Ending Historic Filibusters

      

Senator Mike Mansfield (L) and Senator Everett Dirksen

***

           Now that President Obama has wrapped up his Sunday blitz (five television interviews in one day) in pushing for an overhaul on health care, eyes now turn to the U.S. Senate to see if they indeed have enough votes to invoke cloture, a parliamentary procedure needed to end a filibuster, and bring a health care bill toward a decisive vote.
        Under the current Senate rules, three-fifths or 60 votes are required to smother a filibuster.
        With the death of Senator Kennedy, the Democrats have 59 votes; meaning, the party is shopping for some Republicans to join their effort. The two most often mentioned are Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, both with a track record of reaching across the aisle and voting with Democrats. A long shot being mentioned is George Voinovich on the assumption with his retirement drawing near; he doesn’t owe the Republicans any favors, and is therefore free to vote his conscience. The Ohio Senator, however, has previously voiced concerns about the excessive cost of health care reform.
        So as we wait for Senate Democrats to make sure they have enough horses in the barn, it might be worth mentioning the Senate history of cloture and how frequently it has been invoked.
        According to Senate Historical Office, the term ``cloture’’,  a Dutch word meaning ``pirate’’ dates back to the 1840’s and 1850’s, when the Senate members would take to the floor and hold the floor endlessly just so a piece of legislation would never be voted on. This device of filibustering became so endemic, by 1915 one bill relating to the war in Europe tied the Senate up for 33 days and blocked passage of three major appropriations bills.
        President Woodrow Wilson’s patience with such endless debating and unwillingness to vote on legislation had run its course, especially at a time with the country at war. Wilson demanded that the Senate adopt a cloture rule. And so they did. On March 8, 1917, the Senate during a special session of the 65th Congress agreed that a debate on a piece of legislation, as outlined in paragraph two of Rule XXII, can be ended provided two-thirds of the Senate voted in favor of cloture.
        Cloture was first passed in 1919 on the Treaty of Versailles; between 1917 and 1963, however, the procedure was only invoked five times.
        The number required to cut off debate was amended first in 1949 (requiring two-thirds of the entire Senate); again in 1959 (lowered to two-thirds present); and lowered once again in 1975 (with three-fifths or 60 votes). It wasn’t until the three-fifths rule was adopted, where you begin to see a noticeable increase of cloture votes.  Between 1975 and 2009, cloture has successfully been invoked 339 times. In 2009 alone, 45 motions have been filed, 22 times cloture was invoked
        With such a success rate, it’s worth noting that cutting off debate on a bill was once a burdensome task, requiring experienced arm-twisting and cajoling before a Senator would agree to voice a ``yea’’ on a cloture vote.
        In 1936 and 1937 there were a combined 21 reported lynchings in the United States, prompting Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York to introduce an anti-lynching bill.  The bill called for a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison for any sheriff or peace officer who failed to protect suspected criminals from angry mobs. Twice the Senate tried to vote on this bill by securing a cloture, and twice the necessary two-thirds vote to end debate failed. At the time, many blacks thought it was incumbent upon President Roosevelt to urge the passage of the cloture vote, and were bitterly disappointed when the vote failed on the second motion. To this day, Congress has never passed an anti-lynching bill.
        In addition to failing to pass an anti-lynching bill and being constantly blocked from passing any constructive Civil Rights legislation by filibusters from Southern Democrats, Senate Democrats won a historic victory on June 10, 1964, when the Senate, at long last, invoked cloture on a Civil Rights bill (with 71-29 vote), ending a 75-day filibuster. Prior to this, 11 times, Southern Democrats had been able to hold up legislation when cloture votes had failed.
        The bill, among other provisions, outlawed discrimination of public accommodations, publically owned facilities, employment and union membership and federally aided programs, while giving the attorney general the power to end segregated schools and enforce black citizens’ right to vote.
        The success of the 1964 Civil Rights bill was due in large part to Mike Mansfield of Montana, Senate Majority Leader, and Everett Dirksen of Illinois, the Senate Minority Leader, who were able to corral enough of their troops to invoke cloture, but not before some persuasive canvassing from minority whip Hubert H. Humphrey the night before.  Democrats: J. Howard Edmondson of Oklahoma, Ralph W. Yarborough of Texas, and two Republicans: Carl T. Curtis of Nebraska and John J. Williams of Delaware gave assurances to Humphrey that he could count on their votes. And on the morning of the vote, Howard W. Cannon, Democrat of Nevada, finally agreed to vote for cloture just to get on with the business of the Senate.
        Senator Barry Goldwater, Republican from Arizona, voted against the cloture; and voted against the Civil Rights bill itself when it passed the Senate on June 19th, labeling the legislation ``unconstitutional.’’, as did Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
        After the bill passed the Senate, Mr. Humphrey called it the ``greatest piece of social legislation of our time.’’
        In 1968, the Senate again successfully passed a cloture vote, only the 8th time cloture had been invoked since 1917, when on March 4, 1968, in a 65-32 vote on an Open Housing bill that, if passed, would prohibit discrimination in the sale or rental of federally owned housing.
        What’s noteworthy about this historic vote is that it looked like it was headed toward defeat before some minds changed at the last minute. Among the swing votes were: Howard W. Cannon, Democrat of Nevada (who voted against cloture on a previous vote); Jack Miller, Republican of Iowa; Frank Carlson, Republican of Kansas; E.L Bartlett, Democrat of Alaska; and Albert Gore, Democrat of Tennessee.
        After a long and tumultuous up hill battle, the Fair Housing Act was enacted on April 11, 1968
        ``The journey of a thousand miles’’, as the Chinese proverb goes, ``begins with a single step’’. So if the 111th Congress hopes to pass historic health care legislation, the first order of business is to pass a cloture vote.
        But if that doesn’t work, the budget process allows for legislation to be approved with 51 votes, a road paved with all kinds of hazard signs and partisan bickering, and a road the Democrats hope they won’t have to travel down.

- Bill Lucey
[email protected]
***

Historic Notes about Cloture Votes

• In 1946, the Senate voted down a closure motion on abolishing a poll tax. Voting against closure were 26 Democrats, 19 of whom from southern states, and seven Republicans. NOTE: The 24th amendment abolished the poll tax on January 23, 1964;  not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are poll taxes prohibited in state elections, while the U.S. Supreme Court independently declared poll taxes an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in Harper v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663  in 1966

• In 1962, cloture votes for bills to prohibit the practice of imposing literacy tests at polling places failed twice. NOTE: Congress abolished literacy tests in the South with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and nationwide in 1970.

• Two cloture votes on Civil Rights failed in 1966.

• Abolishing the Electoral College failed cloture votes twice before being withdrawn by unanimous consent on October 5, 1970.

• A cloture vote failed three times in 1972 on a bill to prevent cross-town busing.

• On April 9th, 1974, the Senate broke an 11-day filibuster (with a 64 to 30 vote) on a campaign reform bill that would use public funds to finance presidential and congressional elections, beginning in 1976, in an effort to curb large private donations. Key swing voters were: George D. Aiken, Republican of Vermont, Lawton Chiles of Democrat of Florida, J. Bennett Johnston, Democrat of Louisiana, and William V. Roth, Republican of Delaware.

• The line-item veto failed cloture votes on three occasions, from July 18th through July 24th, 1985

• Cloture votes on sanctions against Cuba failed twice before invoked on October 18, 1995

***
Procedures for Invoking Cloture

• 16 Senators are required to sign a cloture motion or petition

• A Senator is permitted to interrupt another Senator in order to introduce the petition. At this point, the clerk reads the following statement: ``We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate upon [the matter in question].’’

• The cloture motion then lies in abeyance until the second calendar day; so that if a motion is presented on Monday, no action is taken until Wednesday.

• The Senate votes on the motion one hour after it convenes on the next calendar day; and once a quorum has been established.
NOTE: The time of the cloture vote may be changed by unananimous consent and the required quorum call waived

• The presiding officer then will then present the cloture motion to the Senate for a rollcall vote at a time required by Rule XXII even if the Senate is considering other business.

• The majority required to invoke closure is 60 votes or three-fifths.
NOTE: Only when a cloture motion involves the changing of Senate rules is two-thirds or 67 votes required, assuming all 100 Senators vote.

Source: Congressional Research Service

Comments

[woid]

It's the word filibuster that has its roots in piracy. It's from a Dutch word that's usually transliterated into English as freebooter. Another word for pirate.
(http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976726032)

Cloture means exactly what you'd think: closure. It was borrowed from the French word clôture, which was an abbreviation of the OLD French word closture. They dropped the s, we shunned the t. Otherwise, le mot juste.

[thailand resorts]

Nice Post I already digged this