HOUSTON — There are a lot of conversations happening in Washington, DC and beyond about the future of the filibuster.
According to the US Senate glossary, a filibuster is an “Informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions.”
That basically just means talking as long as you can to try to put off a vote, as Jimmy Stewart’s character did in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
To this day, Strom Thurmond holds the title of the longest filibuster in history. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes opposing the Civil Rights Act.
Here in Texas, back in 2013, it was the last day of the legislative session when State Senator Wendy Davis used a 13-hour filibuster to defeat an abortion bill.
These days, just the threat of filibuster usually means proposed legislation gets shelved until one side can drum up the necessary 60 votes to push it through.
That’s an issue for Democrats in the Senate since they’d have to get Republicans to join them in that vote. So they want to cut that threshold back to 50 -- half the senate instead of two-thirds -- making it easier to shut a filibuster down.
Not all Democrats are on board, the most significant opponent being President Biden. He’s come out against eliminating the filibuster, but he does want to see filibuster reform and a return to the “talking filibuster,” meaning senators have to stand up there like Jefferson Smith making their case until they give up or the opposing side gets those 60 votes.
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