Filibusted.The filibuster filibuster, term used to designate obstructionist tactics in legislative assemblies. It has particular reference to the U.S. Senate, where the tradition of unlimited debate is very strong. It was not until 1917 that the Senate provided for cloture (i.e. has become a major factor in the gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. that has come close to paralyzing Congress in recent years. It explains why Democrats keep saying they need sixty votes. What many people don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. is that the threat was rarely employed before the Senate changed its rules in 1975 to permit cloture The procedure by which debate is formally ended in a meeting or legislature so that a vote may be taken. Cloture is a means of terminating a filibuster, which is a prolonged speech on the floor of the Senate designed to forestall legislative action. with three-fifths of the votes instead of two-thirds. Before the rule change, resort to filibusters usually only happened when a minority felt its most vital interests were at stake, most often when southerners were faced with a civil rights bill. When the three-fifths rule was adopted, it was considered a great blow to tyranny by a minority. An unfortunate, unintended consequence For the 1996 novel by John Ross, see . Unintended consequences are situations where an action results in an outcome that is not (or not only) what is intended. The unintended results may be foreseen or unforeseen, but they should be the logical or likely results of the has been that minorities have come to think they are freer to use the dreaded filibuster. This trend has culminated in the Senate Republicans using the threat to stop any legislation they don't like. Charles Peters is the founding editor of the Washington Monthly. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion