60 vote rule

@jonnythan Said



Heck of a point there. There would have been 26 Senators back then. I didn't even think of that.

@jonnythan Said

That rule didn't exist back then.

A simple majority was needed to pass a bill, and that's still the case today. Apparently filibustering wasn't in vogue back then.

@eL_TinO Said

Why on earth do we have a 60 vote rule in the Senate?

There's NOTHING about it in the constitution. We need to get rid of it.

@crazylikeafox Said

I don't think it's an actual rule. It just means if the President vetoes it the Senate has enough votes to overrule him. Or is there something specific you're referring to that I don't know about?

@crazylikeafox Said

I don't think it's an actual rule. It just means if the President vetoes it the Senate has enough votes to overrule him. Or is there something specific you're referring to that I don't know about?

@jonnythan Said

The veto override is in the Constitution - and that's 2/3, so it requires 67 votes.

The 60 vote rule concerns voting on bills. A small group of determined Senators could conceivably delay voting on a bill infinitely by simply talking on the floor forever. This is known as a filibuster. The Senate has a house rule in place saying that if 60 people vote to end floor debates, the bill can go straight to actual voting, thus breaking the filibuster.

The effect is ultimately that if no one party has 60 or more seats in the Senate, either one can effectively block almost any legislation if everyone sticks to party lines. If one party has 60 or more seats, it's essentially filibuster-proof and can ram through any legislation the entire party agrees on.

@crazylikeafox Said

I know what a filibuster is. I just didn't know that's what El Tino was talking about.

@jmo Said

It seems confusing but what's wrong with a majority system? So it can only get blocked if at least as many vote against it as for it?

I don't know how your system works, but how does anything get passed unless there is a majority system?

@eL_TinO Said

To pass a bill you need a simple majority.

However, the minority party can do a filibuster to try to block a bill. Basically that means some guy stands up there and talks about random s*** all day long while everyone else plays golf. That's the "debate" part. You need 60 votes to stop the debate and vote on the bill. The result is that 41 senators can block something that 59 senators want to pass.

@jmo Said

Oh right. I suppose that seems fair enough...how long does it get 'blocked' for, and even if it gets blocked does it still get pushed through, just with delay?

@eL_TinO Said

Hmm you know if you don't want to get rid of the 60 votes to break a filibuster, how about this: require at least 40 senators on the floor in order to sustain a filibuster.
It's way too damn easy to filibuster something these days.