Filibuster how long can it last

Voices on both sides have called for reform in the face of partisan gridlock, and while change may be possible now that Democrats control Congress and the White House, complicated dynamics in the Senate would make it an uphill battle.

The Senate cloture rule—which requires 60 votes to cut off debate on most measures—is probably the highest hurdle. While Democrats have some procedural options for circumventing the filibuster—discussed in greater detail below—the debate over whether to retain the procedure is likely to remain center stage as legislators work to address the range of challenges facing the country.

Rather, its emergence was made possible in when the Senate— at the advice of Vice President Aaron Burr —removed from its rules a provision formally known as the previous question motion allowing a simple majority to force a vote on the underlying question being debated. This decision was not a strategic or political one—it was a simple housekeeping matter, as the Senate was using the motion infrequently and had other motions available to it that did the same thing.

Filibusters then became a regular feature of Senate activity, both in the run-up to and aftermath of the Civil War. Senate leaders from both parties sought, but failed, to ban the filibuster throughout the 19th century. Opponents would simply filibuster the motion to ban the filibuster. In , as part of a debate over a proposal to arm American merchant ships as the U.

More recently, in , the number of votes needed to invoke cloture on legislative matters was reduced to three-fifths or 60, if the Senate is at full strength. In and , the Senate further limited debate once the Senate had imposed cloture on the pending business. Consequently, for many matters in the Senate, debate can only be cut off if at least 60 senators support doing so.

This is not universally true, however, and we will see several consequential counterexamples below. While Senate rules still require just a simple majority to actually pass a bill, several procedural steps along the way require a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate on bills.

Senators are not required to formally register their objection to ending debate until a cloture motion actually comes up for a vote. If Senate leaders know that at least 41 senators plan to oppose a cloture motion on a given measure or motion, they often choose not to schedule it for floor consideration. But the number of cloture motions filed is a useful proxy for measuring filibusters, and as we see below, the number of such motions has increased significantly during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Senators have two options when they seek to vote on a measure or motion. If no objection is heard, the Senate proceeds to a vote. One involves nominations to executive branch positions and federal judgeships on which, thanks to two procedural changes adopted in and , only a simple majority is required to end debate.

A second includes certain types of legislation for which Congress has previously written into law special procedures that limit the amount time for debate. Because there is a specified amount of time for debate in these cases, there is no need to use cloture to cut off debate.

Perhaps the best known and most consequential example of these are special budget rules, known as the budget reconciliation process, that allow a simple majority to adopt certain bills addressing entitlement spending and revenue provisions, thereby prohibiting a filibuster.

The most straightforward way to eliminate the filibuster would be to formally change the text of Senate Rule 22 , the cloture rule that requires 60 votes to end debate on legislation. Absent a large, bipartisan Senate majority that favors curtailing the right to debate, a formal change in Rule 22 is extremely unlikely. Step 1: Say Democrats have a draft bill ready for a vote on the Senate floor, but they expect some level of opposition. Step 2: A motion to proceed requires a vote and can be filibustered.

If a filibuster has already begun or is expected, the senators in favor of the bill can present a cloture motion that same day. Step 3: Cloture would end debate, stopping the filibuster, but it also requires a vote. On Wednesday, the Senate votes to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. If the cloture vote is a success, a hour period of consideration begins before senators can first vote on the motion to proceed.

This includes time used for debate, roll call votes, quorum calls and other such actions. Assuming the Senate keeps to eight hours in session per day, Monday through Friday, that period lasts nearly four workdays. If that vote to proceed succeeds, the bill can head to the floor for consideration.

Senators who oppose the bill might not be done yet. Now they have a second opportunity to initiate another filibuster, this time on the bill itself. Stopping this requires those in favor of the bill to file another cloture motion step 5. Step 6: Like with cloture on the motion to proceed, the vote to invoke cloture on the bill itself takes place two days after the motion is filed, on Wednesday. That means the Senate has spent 15 calendar days on these filibuster-preventing actions before they can vote on the bill itself.

Cloture ends filibusters because it ends everything else, too. Now, instead of debating legislation one bill at a time, lawmakers cram as much into every bill as they can. There are fewer bills passed. In , the Senate reduced the requirement for limiting debate to three-fifths of the Senate - currently 60 senators.

In that decade, the Senate leadership began agreeing to allow measures that were facing a filibuster to be put aside while the chamber acted on other bills. The move was intended to prevent opposition to a single bill bringing all work in the Senate to halt, but it also meant that the filibuster changed from an energy-draining maneuver involving lengthy speeches to a mere objection, or threat to object. Over time the number of filibusters skyrocketed. There is no sure-fire way of counting how many bills are filibustered in a year because of the nebulous nature of the threats.

But a count of votes to try to overcome a filibuster, the nearest reliable proxy, shows such votes in the legislative session. In there were six. There have already been changes, in addition to changing the number of votes required for cloture.

In , Democrats removed the vote threshold for voting on most nominees for administration jobs, apart from the Supreme Court, allowing them to advance on a simple majority vote. In , Republicans did the same thing for Supreme Court nominees.