by http://www.democraticunderground.org
by Walter and Rosemary Brasch
The filibuster is at the core
of the U.S. senate.
It's also why nothing of much
significance has been done the past decade.
Under Senate rules, senators
can filibuster any legislation. They can just stand up and start talking. They
can talk about anything they wish. They can read from telephone books, or even
take bathroom breaks. They can also yield the floor to like-minded senators.
Even a threat of a
filibuster--it doesn't have to be carried out--is enough to stop legislation.
Senate rules require that 60
percent of the senate must vote to stop a filibuster. Knowing this, the
Republicans, a minority party in the Senate, have consistently blocked
legislation just by threatening to filibuster anything they didn't agree
with--not even allowing it to come to the floor for discussion.
Almost 70 percent of all
filibuster threats occurred since 2000.
Now, let's travel to Texas.
That state has the most restrictive rules on filibusters in the nation. A
senator who filibusters legislation must be the only one. She or he must stay
on topic and not take any bathroom breaks.
State Sen. Wendy Davis, a
Democrat and a 50-year-old Harvard graduate lawyer, put on a pair of
comfortable pink sneakers this week, and talked for more than 11 hours to block
an oppressive Republican-sponsored bill to kill almost all of the state's medical
abortion clinics and impose their governmental will upon all women.
She succeeded--somewhat. The
Republicans said she deviated from the topic twice--once when she talked about
Planned Parenthood budgeting, once when she discussed sonograms. Once she took
a brief break while a fellow senator adjusted her back brace. Three strikes,
and the Republicans called her out.
But, there was so much
confusion and shouting in the chambers that it wasn't until after midnight,
when the special session ended, that the Senate voted on the bill and passed
it. Even then it wasn't a problem. The Republican majority just made believe
the vote occurred before midnight, and had the vote computer-coded as if it
occurred before midnight. With several hundred thousand outraged Texas citizens
shouting their disapproval, three hours later the lieutenant governor,
presiding over the Senate, turned tail, admitted the vote occurred after the
deadline, and aborted it.
Enter Rick Perry, the super
conservative showboating Texas governor who couldn't even make it into the
semi-finals of the Presidential race. He announced he would call yet another
special session. The first one, created to sneak through the legislation, had failed.
He was gambling that Sen. Davis would not have the endurance to filibuster the
bill a second time.
And then Gov. Perry threw in
some personal attacks at Sen. Davis, the courageous woman who tried to block
the government's intrusion into women's lives. First, he attacked Sen. Davis
for having been a teenage mother. And then he attacked her for her filibuster,
which he said was "nothing more than hijacking the democratic process." He later
claimed that those who believed in a woman's right to choose "will resort to
mob tactics to force their minority agenda on the people of Texas."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
