Saturday, September 28, 2013
The Senate Rules (Pun Unintended) - Cruz's Talk-a-thon
Senator Ted Cruz's fake filibuster lasted 21 hours and seemed to not only confuse many in the American public, but the Senator and Senate Majority Leader as well. The real confusion came at 11:30pm when Senator Harry Reid came to floor to address some of Senator Cruz's questions and unanimous consent requests. It appears that Senator Cruz thought his time ended at exactly 12:00pm and Senator Reid thought Cruz's time actually went to 1:00pm.
While it may seem like the Majority Leader has complete control of the agenda, and can manipulate it accordingly - that is not always the case. Here, both Senators attempted to adhere to the rules of the Senate but as you can see from the video, Senator Cruz had control of the floor, and if he had started his talk-a-thon as an actual filibuster, he could have prevented voting for the day for quite a bit longer. The Senate is unique in that the fewer number of members allows for each individual's voice to be heard and weighted more. Comparatively, in the House of Representatives, no member could speak for as long as they wanted and prevent the days agenda completely. It is harder to manipulate the order of voting in the Senate if any member of the opposition (in this case, a tea-party freshman) can take control of the floor and refuse to yield time.
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1 comment:
My comment is more semantic analysis than economic, but as an economist truth-seeking and clarity are paramount.
The Senate's definiton of a filibuster is as follows: ”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.”
The technical definition of a filibuster, then, is that there is no technical definition. So if Cruz's "talk-a-thon" had, in the end, convinced 41 of his colleagues to vote against the bill's advancement, he would have effectively blocked the bill being passed, thus "filibustering" the bill.
Comment sourced from this article from The Washington Post.
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