Political Quotes

“there are three things that are not subject to a filibuster: an impeachment trial, which we have accomplished so far this year; the nominations, which the Senator from South Dakota alluded to; and the reconciliation bill. It is true, Republicans did not apply the filibuster to that. But it wasn't their good will that motivated it; the Senate rules demanded it. The question is, Can we reach a point where we do things on a bipartisan basis, or will it be stopped by a filibuster? So let me pause at this moment and say to those following the debate what a filibuster is all about. It is a time-honored tradition in the Senate, going back to Aaron Burr serving as Vice President, that people can speak in an unlimited fashion on the floor--there is nothing to stop them--until there came a cloture vote, which didn't appear until the early 20th century. Before that, the Senator could hold the floor indefinitely and slow things down to a crawl, to a stop if necessary. The filibuster allowed them to continue that, but then came the cloture motion, which stopped the filibustering. It initially took a two-thirds vote, 67, and eventually 60 votes. But that is what it boils down to. If you want to get anything done on the floor and you don't want one Senator to stand up and say ``I refuse to accept the vote,'' then you have to have 60 votes. So in a majority Senate, 51 would clearly be sufficient. Under a filibuster, 60 is required. There are 50 Democrats, 50 Republicans.…”