Make The Repubs Use a Traditional Filibuster (or, how to stop a Filibuster)

[berni_mccoy]

If it comes to it, according to Senate procedure, the Senate Majority Leader could enforce a traditional filibuster under current rules. He does not have to honor a procedural filibuster. A traditional filibuster requires an endless speech and a quorum to be maintained (which I'm pretty sure the Repukes can't do it). Furthermore, the filibuster can be easily defeated if the Majority Leader leaves the item on the agenda indefinitely. This was done to bypass the filibuster by Thurmond's filibuster of the Civil Rights act.

The Dems have the power and the rules to bypass any filibuster the Republicans can throw at them regarding the Healthcare bill. The Democrats only need 50 votes (V.P. Biden will break any tie).

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. K&R.

Enough with the Phantom-of-the-Senate fake filibusters. Make them stand up there talking all day every day on C-Span and the nightly news (assuming the lamestream media even covers it) telling all of America that they're pulling out all the stops to keep you from having health care. The best way to kick the Pukes is to make them show their true colors for everyone to see.

[ThomWV]

2. When the Senate is in session C-Span has the camera on, I know of no exceptions

C-Span 2 covers the Senate anytime they are in session and all of the time they are in session.

I agree, make them stand up there and talk, and talk , and talk.

[berni_mccoy]

4. Would love to see the Republicans falling asleep trying to speak all night

24/7 until they broke.

[berni_mccoy]

3. All it takes is a decision by Sen. Reid. Let's pressure him to do it.

[Jim Lane]

5. Some questions

"A traditional filibuster requires an endless speech and a quorum to be maintained (which I'm pretty sure the Repukes can't do it)."

If there's no quorum, though, the Senate presumably couldn't vote on the bill. Wouldn't the absence of a quorum serve the same purpose as a filibuster, by preventing action? Then, once a quorum was ascertained, the Republicans could resume talking?

"Furthermore, the filibuster can be easily defeated if the Majority Leader leaves the item on the agenda indefinitely. This was done to bypass the filibuster by Thurmond's filibuster of the Civil Rights act."

My recollection is that the key to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was the cloture vote, in which the majority of the Democrats plus quite a few Republicans joined together to end a filibuster by Thurmond and other southern Democrats. You seem to be suggesting that there's some fairly simple procedural trick by which Reid could break a filibuster without even taking a vote. Would you elaborate?

I do agree that there'd be a lot of value to putting the Republicans to the test -- make them engage in endless talking to block any action on health care. That would certainly lessen their already poor approval ratings. There should definitely be at least one cloture vote, too. Even if it's doomed to fail, we want the Republicans, especially those up for re-election next year, to be on record as refusing to permit an up-or-down vote on a critical issue.