Why the FUCK can the GOP just THREATEN to Filibuster but Sanders has to actually get up and talk????

[HopeHoops]

:grr:

[pnwmom]

1. I think it's because he's a member of the majority party.

The two parties have an agreement with each other about the filibuster rules. They probably aren't in effect in this situation.

[subterranean]

2. No he isn't. Sanders is an independent.

I don't know what the rules are for independent Senators.

[johnnyrocket]

24. Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, he follows majority party rules.

[Lindsay]

3. Bernie Sanders actually stands for something positive.

And isn't ashamed to say so.

[Mass]

4. He is trying to get the media and the public to pay attention. Take your phone and call your

senators. This is what he is asking people to do.

His goal is not to stop a bill. It is to have a GOOD bill and SIXTY votes for it.

[Graybeard]

5. Maybe he doesn't have 40 votes.

The Repukes always stand as a solid block.

[Skidmore]

7. He said a that Rs and some Dems will not get behind this.

Build a fire under the asses of Dems too.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

13. THAT is the answer

He lacks the forty votes to defeat a motion for Cloture.

[Egnever]

6. He wants to get up and talk

he doesnt have to.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Sanders doesn't have 39 other votes. nt

[stopbush]

9. Reid knows that they have the manpower available to filibuster so nothing happens.

Sanders is an army of one on this. He can't go to Reid and threaten a filibuster because Reid knows that such a filibuster would be limited to the amount of time Sanders can keep talking until he's exhausted. That would be a day or two at best.

[ThomWV]

11. And he really doesn't give a fuck what Bernie or any of the common folk have to say anyway.

[Occam Bandage]

18. That is not remotely correct.

The modern filibuster does not require talking. If there aren't forty votes for cloture, nothing can happen on a bill. The bill literally cannot come to a vote unless 60 Senators agree to put it to a vote. The Senate can do something else, they can sit in silence, they can go home, and they can do whatever else they like, but they cannot vote on a bill until there are 60 votes for cloture.

[BzaDem]

10. His talking cannot actually stop the bill. The only way the bill is stopped is if he has 41 votes to

defeat a cloture motion. And he doesn't.

[OregonBlue]

12. Correct. He has to actually filibuster bacause he doesn't have the votes to stop it.

[OHdem10]

14. Bernie has chosen to Fillibuster the proper way. The Senate

permits the GOP to do what they want.

[Recursion]

16. Is this even a filibuster?

Was a vote scheduled for today that he's delaying by keeping the floor?

[karynnj]

25. No votes were scheduled - per the Daily Kos Congress diary, the next vote

is suppose to be on Monday for the tax compromise.

[Recursion]

15. Because Bernie doesn't have 40 votes and the Republicans do

The Senate rules aren't actually that complex, and I don't see why DU has such a problem digesting this one.

[Occam Bandage]

17. Because Bernie Sanders does not have 40 votes to block a cloture vote, whereas the Republicans do.

Basic civics here, people.

[jwirr]

19. I give him credit for doing this the old way. I remember watching

this in the 50s. They would pass it back and forth for days at a time. It was very effective and people listened just to hear what they had to say and from this many learned things they would never have heard from any other source.

[wiggs]

20. Wondering the same thing. I don't buy the argument that it's because

he doesn't have the votes. Policy and rules of filibuster should apply consistently.

Republicans, even one republican, has filibustered by just announcing it to Reid, and he lets it stand.

Personally, I hope lots of people are listening to Sanders and absorbing what he has to say. Opportunity for reason. The same way it has been a MISSED opportunity to force the gop to defend some of the heinous filibusters of the past 4 years.

Wow, is our system screwed up or what.

[Recursion]

22. Well, whether you "buy it" or not, he doesn't have the votes

41 Senators can agree to not end debate, and that means the bill can't be considered.

Actually, the clearest sign that he doesn't have the votes is that he's holding the floor.

Republicans, even one republican, has filibustered by just announcing it to Reid, and he lets it stand.

You may be confusing a filibuster with a "hold"; those are not required in the rules, and eventually people get so sick of them that they just ignore them (that's what happened last time, too).

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. The Republcans actually had the votes to block bills

Sanders doesn't.

[karynnj]

23. Sanders could lead an effort to filibuster the issue demanding a cloture vote

He would need 40 Senators to join him.