Thread by @didikins4life

#BackToSchool “#Filibuster” is a funny word. It rolls off the tongue surprisingly well for a blocking tactic! Its history is longer than you’d think.
Here’s a look at the filibuster, how it works and the current political firestorm over it.
apnews.com/article/donald…
1/20

WHAT’S A FILIBUSTER?
Unlike the House, the Senate places few constraints on lawmakers’ right to speak.
Senators can easily use the chamber’s rules to hinder or block votes. Collectively these procedural delays are called #filibusters. 2/20

Senate records say the term began appearing in the mid-19th century. The word comes from a Dutch term for “freebooter” and the Spanish “filibusteros” that were used to describe pirates. 3/20 #Filibuster #Pirates

Filibusters were emblazoned in the public’s mind in part by the 1939 film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” in which Jimmy Stewart portrayed a senator who spoke on the chamber’s floor until exhaustion. 4/20 #FilibusterFriday

In a real-life version of that, Sen. Strom Thurmond, D-S.C., stood continuously by his desk for 24 hours and 18 minutes speaking against the 1957 Civil Rights Act, the longest Senate speech by a single senator for which there are records of speaking length. 5/20 #Filibuster

Those days are mostly gone. Senators usually tell Senate leaders or announce publicly that they will filibuster a bill, with no lengthy speeches required. Their impact usually flows not from delaying Senate business but from the need to get a supermajority of votes to end them. 6

HOW DO FILIBUSTERS END?
Records from the first Congress in 1789 show senators complaining about long speeches blocking legislation. Frustration grew and in 1917, the Senate voted to let senators end filibusters with a two-thirds majority vote. 7/20
#Filibuster #Cloture

In 1975, the Senate lowered that margin to the current three-fifths majority, which in the 100-member chamber is 60 votes. That margin is needed to end filibusters against nearly all types of legislation, but no longer applies to nominations. 8/20 #FILIBUSTER #Cloture

Democrats controlling the Senate in 2013, angered by GOP delays on then-President Barack Obama’s picks, reduced the margin for ending filibusters against most appointees to a simple majority, exempting Supreme Court nominees.9/20 #FILIBUSTER #DemsWork4USA

In 2017, Republicans running the chamber, eager to add conservative justices under then-President Donald Trump, lowered the threshold to a simple majority for Supreme Court picks as well. 10/20 #FILIBUSTER #SenateRules

#Democrats emerged from the 2020 elections controlling the White House, Senate &House. They intend to fulfill their platform which includes bolstering the economy, battling the pandemic, expanding voting rights &helping millions of undocumented in the U.S. become citizens. 11/20

Democrats have a slender House majority & control the 50-50 Senate only because of the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. That means that to overcome a filibuster, Dems need support from at least 10 Republicans, unlikely outcome in this political climate. 12/20

According to Senate records dating back to WW I, the # of votes to end filibusters in any 2yr Congress never reached 100 until 07-08. It hit a high of 298 in the 19-20 Congress, mostly on Trump appointees that Republicans running the Senate were pushing to confirmation. 13/20

In this year’s first five months as of this week, there were already 41 votes to end filibusters, mostly on President Joe Biden’s nominees. 14/20
#FILIBUSTER #DemsWork4USA

WHAT CAN DEMOCRATS DO?
It takes a simple majority, 51 votes, to change how the Senate cuts off filibusters. GOP support for retaining them is solid, w/Senate Minority Ldr Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying Democrats want to end them in a quest for “raw power.” 15/20 #TheGrimReaper

Democrats are determined to enact their priorities so their support for discarding filibusters has grown. Biden, who’s influential despite having no vote on the matter, has said the tactic is “being abused in a gigantic way.” 16/20 #EndTheFilibuster #FILIBUSTER

Yet Democrats lack the votes to do that.Their 2 most conservative senators,Joe Manchin of West Virginia & Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema,have opposed a change, arguing they would rather see bipartisan agreement on issues, even in the face of unprecedented Republican obstruction. 17/20

Creating a Jan. 6 commission is just one of many issues Democrats are pushing for that the public supports. Others in that category include House-passed measures easing voting access, expanding citizenship opportunities for immigrants and common sense gun control. 18/20

Schumer hasn’t overtly tipped his hand on what he’ll do but has consistently kept the door open.The Senate has debated a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening U.S.’s ability to compete economically w/China, which some saw as showing that Dems work w/ Repubs when they can. 19/20

“We hope to move forward with Republicans, but we’re not going to let them saying “no” stand in our way,” Schumer said.
20/20
#FILIBUSTER #GOPobstruction #DemsWork4USA