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What Is The Filibuster All About?
By Garry Gamber, Fri Dec 9th
The filibuster has been a tool available to U.S. Senators duringSenate floor discussions on legislation and appointments sincethe U.S. Constitution was ratified. Both the Democratic andRepublican parties have valued the filibuster as a means tobring compromise and bipartisanship to bitter and divisivedebates. The word, filibuster, as it applies to the American politicalprocess refers to a political delaying tactic such as a longspeech used by politicians to delay or prevent the passage oflegislation. The older meaning of filibuster refers to theillegal act of plundering or piracy; of capturing a ship and itscargo and holding it for ransom. The etymology of the word, filibuster, seems to date back toabout 1560-1570 when the English anglicized the Dutch word,vrijbutier, into freebooter. A freebooter is understood to be aperson who goes in search of plunder; a pirate, a buccaneer.Shortly thereafter, the French adopted filibustier and theSpanish adopted filibustero to mean the same thing. In the 17thcentury the English transformed the Spanish word into filibusterto describe the actions of the pirates who attacked the Spanishexplorers of the
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New World. In the 1800’s the Americanspopularized the word filibuster, referring to the activities offamous pirates operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Article continued below)
Filibuster as Piracy From 1830 to 1860 the countries of Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, CostaRica, and Nicaragua were all victims of various filibustercampaigns. The filibusters were led by groups of adventurerswho, without the consent of the American Government, but withthe aid of private American finance, tried to seize politicalpower in these Latin American and Caribbean countries. Part ofthe aim of the filibuster campaigns was to empower thepopulation of these countries and bring forth a revolution thatwould be beneficial to American interests, mainly the slavetrade. Financial support for the filibusters came largely from thesouthern states where parades of celebration were held in theirhonor and songs were written about their adventures. Officially,the U.S. did not support the filibuster campaigns because themilitary was spread too thin to be able to provide adequateenforcement of the laws against the involvement. Many citizenssaw the campaigns as an aspect of “manifest destiny,” the ideathat America had a right to unlimited expansion. A couple of famous filibusterers include Narciso Lopez andWilliam Walker. Lopez liberated Venezuela from Spanish rule andattempted three times to liberate Cuba. Walker, from Tennessee,annexed parts of Mexico, including Lower California, anddeclared himself to be president. The U.S. government did notsupport Walker and eventually brought him to trial. The era of the Filibuster Movement ended when the U.S. Civil Warstarted. Attention and resources were given to the defense ofthe North and the South, ending the efforts of the filibustercampaigns. Filibuster as a Political Tool During the period from 1840 to 1860, numerous Southernpoliticians made long speeches during Senate floor debates onlegislation bills for the purpose of delaying the bill orpreventing a vote on the bill. The word filibuster was borrowedto describe these speeches, which were thought of as piracy oftime and opportunity. Henry Clay, in 1841, gave what isconsidered to be the first filibuster speech. As the debate over the slavery issue became more important inCongress, southern politicians used the tactic of long dilatoryspeeches to block all civil rights legislation. The wordfilibuster became popularized during this pre-Civil War period. Legislative Rules The U.S. Constitution did not give direction to the House ofRepresentatives or to the Senate regarding how to conducteveryday business and how to conduct debates on the floor. Eachbody was expected to create and adopt their own rules. On day 2 of the first Senate meeting a special committee wascreated to "prepare a system of rules for conducting business."A few days later, on April 7, 1789, the special committee filedtheir first rules report and on April 16, 1789, the Senateadopted their first set of rules. The first set contained 19rules and on April 18 number 20 was adopted. At this point thespecial committee was disbanded. The rules committee was recreated on several occasions duringsucceeding years for the purpose of creating new rules orrevising existing rules. Since 1789 there have been 7 adoptionsof new or revised rules; in 1806, 1820, 1828, 1877, 1884, and1979. Some rules have been amended and passed by the Senatewithout going to a committee. The change to Rule XXII in 1917 toprovide for a cloture procedure is a good example. Therecurrently are a total of 43 Standing Rules of the Senate. The House Rules and Manual of the U.S. House of Representativesdoes not allow for filibuster speeches. Each Representative isallowed to hold the floor to debate a question for one hour andmay only speak once on each question. The House is a large bodyand the members thought it wise to limit the amount of time thata Representative may speak. The Senate is an entirely different situation, however. Senate Rule XIX Rule XIX is the key rule that provides a structure for debate onthe Senate floor. A key provision of the rule states that when aSenator rises to seek recognition during floor debate, he or sheis guaranteed a chance to speak on the question for as long ashe or she wishes. The presiding officer is not given discretionin this matter and must recognize each Senator in order. Duringthe period of time that a recognized Senator is speaking thequestion before the Senate cannot come to a vote. The Senatorcannot be interrupted or be forced to stop their speech withouttheir consent. Debate Rule XIX does not limit the number of Senators who mayspeak on an issue. The rule does, however, limit each Senator totwo speeches per legislative day on each issue. During afilibuster period the presiding officer will typically call arecess rather than an adjournment at the end of the calendarday, keeping the legislative day alive when the Senatereconvenes. This tactic effectively limits each Senator to amaximum of two speeches on each issue. It is possible, however,for a Senator to offer an amendment in order to create a newdebatable question, on which the Senators may make two morespeeches. A relatively recent provision in Rule XIX, called the “PastoreRule” in honor of Senator John Pastore of Rhode Island, requiresthat debate on a question must be germane to the question.During filibuster periods this rule is enforced to preventSenators from making meaningless, off-topic speeches. During the1930’s through the 1950’s several Senators, such as Huey Longand Strom Thurmond made long filibusters which included readingsof recipes, the Congressional Record, the Declaration ofIndependence, and other non-germane topics. While a Senator is speaking on an issue he or she must remainstanding and must speak more or less continuously. During afilibuster-length speech this requirement creates fatigue in thespeaker. However, the speaker may yield to a question fromanother Senator without losing the floor. The other Senator canprovide relief by asking a very long question followed by ashort answer, followed by more long questions. In this manner agroup of Senators can work together to extend the length of aSenator’s speaking period. Senate Rule XXII The procedures for invoking cloture for purposes of wrapping upthe floor debate and bringing the question to a vote arecontained in Rule XXII. The process requires a motion that issigned by at least 16 Senators and presented to the presidingofficer while the question is being debated. The rule requiresthat the cloture motion must be seasoned, meaning that it cannotbe acted upon until the second day after it is presented. One hour after the cloture motion has matured on the third daythe presiding officer interrupts the Senate proceedings andpresents the cloture motion to the Senate for a vote. At thispoint an automatic roll call vote is required. In 1975 the Senate voted to change the number of votes needed toinvoke cloture to 60% from the previous 67%. A compromise wasstruck, however, because some Senators feared that if changingthe Rule was too easy that the majority needed to invoke cloturemight be reduced further in the future. Therefore, the Senateagreed that to make future rule changes, including changing thecloture rule itself, would require the traditional 67% majorityvote. If the motion to invoke cloture is defeated the Senators canreconsider the vote or file a new motion to invoke cloture. Forexample, in 1988 there were eight cloture motions on a campaignfinance reform bill and all eight motions were defeated. If a motion to invoke cloture is successful, then the effect ofinvoking cloture only guarantees that a vote on the questionwill take place eventually, but not immediately. After thesuccessful cloture motion has passed the Senate is said to beworking under cloture. Rule XXII imposes a maximum cap of 30additional hours for debate, quorum calls, parliamentaryinquiries, and other proceedings prior to an actual vote on thequestion. During this cloture period each Senator is entitled tospeak for a total of not more than one hour. Once cloture has been invoked under Rule XXII, the point of afilibuster is largely lost. Without exception, proceedings arewrapped up in less than 30 hours and the question is brought toa vote. Conclusion The filibuster speech in the Senate has enjoyed a long traditionand has been used for several purposes. On one hand thefilibuster has been used to persuade others of the validity ofthe minority position on a question. Open and unlimited debatecan change minds and sway opinion. The filibuster speech processmay help to defeat an issue once a vote is taken. On the other hand, the filibuster has been used to stall orprevent a vote on an issue. The filibuster speech or the threatof a filibuster may cause the issue to be tabled or withdrawnand not brought to a vote on the floor. The minority party in the Senate counts on the use of thefilibuster as a means to prevent the majority party fromwielding too much influence. Such a tool encourages the twomajor parties in the Senate to work in nonpartisan ways toresolve differences. The filibuster creates a need forcompromise. It has been suggested that without the filibustertool the Senate would be much less productive in producinglegislation.
About the author:Garry Gamber is a public school teacher. He writes articlesabout politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internetdating services. He is a founding member ofhttp://www.GoodPoliticsRadio.com and the owner ofhttp://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com | 