
For a vote on a bill to take place in the Senate, a few things have to happen.
- A bill is brought to the Floor
- Senators debate the bill
- Senators end debate
- Senators vote on the bill, majority wins
That's the way the Founders intended it to go, at least. Here's the hitch: In 1806, Aaron Burr -- yes, the one who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel -- said the Senate had too many rules and should get rid of some.
One rule that got tossed in the trash can? The rule that said any senator could propose a vote that would cut off debate. Senators didn't see a need to keep this rule on the book, so they tossed it.
That means step #2 (Senator's debate the bill) could, in theory, go on forever if enough Senators were willing to speak long enough on the floor in debate.
For years, business generally went on as usual. No one wanted to be "that guy." But then, Senator John Calhoun realized he could exploit this rule change to seize more power for southern slave-holding states. He was the first to attempt to stop the Senate from voting on legislation by filibustering.
In 1917, President Wilson tired of a Senate that was obstructing more than voting -- pressured the Senate to pass a rule to make sure debate wouldn't hold up voting forever and ever.
The Senate responded with a rule, called Rule 22 also called a "Cloture Vote." It looked like the other rule Aaron Burr had thrown in the trash can, except for one enormous difference: To end debate, Rule 22 required a supermajority, or two-thirds of the Senate.
Rule 22 didn't solve the problem of endless filibustering. It encouraged gridlock. Because now, a small minority in the Senate could force a bill to get through two votes. A super-majority vote to end debate, and then a simple majority vote to pass the bill. It made no sense.
The effects were almost immediate. The year after the Senate established Rule 22, an Anti-Lynching bill was introduced. A small group of Senators hell-bent on upholding white supremacy decided to flex the new rule and filibuster the legislation.
The law which would make the heinous act of hanging Black Americans by trees a crime took 100 years to break a filibuster, and still isn't law. It didn't pass the Senate until 2018 and it's still not law.
During the Jim Crow era, southern Senators continued to use the filibuster as a tool to block civil rights legislation and only civil rights legislation.
Today, the filibuster is more common than ever. There are some loopholes, for court appointments and bills on the budget. And Mitch McConnell can use it as a veto on almost every other bill Democrats want to pass.
Here's the kicker in all this today, the filibuster has become so common that it practically happens automatically, whether or not senators actually come to the floor to insist on it.
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