Filibuster came from a Dutch word meaning “pirate” or from Spanish “filibustero” (freebooting) for 16th-century private pirates. It was used in English to designate irregular military adventure, like the Americans who took part in Latin American insurrections in the 1850s. By the mid-1800s, filibustering as a parliamentary tactic came into use in legislative practice in the United States Senate by a minority of senators or even a single senator to delay or prevent parliamentary action by talking so long that the majority either grants concessions or withdraws the bill. Unlike the House of Representatives, in which rules limit speaking time, the Senate allows unlimited debate on a bill. Speeches can be completely irrelevant to the issue. A case to the point is the longest individual filibuster on record, by Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in 1957, who talked for more than 24 hours, as part of an unsuccessful attempt by Southern senators to obstruct civil rights legislation. Cloture is the means by which the Senate limits debate on a measure or matter. Invoking cloture on debate (i.e., limiting or ending a debate by calling for a vote) and holding round-the-clock sessions to tire the minority are measures used to defeat a filibuster.
Filibustering has no place in today’s governance, especially when information, statistics, logic and data is available to make the case for or against an issue and when there is need for swift action to finish discussion on the issue at hand, get a yes or no vote and move on to the next important issue. Making a spectacle of every issue and politicizing it is unnecessary. It is important to note that a waste of every minute of the legislative session is a waste of tax payer’s money that is funding the functioning of the government. Nevertheless, there may be legitimate concerns for why a particular bill is being opposed in the senate. To make sure all constituents are heard and the outcome is to the satisfaction of all senators, a referendum is needed (please read Making the first move to DSC) where “we the people” agree to set standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the senate as follows. First, no filibustering allowed. Second, when a bill is proposed, the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) is given the details of actions envisaged for the bill to be debated. It will examine (a) what the bill would do and (b) how it will enrich our nation economically or culturally, with supporting data, verifiable information and will publish its findings (for (a) and (b)) in simple language before the debate. Third, for debate, each party gets a total of 4 hours of debate time to discuss the pros and cons of the bill. Fourth, after the debate, there will be a secret ballot (yes or no) without party affiliation count to determine how senators feel about the usefulness of the bill. If the bill garners 60 or more votes, it will be sent to the president to become law. If it just gets a simple majority, over 50 but less than 60, the senate will set up a second secret ballot to determine if the issue needs to be voted by the people in a referendum. A simple majority vote in the second secret ballot would refer the bill for a referendum. A simple majority in the referendum would then be enough to pass the bill into law or act.
Next Article – Secret Ballot, House & Senate