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Skriven 2005-08-07 21:40:00 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
Ärende: JOHN MASSEY
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http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Filibuster_Cloture.htm


 Filibuster and Cloture
Cartoon of Senate Filibuster, ca. 1870s
19th Century Filibuster

Using the filibuster to delay or block legislative action has a long
history. The term filibuster -- from a Dutch word meaning "pirate" -- became
popular in the 1850s, when it was applied to efforts to hold the Senate
floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill.

In the early years of Congress, representatives as well as senators could
filibuster. As the House of Representatives grew in numbers, however,
revisions to the House rules limited debate. In the smaller Senate,
unlimited debate continued on the grounds that any senator should have the
right to speak as long as necessary on any issue.

In 1841, when the Democratic minority hoped to block a bank bill promoted by
Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, he threatened to change Senate rules to allow
the majority to close debate. Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton rebuked
Clay for trying to stifle the Senate's right to unlimited debate.

Three quarters of a century later, in 1917, senators adopted a rule (Rule
22), at the urging President Woodrow Wilson, that allowed the Senate to end
a debate with a two-thirds majority vote, a device known as "cloture." The
new Senate rule was first put to the test in 1919, when the Senate invoked
cloture to end a filibuster against the Treaty of Versailles. Even with the
new cloture rule, filibusters remained an effective means to block
legislation, since a two-thirds vote is difficult to obtain. Over the next
five decades, the Senate occasionally tried to invoke cloture, but usually
failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote. Filibusters were particularly
useful to Southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation,
including anti-lynching legislation, until cloture was invoked after a
fifty-seven day filibuster against the Civil Right Act of 1964. In 1975, the
Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds to
three-fifths, or sixty of the current one hundred senators.

Many Americans are familiar with the filibuster conducted by Jimmy Stewart,
playing Senator Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra's film Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington, but there have been some famous filibusters in the real-life
Senate as well. During the 1930s, Senator Huey P. Long effectively used the
filibuster against bills that he thought favored the rich over the poor. The
Louisiana senator frustrated his colleagues while entertaining spectators
with his recitations of Shakespeare and his reading of recipes for
"pot-likkers." Long once held the Senate floor for fifteen hours. The record
for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond
who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of
1957.

... George W. Bush, the biggest disgrace to ever hold public office, EVER!!
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