Posted on 09/24/2013 2:48:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Despite what you see on C-SPAN2, or what you read on Twitter, Ted Cruz is not filibustering Obamacare. The Republican senator from Texas is speaking on the Senate floor for what is expected to be very long time—asked by reporters when he'd stop, he replied, "We shall see"—but it's not a filibuster in the sense of actually stopping the upper chamber's proceedings. Instead, Cruz's stand is purely symbolic.
In a real talking filibuster, as famously portrayed in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a senator occupies the Senate floor indefinitely so as to block the chamber from taking up any other business. In Cruz's case, Senate rules limit his time, and he'll have to cede the floor by Wednesday morning at the latest. That's a long time, but the Senate will have to wait whether Cruz speaks or not. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday morning, "I want to make sure everyone understands: There is no filibuster today."
Democrats already have the 60 votes needed to initiate cloture and break an actual Republican filibuster, so the rest of the timing is essentially on "autopilot," as Reid said, because he initiated the complicated series of procedural moves cut off debate Monday.
Note for nerds: Sen Cruz may use lots of floor time under Rule 22 re Obamacare. It WON'T be a talking filibuster unless 41 sens deny cloture — Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) September 24, 2013
... and the chances of that are increasingly remote. What Cruz will do is time-limited and by definition not a talking filibuster. — Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) September 24, 2013
Cruz is not the first senator to give a non-filibuster "filibuster." Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spent hours on the Senate floor giving a speech in 2010 that was later made into a book, but it was not actually a filibuster.
The Washington Post's Paul Kane has a day-by-day breakdown of how that timing will play out between now and next Tuesday, when the government runs out of money. Nowhere along the way—unless all 41 Republicans unite behind Cruz's effort, which seems unlikely—is there an opportunity for a real filibuster. But that won't stop Cruz from talking.
The “talk” is a great basis for a book.
Part of this is because of rules changes the republicans accepted at the start of the session. But part is because of how Reid runs the senate — he does NOT relinquish the floor in a normal fashion, so rarely can anything happen that he hasn’t scripted.
On the other hand, the article makes a trivial error — there are 46 republican senators, not 41. We need 41 to prevent the end of debate.
Oddly, because of another rules change, if the bill is accepted, amendments can be passed with 51 votes. That is what they are trying to filibuster now, they want to have amendments require 60 votes. But NO newspaper is explaining this, because they want to be able to “laugh” at how the conservatives are filibustering to stop a vote on their own bill that defunds Obamacare.
THAT remains to be seen.
Go Ted GO!
BTW, these rules changes are one of the many reasons that there are actually “more” filibusters than ever, meaning more “cloture” votes to end “filibusters”, even those that never happen. Reid set up the rules to pretty much require these votes, and so he could complain about it.
What Cruz is doing is important because Obama thought he could delay part of Obamacare for political gain and no one would notice. Cruz makes sure people know what a mess it all is.
Obama:”Republicans are messin’ wit me.”
Cruz is messing with his mess.
Go, Ted, GO!!
Pray Boehner’s newly found backbone stays stiff, so he can reject Reid’s amended bill and then starts passing individual bills funding each essential department one at a time. No funding for obamacare! Cut the funding for HHS and IRS so they cannot possibly implement obamacare. The House and the House alone wields the constitutional power of the purse, and the power to deny!
A vote for cloture is a vote for GeldingCare. The GOPe owns it.
I, for one, am PRAYING for Ted Cruz.
Cruz’s ability to speak clearly and cogently at length without a teleprompter (TP) stands in sharp contrast to the Great Interloper’s reliance on the TP. It’s because of his personal eloquence and the utter correctness of his stance on Obamanationcare.
It's amazing and mesmerizing.
Keep talking National Journal. People are paying attention. If he can go until tomorrow morning, you’ll have red state dems needing catheters.
“Democrats already have the 60 votes needed to initiate cloture and break an actual Republican filibuster, so the rest of the timing is essentially on “autopilot,” as Reid said, because he initiated the complicated series of procedural moves cut off debate Monday.”
Then we should filibuster and let ‘em vote. The R bad guys will be on record and it will hurt southern dems like Landieu to vote yes on cloture.
Call out the anti-Constitutionalist traitors.
“There is no filibuster today”
If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck. Well you know. :=)
Cruz is cleaner and WAY more articulate than Bammy.
Sen. Ted Cruz is the only one in the cesspool of Washington D.C. that is not talking Bolshevik.
IIRC, there are 54 Democrats in the Senate, and 46 Republicans. Yet Dingy Harry has 60 votes to invoke cloture.
Howcum?
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