The story of modern Washington is the story of the filibuster.
That’s the tactic of dragging out debate in the US Senate to make it harder to get things done. Thanks to Senate rules, whichever party is out of power has the ability, through filibusters, to quash nearly everything the in-power party wants to do unless the minority party agrees.
In the absence of any sign Republicans will work with Democrats to pass voting rights legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a vote on changes to filibuster rules by Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 17. Changing the rules would allow senators to pass some legislation with a simple majority. But first, Schumer needs to convince the Senate’s most conservative Democrats, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, to get on board.
Now, overcoming a filibuster to pass legislation in the Senate takes 60 votes — votes that Democrats don’t have without Republicans’ help.
Three of the most substantial legislative accomplishments of the past 12 years — President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 relief bill, former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — were only achieved by one party finding a way around the filibuster.
Here’s how the filibuster has made accomplishing anything on Capitol Hill incredibly difficult:
What is a filibuster? A filibuster is any use of obstructive tactics that would prevent a bill or measure from coming to a vote. Filibusters are most famously thought of as long-winded speeches like in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” but there are no clear rules on what form a filibuster should take, including how long it lasts. As a result, the mere threat of filibustering a bill can be enough to delay or block its passage.
Photo credit: Everett Collection
How can a filibuster be beaten? The filibuster is not in the Constitution and is generally recognized as an accident of Senate rules. A bill is considered “filibuster-proof” if it has the support of at least 60 senators (it used to require 67 until a rule change in 1975). But few bills meet that criteria in today’s hyper-partisan political climate, especially with the Senate’s current 50-50 split between parties.
Note: Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine are shown here as Democrats; they are Independents who caucus with Democrats.
