Posted on 08/19/2016 6:48:11 PM PDT by MrChips
OK, so I understand that the Republicans in the Senate passed a vote on the Zike virus legislation 52 to 48, but that "because it was a procedural vote, it required 60 to pass. Thus, the Democrats blocked it (for various reasons I don't need to get into). Just what does it mean for it to be a "procedural vote"? I don't understand.
I think they use it whenever the opposing party doesn’t get enough Bribe Money to go along.
of or relating to procedure; especially : of or relating to the procedure used by courts or other bodies administering substantive law
really, you should know about the cloture rule of the Senate.
“They have created these things called search engines:”
Wow! That’s amazing!
I thought was a rule on FR that required a certain number of satirical or wrong answers before you post something like that.
A procedural vote is any vote that is not on passage of the measure.
Yes, but you have to know what to enter. Thanks for this page.
SO, all such votes require 60? Wierd.
Back in the day, when they had filibusters, they actually had filibusters.
Now they just wave their hands and deem that they had a filibuster.
Does it mean they vote on how to go about the vote?
The rules of the Senate are set by those in control. Unless the rules exclude it, any bill has to be voted on several times. The procedural vote is that requires an end to debate, or cloture, requires 60 votes.
The purpose of cloture is to give the minority party an opportunity to prevent being trampled by a majority. This is usually true no matter which parties are in control.
Without closing debate the bill is laid on the table and it expires when the congress is adjourned.
It is really a form of that old popular John F. Kerry adage: I was against it before I was for it.
In1917, senators adopted a rule (Rule 22), at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, that allowed the Senate to end a debate with a two-thirds majority vote, a device known as “cloture.” The new Senate rule was first put to the test in 1919, when the Senate invoked cloture to end a filibuster against the Treaty of Versailles. Even with the new cloture rule, filibusters remained an effective means to block legislation, since a two-thirds vote is difficult to obtain. Over the next five decades, the Senate occasionally tried to invoke cloture, but usually failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote. Filibusters were particularly useful to Southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching legislation, until cloture was invoked after a 60 day filibuster against the Civil Right Act of 1964. In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds to three-fifths, or 60 of the current one hundred senators.
They were voting on whether to vote on the bill.
OK, thanks. I have always understood the filibuster and the needed 60 votes. I just did not realize that this applies to all proposed legislation. So, in effect, when a party has fewer than 60 seats, it does not really control the Senate. Democrats who say “Well, the Republicans control both houses and therefore it is their fault” when something is not passed, are speaking nonsense. It takes 60 votes to “control” things.
The 60 vote requirement is the threshold needed to invoke cloture and break a filibuster, which is commonly applied to prevent the Senate from taking up an issue. The adoption of Senate rules at the beginning of every Congress though requires only a majority vote, and it is those rules that specify that it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster. A new Senate could do away with the filibuster or reduce the number of votes or change its availability.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.