Filibuster

“ A vote to filibuster campaign reform is a vote to keep special interest money and kill reform; a vote to filibuster is a vote for the status quo. A Senator who votes ``yes on a filibuster is voting ``yes to soft money and ``yes to keep the cost of campaigns exploding and ``no on reform. That vote will be hard to explain to the American people.
This year, despite all the odds, we've got the best chance in a generation for reform. Throughout our history, the American people have overcome the resistance of entrenched interests to expand our democracy and to keep it strong in changing times. ”

“ We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one’s happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt. Another on the filibuster, on the effort of the American people to get Washington to listen to us, from ‘‘The Fountainhead’’: Integrity is the ability to stand by an ideal. ”

“ The whole purpose of this filibuster was to do everything we could to draw this issue to the attention of the American people so the American people could be heard. If the American people speak with sufficient volume, I continue to have confidence that this body, that the Senators on both sides of the aisle, will have no choice but to listen. ”

“ Should the demon of filibuster raise his crest from opposition benches in any one of a score of legislative assemblies, you might readily count a full quorum of them, each busily tying knots with his tongue which no agility of his teeth could undo, each kindly instructing novices how to work a tennis racket or advising experts how to extract honey from Celtic ground-apples. ”

“ You want to talk about what the American people can do? We saw during that, had not that filibuster and the American people mobilized, President Obama would have never admitted in writing what he admitted that next day, which was the Constitution limits his authority. ”

“ And this Court would be required to analyze governmental structures to determine whether a gubernatorial veto provision or a filibuster rule is likely to 'disadvantage' any of the diverse and shifting groups that make up the American people. ”

“ So was there anything specific to the current dynamic in the Senate that made President Biden, sort of, decide that, you know, now is a moment to change the filibuster rules?
MS. PSAKI: Sure. Well, as I answered in response to the question just a few minutes ago, there are a number of ideas that members of the Senate have put forward. There — they range. Some are against changing the filibuster in the Democratic Party, some are for it. Some are for going back to a talking filibuster, back to the days of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” ”

“ Perhaps, also, in the unsophisticated pride with which he contemplated the promptitude and decision of his action, in saving an innocent people from a sanguinary ruffian, and in maintaining the honor of his country unsullied, dim visions crossed his mind of a letter of thanks from the President, and of the vote of a sword by Congress. Alas for such hopes! Commodore Paulding was clearly not a politician; he did not know that black meant white and white meant black,—nor that the present of a filibuster, which he sent to the President, was the present of something worse than an elephant. ”

“ Q So you’ve said many times that President Biden’s preference is not to change the rules around filibuster. But if the next big pieces of his agenda are stymied in the Senate, are there changes to the filibuster that he can live with, such as the talking filibuster? MS. PSAKI: Well, the President believes that there are a range of issues where there’s historic — there’s historic precedent of Democrats and Republicans working together, whether it’s infrastructure, as we’ve been talking about, or modernizing the immigration system. ”

“ Q Is there anything the White House can do to protect voting rights in Georgia? THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re working on that right now. We don’t know quite exactly what we can do at this point. The Justice Department is taking a look as well. Q Mr. President, how does the voting issue affect your thinking on the filibuster? THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, we’ll see. The question is whether or not — you know, you have to have 50 votes — 51 votes to have to win to be able to move the filibuster and any change in the filibuster. ”

“ In my first term, it was filibustered to death each and every year. Now the same people who filibustered reform before, whose obstruction gave us the present system, have vowed to do it again. Let's let the people be heard. ”

“ Q Sean, let me ask you the obvious follow-up question then. At least one Republican senator has said Democrats have removed the filibuster from just about every other appointment, aside from the Supreme Court. And he said several Republicans say they would have no hesitation about moving for another nuclear option if Democrats attempt a filibuster of any of the possible nominees. Is this something the President would support? And has he discussed it with members of the Senate? ”

“ Flibustier has passed into the French language, and filibustero into the Spanish language, as a general name for a pirate. The term “filibuster” was revived in America to designate those adventurers who, after the termination of the war between Mexico and the United States, organized expeditions within the United States to take part in West Indian and Central American revolutions. From this has sprung the modern use of the word to imply one who engages in private, unauthorized and irregular warfare against any state. ”

“ A hatless man,—dripping wet, mud-smeared, grimy as a coal heaver,—took the State House steps three at a stride. In less than two minutes it was known throughout the Assembly that Caleb Conover had come. A word here, a hint there, a pulling of mysterious wires:—and the wavering backbones of his more doubtful satellites in the Legislature were miraculously stiffened. The Starke Bill had not yet come to a vote; thanks to Bourke and his colleagues [90] who had wearied the Assembly to desperation and maddened Blacarda to frenzy by a continuous series of the most glaring filibuster tactics. ”

“ The families that are being allowed to stay, why they’re being allowed to stay.And in addition to that, when it comes to the filibuster, which is what Zeke was asking about, there’s — immigration is a big issue, of course, when it — related to the filibuster, but there’s also Republicans who are passing bill after bill, trying to restrict voting rights. Chuck Schumer is calling it an “existential threat” to democracy. Why not back a filibuster rule that at least gets around issues including voting rights or immigration? ”

“ It is based on a very real problem. Yet I am inspired that if and when the American people stand and make their voices heard, our politicians will have no choice but to listen. I remember early on—Madam President, you and I are relatively new in this body. We have been here 9 months. I remember early on standing at this very desk along with my friend Senator RAND PAUL in his historic 13-hour filibuster on drones. ”

“ Those whose aim was to attain the emancipation of their country as soon as possible. This latter group were the true separatists. It is however difficult to distinguish between the filibuster so called, and the true separatist; perhaps the only admissible distinction is that the separatist is a man of peaceful methods whilst the [88] filibuster is a man of struggles. Rizal was more or less a separatist, Andrés Bonifacio a veritable filibuster. ”

“ One of the greatest weapons in the hands of a minority to prevent bad legislation is filibustering on votes, and this instrument would prevent it.' I saw the truth of this, because as press operator I had taken miles of Congressional proceedings, and to this day an enormous amount of time is wasted during each session of the House in foolishly calling the members' names and recording and then adding their votes, when the whole operation could be done in almost a moment by merely pressing a particular button at each desk. ”

“ In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our Government upon the right of the majority to rule." ”

“ Buchanan to have sustained a long career of public life with such singular discretion, integrity, and ability, that now, when he is presented by the great national party of the country as their candidate for the highest dignity in the Republic, nothing is seriously urged by political hostility in extenuation of his merit, save the alleged countenance to filibuster enterprise and cupidity, inferred by his enemies from a strained interpretation of the recommendations and views of the Ostend Conference. ”

“ With Judge Gorsuch on Capitol Hill, I think it's a good time to talk about the confirmation process. Neither of the two Supreme Court justices that President Obama nominated were subject to the 60-vote threshold of a Senate filibuster. They received bipartisan support because Republicans, despite some political and philosophical differences, viewed them as mainstream and qualified. And Judge Gorsuch should receive the same fair treatment. ”

“ Representative Vandiver, of Missouri, attacks the Armor Plate Trust and asks the Attorney-General why it has not been prosecuted.
Senator Morgan, of Alabama, starts a filibuster against the Statehood bill.
February 25.—Senator Hale, of Maine, makes sarcastic references to the Administration policy of “browbeating smaller Powers.” ”

“ Important public bills ought invariably to be given first consideration by legislators, instead of, as is still many times the case, being put off until the end of the session in order to allow time for log-rolling. Filibustering and other time-wasting tactics should be curbed, because they tend to obstruct legislation. Many students of government advocate the extension of a plan already adopted in Massachusetts and a few other states, whereby all bills are given a public hearing. ”

“ So hopefully I’ll have an update soon.
Thanks, everyone.
Q And one question from a colleague who can’t be here because of social distancing — speaking of. MS. PSAKI: Yep. Q The President said in the interview when he was discussing — going back to, you know, the talking filibuster — that the filibuster is (inaudible) because, quote, we’re almost “getting to a point where...democracy is having a hard time functioning.”But my colleague points out that that dynamic has been true, specifically in the Senate, for a very long time — years, even. ”

“ While it is the first duty of a presiding officer to observe the will of the assembly it is important that he hold the members as nearly as possible to the business before them by confining debate to its proper channel, and by not allowing members to filibuster by making unnecessary motions for the purpose of wasting time, causing delay, or preventing action. ”

“ But being a bit of a lawyer, the president very soon rallied and replied to the filibuster, in as courtly a manner as he could assume, that he was bound to admit that his aunt Martha had, without doubt, left the island to him, and that he would be the last man to dispute the fact—here the rogue, vainly imagining that he was about to realise his greatest hopes, could not conceal his satisfaction, [Pg 156] and helped himself to a sandwich—"But hold!" ”

“ I am wondering how many Senators in this body and how many House members have checked with the governors to find out if they want this unconstitutional monstrosity passed by the Congress.
I do not believe 10 percent of the governors of the Nation would say, “We are weaklings, and we want you to pass a strong civil-rights bill because we do not have the courage to do it. We do not have the courage to protect our people.” ”

“ Read the role of big States in which the Negroes can be expected to poll 5 percent or more of the total vote—not only New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, but such States as Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, and California. It then becomes clear what is at stake in the civil-rights struggle—nothing less than the future balance of political power in the Nation.
But, Mr. President, are we going to compromise the Constitution, whether we lose an election or not? Which is more important—to win an election or to preserve the Constitution? ”

“ If a bill were introduced to repeal the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting, there would not be any question but that the Congress would not consider it because it would be unconstitutional. The qualifications of voting are reserved to the States. Why can we not look at it from that viewpoint and not try to say whether it is a good bill or a bad bill? On the right to vote bill, should there be any question whether we are going to accept this compromise? I do not think there should be any question at all, because the Constitution says a man charged with a crime is entitled to a jury trial. ”

“ He believes that members of Congress have the right to put forward legislation on issues they support. His — his view is that he wants to hear from this commission that has a range of viewpoints. Q Okay, and one more question. Senator Ed Markey, he just said this: “We must expand the Court, and we must abolish the filibuster to do it.” Is the White House comfortable with a Democratic senator explicitly linking those two ideas from the steps of the Supreme Court? ”

“ It is not at all unusual to have a divided Congress. It is not at all unusual for one or both Houses of Congress to be under the control of a party other than the President’s own political party. Yet it has never been the case and can never be the case if there is somehow an exception to the Constitution, if there is somehow an exception to article I’s provision that all legislative powers granted by the Constitution shall be vested in a Congress consisting of a Senate and of a House of Representatives. ”