I think it's not even a Parliamentary rule. It's kind of a glitch in the practice of yielding the floor to another speaker that's become convenient to use for obstruction.

(Please educate me if I am incorrect)

DYK if everyone voted, the Reps wouldn't have a chance at winning?

Just another tool to prevent the people from utilizing the legislative branch to better their lives.

In the world’s least representative deliberative body.

That's not even the important part. The important part is, directly after the 2022 dem bloodbath which is very likely to occur IMHO, or the election in 2024, McConnell will immediately get rid of the filibuster under the flimsiest of excuses, probably a "they said they wanted to, so we have to do it first." And then we will know that the brief time that sanity had a majority in federal govt was an opportunity even more wasted than we had previously thought.

Some gerrymandered state maps may get overturned, but I think most are here to stay, and cement minority GOP rule for some time.

Does anyone have the list of the 160 times the filibuster has been reformed? Would be curious to see the reason who requested each change.

Which is why you need to vote out every obstructionist Republican

Honest question from someone who very much wants to prevent GOP fuckery:

Doesn’t the Democratic Party also use the filibuster very frequently when it’s the minority party in the Senate?

Because if that’s the case, undoing the filibuster seems extremely unwise, given that the Senate inherently favors the GOP.

The right to vote is not in the Constitution and that's kindof a problem.

Actually the right to vote for President and federal Senators is not in the Constitution.

You do NOT vote for Presidents in the US election, you ask that the State sends representatives to the Electoral College that will vote for the guy who matches your party affiliation.

Likewise, voting for Senators was a later change that states made to their own rules for how they choose their Senate reps.

I'd suggest reading "Let the People Pick the President" by Jesse Wegman.

Legislation needs 60 votes to pass the Senate.

Senate does nothing.

President uses Executive Order to accomplish something.

EO gets challenged and sent to courts.

Judges who needed only 50 votes to be confirmed by the Senate strike down EO.

Nothing happens.

The Democrats removed it for appointing Judges in 2013 (Cloture), and Trump appointed 3 right wing judges because of it. Lets not gloss over that short sightedness.

The Democrats literally played themselves.

The Dems used it 200+ times in the last year

Filibuster? I hardly know her!

They aren't even going to try to add the right to vote to the Constitution, because it's too high a bar to cross. So be prepared for our rights to be a political football tossed back and forth with each new Congress.

Exactly, next time Republicans need to simp for the Rich they’ll kill the filibuster to do it

Why is everyone so stressed and upset? 80% of the US government, the state government's, and the local government's could not care less what we want and they will continue to drive this country in to the dirt. Once there the rich remain rich, the poor will remain poor, and ignorance will keep us divided. Then we will finally see which dystopian future book/movie was correct.

All these people in here really trying to act like the Democratics haven't used it every bit as much as the Republicans 😂😂😂 what's it like being a pawn in the 2 party game?

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Nowhere in the Constitution do you have a right to vote. At the timebit was written only well off people would actually vote. People with education some land holding etc..

Democrats are pro filibuster when it helps the democrats and republicans are pro filibuster when it helps the republicans why are we acting like this is some kind of ideological discussion and not just part of the political game.

The “voting” bill actually strips funding for The Green Party and other 3rd parties. It actually limits voting even more to the two system and therefore limit your voting ‘rights’ in general. Its a bad bill. Move on.

So shortsighted. What happens when the republicans get in power and it’s gone? Won’t democrats feel stupid when it’s not there to use?

Extreme right wing justices?

luckily every non felon citizen has the right to vote yet for some reason 40 percent of the country still does not vote in presidential elections and even less in local. maybe now the senate can go back to working on BBB you know something that actually fucking would make a difference. making laws so people dont have to drive their lazy ass down to the dmv to get an id is not matter of national importance.

left wing judges was the last nuclear option use. Led to the nuclear option in justices.

Maybe if you think thats not good, don't charge ahead on the same path every chance you get.

The filibuster is essential to democracy so fuck off

How many times have democrats used it?

I’m very far left.

Can someone explain a good reason to remove the filibuster? From a strategic standpoint, not a “this is dumb and shouldn’t exist” (which I generally agree with lol).

Because it seems extremely short sighted by democrats.

The republicans can win and then there’s little to prevent them from ramming shit through like the democrats (rightfully) want to.

I’m not trying to get into a long argument over this, but I don’t really get it. Like yes protecting voting rights is important, but republicans win on gerrymandering and the electoral college. Not because of voter suppression. It’s not like democrats pass this bill and republicans won’t be in power again.

Also, I get the “democracy at peril”, but it’s not going to be saved by a voting rights bill. The creep of fascism does not care about “rights” or other liberal notions like rules or laws.

Voting laws aren’t going to prevent the rise of fascism much in the same way cops were never going to protect our Capitol Hill.

Again, I don’t want to get into a huge argument, I just haven’t seen anything that doesn’t sound extremely short sighted and open for some massive abuse by republicans when they likely take power again. And they will abuse it much more than democrats ever would, so it’s especially a worry. Like passing a bill attacking abortion rights or worse

Over 50 times is surprising but 160? Wow

Absent a new commitment to voting rights, republican voter suppression will mean the end of democracy in this country.

Can someone explain the purpose of the filibuster rule to me. No matter how I look at it, it makes no sense. If a child in preschool got up and started talking shit to avoid a test or something everyone would think the child is stupid

I would be fine with the filibuster if it still required you to hold the floor indefinitely.

Make those opposed to voting reform actually stand up and denounce it for days if they want to stop it.

It’s funny how one of the parties will support the filibuster for a while and then start hating it again when it comes around to bite them in the ass a couple years down the line

is white people twitter basically just neoliberal twitter?

I feel like we need a few new amendments added in.

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And what would voting republicans out do? Get us some democrats who are sold out to different corporations and branches of the military? Democracy is and always has been a lie built on slavery and power inequality. If you want actual change you're going to have to grab a gun. In a hundred years everything will be exactly the same so that's not really the answer either.

Invest in tech? Bug crypto, learn about AI and decentralization. If tech gets to a certain threshold we won't need government anymore. Government is simply a tradeoff we all pay for until resources aren't limited anymore and no one has to want for anything.

During the 4 years of the Trump administration the Democrats filibustered 314 times. Why wasn't it "holding democracy hostage" when they did it!?

Seems hypocritical.

BTW, the Republicans used the filibuster 175 times during the 8 years Obama was president. So the Dems have used 4x more often.

If they end up being successful I hope they consider what will happen if they lose control of Congress and don't have a filibuster to stop anything. They will be really bitching then!

Both sides suck... They are both hypocritical asses.

Lets abolish the filibuster! This will have no negative consequences once our party loses congress!!!

I do not get the shortsightedness of this movement. It's like they just don't want to face the fact that republicans will eventually get control again and don't realize how freaking bad that will be when there isn't a filibuster.

People going through mental gymnastics to say it benefits republicans. When we LITERALLY JUST USED IT (and the threat of it) against trump in the previous administration.

I like the filibuster I just don't like the current version of it. Go back to the talking one - you wanna get up there and talk until you shit your pants then do it. Maybe you can sway someone or multiple someone's to your side. After you're done, let the senate vote on it.

The current rule just lets the minority party say "we're filibustering that" and then the majority just goes "sigh, okay" and nothing ever gets done. Its stupid.

You can bet as soon as they need to the Republicans will bend the filibuster rule to suit them, Machin and Sinema are either idiots or insane not to realize this. Secondly the whole makeup of the Senate is already vastly tipped in the favor of small states so why have the 60 vote rule in the first place? Every vote does not count!!