So I understand what a filibuster is and how it works in practice. A filibuster is when a politician intentionally speaks as long as possible during debate to prevent a vote on legislation. And I know in practice, it means that any legislation needs 60 votes for cloture to end debate and bring legislation to a vote.
But my question is, how? Is the belief that every member of the minority party will take turns filibustering and delay the legislation for days if not weeks and derail the rest of the agenda? I’m trying to bridge the concept of a politician sitting in the pulpit for 12 hours reading off a phone book and how it works in practice where they vote for cloture and then give up if it doesn’t reach 60 votes. Can they just say they want to keep debate open and sit there unless the senate majority leader either calls for cloture or moves on to another bill?
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Yes that is pretty much it a fillibuster is just wasting time to not allow a vote until enough of the other side just gets sick of it and leaves that you can have the vote in your favour. It used to just be a test of endurance for how much you actually cared about that bill. With the modern usage they really should just change the threshold you need to pass something to 60% and stop wasting everyone’s time.
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