what exactly is the filibuster?
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The Senate deals with thousands of potential bills every year. There is a process the bills have to go through before they can even be officially voted on. A small percentage of bills will reach an official vote. Within this process is a debate period, which can go on until 60 of the 100 senators vote to end the debate period and have an official vote. Now imagine if there is a bill that 55 senators support, but 45 don’t. Even though a majority of senators agree to the bill, it will never get past the debate period because of the 60 senators necessary to have an official vote. This is an example of a filibuster.
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