Courtesy of the New York Times and the AP

In the course of our goofing around, wasting time, eating cake diligent research, we here at USDemocrazy constantly run into the word FILIBUSTER.

At first we thought it was a candy bar, we have since discovered that the filibuster is bitter-sweet. It can be both good and ,well a little annoying.

Basically the filibuster is a tactic used in the Senate to delay or prevent a vote on a particular bill.

Time for a bit of a history lesson…

The filibuster is made possible by Senate Rule XIX which allows any senator to “rise and address the Presiding Officer.”

Senators could speak for as long as they wanted as long as they stood (and stood and stood…). By standing and talking, a Senator can stop all Senate business including votes of pending bills.  This “Filibustering” kills a bill by never allowing allow a vote to take place.

But there is an escape hatch!

If 3/5 of the Senators (that’s 60) vote to silence the filibusteree- a process called cloture- then business can proceed as usual.

The word filibuster is derived from the Dutch word for pirate- vrijbuiter. Image Courtesty of Wikicommons

You can imagine in the good ol’ days of politickin,’ Senators would physically orate to their fellow statesmen for hours on end. Here’s some really great examples in the art of wasting time, courtesy the Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast Filibuster Gallery

Today, thankfully, a Senator need not stand up and talk Ad Nausium (that’s Latin for… till you get sick). Instead, He or she merely needs to state or invoke a filibuster to stop all votes on the Senate floor.

For more on the filibuster, check out these recourses at the NYTimes Topic, Article, and Slate Magazine.

So why do we care about filibusters right now? Currently the new Health Care Bill is on the floor of the senate and some people really don’t like it. The Wall Street Journal tells us that Senator Lieberman of Connecticut has already showed serious reserve over the bill:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: “I’m going to be stubborn on this.”

Do we smell filibuster? Maybe. But right now it looks like those who endorse the bill may have the 3/5 they need to induce cloture. NPR tells us:

The latest Peril of Pauline melodrama featured Majority Leader Harry Reid’s struggling to amass the 60 votes needed to cut off a filibuster on the motion to consider the bill. Some said he “barely” made it; and it is true that 60 is the minimum. But it is also true that 60 was the maximum number Reid could have collected, given the Republicans’ uniform support for the filibuster.

So it would seem the filibuster is making its way back into the headlines. So what do YOU think of the filibuster. Is it bitter or sweet?