On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 52 Senators attempted to filibuster an amendment to H.R. 5297 and succeeded.
52 Democrats tried to stall legislation they didn't like.
What does this mean?
It takes 51 votes to pass a bill in the Senate. But it takes 60 votes to end debate. These days it's quite common for the minority party to threaten to filibuster (to debate indefinitely) in order to prevent action on a measure.
A cloture vote is the Senate's way of asking "Can we move on, please?" It needs 60 votes to pass. There are 100 senators. As a result, as few as 41 senators can, as a bloc, bring the U.S. Senate to a standstill.
Why this bill?
Good question. Read more about this bill and decide for yourself if it was worth holding up the business of the U.S. Senate.
- Amendment: To repeal the expansion of information reporting requirements for payments of $600 or more to corporations, and for other purposes.
- Bill: Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010
Why Republicans?
In the 111th Congress, Republicans tend to vote against cloture because they're in the minority. Historically, the party that is outnumbered wields the filibuster — but they've done so more and more often in recent years.
Scoreboard
This was the 69th cloture vote of the 111th Congress.
So far there have been 90 cloture votes out of 696 roll call votes — a percentage of 12.93%.
The 110th Congress (2007–2008) set a crazy record: 112 cloture votes out of 657 roll call votes. That's a percentage of 17.0%! When it comes to legislative inaction, we've got some big shoes to fill.
Who voted against cloture?
Is one of your senators in this list? Get in touch and ask what's up.
AK
Mark Begich
CA
Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein
CO
Mark Udall
CT
Chris Dodd, Joseph Lieberman
DE
Tom Carper, Ted Kaufman
FL
Bill Nelson
HI
Daniel Akaka, Daniel Inouye
IL
Roland Burris, Dick Durbin
IA
Tom Harkin
LA
Mary Landrieu
MD
Ben Cardin, Barbara Mikulski
MA
John Kerry
MI
Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow
MN
Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar
MO
Claire McCaskill
MT
Max Baucus, Jon Tester
NV
Harry Reid
NH
Jeanne Shaheen
NJ
Frank Lautenberg, Robert Menendez
NM
Jeff Bingaman, Tom Udall
NY
Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer
NC
Kay Hagan
ND
Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan
OH
Sherrod Brown
OR
Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden
PA
Bob Casey, Arlen Specter
RI
Jack Reed, Sheldon Whitehouse
SD
Tim Johnson
VT
Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders
WA
Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray
WV
Carte Goodwin, Jay Rockefeller
WI
Russell Feingold, Herb Kohl
