LESSON 4.5: THE FILIBUSTER
AP U. S. GOVERNMENT
WHAT IS A FILIBUSTER?
 filibuster: a tactic by which a minority of Senators
seeks to delay or block Senate action on a
measure
 cloture: a Senate rule limiting debate
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DIFFERENCES IN THE LAWMAKING PROCESS
IN THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE?
 The Senate has fewer rules limiting floor debate than the House.
 The Senate also has the filibuster and the cloture rule, which allow the
minority to block measures supported by the majority.
 Finally, the Senate lacks the Rules Committee of the House.
THE SENATE
 Senate standing committees deal
with bills in a similar way as the
House of Representatives.
 However, the rules for Senate
floor proceedings are less
formal and strict than those of
the House.
DEBATE IN THE SENATE
 There are few limits on floor debate in the Senate.
 In general, a senator can speak on the floor as long as he or she
pleases about any topic that he or she wants to. However, no
senator may speak more than twice on the same question on
the same day.
 Many Senate bills are debated under a unanimous consent
agreement that limits the amount of floor debate.
THE FILIBUSTER
 A filibuster is a stalling tactic used by a minority of senators to talk a bill
to death.
 Filibusterers try to take up so much floor time with speeches and other
time-killing motions that the Senate has to drop or modify a bill to move
forward.
 The Senate tries to beat filibusters by holding long daily sessions and
enforcing strict rules to wear down talkers.
RULES OF THE FILIBUSTER
TO KEEP THE FLOOR: A senator must remain standing and must speak more or less continuously.
WHAT THEY CAN SAY: Senators can basically say anything. Under Senate rules, speeches must be germane during
the first three hours after routine business, but that is rarely enforced. Some popular filibuster material includes: law
books, the Bible and local recipes.
SPEECH LENGTH: Senate Rule 19 places no limit on the length of individual speeches or the number of senators
who can speak on one question.
INTERRUPTIONS: Senate rules say no senator shall interrupt another during debate without the speaker's consent.
Senators can yield for a question and still keep the floor.
CLOTURE: Starts when 16 senators present a motion to end debate. It then takes 60 senators to agree and invoke
cloture.
TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS
 You can’t sit down. If you do, you have yielded the floor and the Chair will recognize
someone else to speak.
 You can’t eat on the Senate floor. You can drink water or milk, nothing else.
 You can’t leave the Senate floor, even for a bathroom break. If you do you have
yielded the floor and the Chair will recognize someone else to speak.
 You don’t have to discuss the pending question.You can talk about anything you want.
You can read a book aloud if you like.
 You can only speak once on any particular question.
THE FILIBUSTER, CONT.
 Strom Thurmond, right, holds the record for a
filibuster, holding the floor for 24 hours and 18
minutes.
 Today most filibusters are team efforts, with
senators taking turns.
 More than 300 measures have been killed by
filibusters.
FAMOUS FILIBUSTERS
Longest: In 1957 South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond held the floor for 24 hours, 18 minutes. Thurmond
was opposing a civil rights bill and read election law text for all 48 states. The bill later passed.
Second Longest: In 1986 New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato spoke 23 hours, 30 minutes. He was fighting
for a defense bill to include a military plane built in New York.
In 1953 Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon spoke for 22 hours, 26 minutes, on an oil lease law.
In 1935 Louisiana's Huey P. Long spoke for 15 hours, 30 minutes. He was fighting President Franklin
Roosevelt's attempt to end Senate confirmation of some federal employees. Sen. Long read from the
Washington phone book and recited recipes for fried oysters and other Southern specialties.
CLOTURE/ PARTY AFFILIATIONS
 Filibuster can be stopped when three-fifths of Senate (60
members) vote for cloture.
 Cloture- a procedure allowing senators to speak only 1
hour on a bill under debate.
 Party Affiliations
 Procedures organized around members’ party
CLOTURE
 The Cloture rule was adopted in 1917 after a three week filibuster killed
a measure related to World War I.
 Cloture allows debate to be limited by a special procedure that requires
support by 60 senators.
 Only a third of the 600 attempts to invoke cloture have succeeded, so
filibusters remain effective.
 Senators often oppose cloture to preserve free debate and the value of
the filibuster.
RECENT CHANGES TO THE FILIBUSTER
 In November 2013, changes were made to the filibuster when it came to
approving Presidential appointees
 The new rules created a majority rule (51) on cloture for Presidential
appointments (except Supreme Court nominations). This DOES NOT
apply to legislation.
 This is often called the NUCLEAR OPTION
 Today, a Senator can threaten a filibuster to the chair & not actually have
to speak – it’s up to the chair/opposite party to find the 60 votes to stop
the “filibuster” & that normally takes at least 2 or 3 days