Dems look at 'bypassing' health care vote

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by August

I don't understand all this hoopla about getting a 60 vote majority.

Exactly it is just something that both parties use to get people spun up.

Having 60 senators of one party won't prevent a filibuster. Nothing can prevent a filibuster. A vote of 60 is needed to invoke cloture which will end an existing filibuster after two days of further debate.

It takes any 60 senators, they don't have to be of the same party. So any political party who has 60 is not guaranteed to be able to invoke cloture.

Remember that a filibuster means that NO senate business (other than budgetary issues) can proceed.

Many senators, regardless of political party, will vote for cloture simply based on their dislike of the concept of filibuster.

What really sucks is that under the current rules of the Senate, it is only necessary to declare a filibuster. There is no longer a requirement for any senator to actively participate in the filibuster. Under the 1975 senate rules it only takes 41 Senators to declare a filibuster. This really needs to change. If there is less than 41 supporting it, the old rules of talking take place.

But in any case, a political party with 60 senators is not guaranteed success at invoking cloture and a political party with less than 60 is not not guaranteed to fail at cloture.

Much ado about nutton.