Filibuster: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

legislation basically this guy from Schoolhouse Rock bill fun fact his last name is Cosby and you can see why he dropped it anyway in the lead-up to the Democratic primaries we've heard a lot of big promises about the fabulous bills candidates will sign when they're elected the best way to go forward in my view is to a Medicare for All single-payer program I have a proposal to build about 3 million new housing units my big idea is a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for every American adults starting at age 18 my big ideas baby bonds we need to have our transportation system running on electricity I'm gonna make sure that happens no jay Inslee you're not gonna make that happen primarily because you dropped out of the race two weeks ago possibly because your whole campaign tactic of drive by scooter shouting was at best a little ahead of its time the problem is as appealing as many of those ideas sound non are likely to happen even if a Democrat wins because they'd have to go through the Senate and you know this Senate is the country's second most influential body after Dwayne the rock Johnson's ladies and gentlemen that man is 5 years older than me and I know whatever you're thinking now I know and look the modern Senate is a giant non functioning roadblock as any centers on their way out will tell you the Senate as an institution is in crisis the people's business is not getting done we're getting nothing done my friends we're getting nothing done the United States Senate is no longer the world's greatest deliberative body and everybody needs to quit saying it exactly senators regularly do the thing that most people can only dream of leave their jobs while telling off everyone they worked with this is no longer the town's greatest Jamba Juice and everyone needs to quit saying it you make it bad juice my friends you make it bad juice the truth is the Senate doesn't pass many major laws these days you could argue the last major social program passed into law was a bomber care a decade ago and that low level of production is largely thanks to one incredibly annoying legislative tool not actually this tool although he is certainly at fault I'm referring to the filibuster so that is what we're actually going to look at tonight or if you're watching this on YouTube this morning or if you reach for the remote the moment I've said the word filibuster goodbye I completely understand a filibuster is any tactic aimed at blocking a measure by preventing it from coming to a vote fund site go to the word filibuster is derived from the Dutch word for freebooter which basically means pirates and I didn't even know there were Dutch pirates but I'd absolutely watch a movie about them Avast me matey Sh batten down the hatches and remember dead men tell no tales if you are at all aware of the filibuster you probably know is that thing where a senator stands and talks endlessly it's often been presented in TV and movies as a heroic act like when Jimmy Stewart himself to exhaustion in mr. Smith goes to Washington he was a bad actor pretty bad back then he was especially bad the thing is the thing is that movie made the filibuster seem like a good idea just like how the Wizard of Oz made going on a trip with a furry a vagrant and an axe wielding robots seem like a good idea but in real life it's only a good idea if you know them but the modern filibuster is nothing like the Jimmy Stewart version it's become an overused tool of obstruction and in practical terms it essentially means that a simple majority of 51 votes isn't nearly enough to pass legislation if you don't get 60 votes for a bill it's dead which means theoretically senators from the 21 least populated states representing just 11 percent of Americans could overrule everyone else which seems pretty extreme so to quote everyone who's ever sat in a bathroom stall with a 3-inch gap in the door why on earth was it designed this way people people often claim then it goes back to the founding of the country it's an argument that runs like this you may wonder why the Senate has this 60 vote rule when it's a straight majority rule in the house well the answer is that the founders meant it that way the Senate was designed to be the cooling saucer where the two parties were forced to work together and hence that 60-vote threshold okay so there's a few things to know about that and the first thing is that it is not true there is nothing about a 60-vote threshold for legislation in the Constitution not in the Federalist Papers nothing in Jefferson's private letters and nothing skillfully wrapped by Alexander Hamilton to the delight of everyone within earshot in fact some historians say the filibuster was created by mistake and even then the first one didn't take place until 1837 so it was categorically not part of the founders original vision it's like claiming the day Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone he also sent the first dick pic no he did that development came much later two weeks later but but she is actually right about that whole cooling saucer idea that's a story that comes up constantly and it goes like this the Senate was created to be a cooling saucer to the hot legislation that comes from the house it is the cooling saucer we all know the story the old metaphor George Washington uses the house is the cup of coffee where the coffee is very hot the Senate is the saucer that you pour the coffee into so it can cool all the passions of the house first never say cool like that ever again but setting aside the argument that the Senate should be more deliberative than the house you might be wondering why on earth would someone pour coffee into a saucer well in the 18th century people apparently did exactly that they would pour coffee out of their cup into a saucer to let it cool and then drink it directly from that which is clearly ridiculous and it's obviously something I wish I'd never learned because Thomas Jefferson seems like a towering historical figure until you imagine him sipping out of a saucer like a cat but it is true that the founders wanted the Senate to be a counterweight to the houses they achieve that though by having fewer members who serve longer terms six years not to and until 1913 not having them directly elected by the people so if keeping the filibuster is not following the founders wishes why do we still have it well some argue that it preserved the Senate's ability to be a bastion of debate as this senator explained in 1952 the Senate of the United States is the last open forum in the world where the rights of all minorities can be fully and freely and completely debated and while I would never and have never taken part in a filibuster neither would I take part in an effort which would which would result in depriving any minority group in this country from having their cause fully discussed and fully debated on the floor of the United States Senate okay so first the Senate's reputation as a haven of gentlemanly debate is at best overblown in the 1800's Sanders has pulled pistols on each other and at one point a congressman used a metal topped cane to beat Senator Charles Sumner nearly to death so feeling nostalgic for the Golden Age of the Senate is like feeling nostalgic for 90s indie films than actually watching chasing Amy because set aside the notion that any lesbian can be magically turned straight if the right guy comes along what extra offensive in hindsight is the idea that that guy would be Ben Affleck but that guy also touched on another major argument for the filibuster there that it protects minority rights although it is worth noting that the minority whose rights have historically being protected by the filibuster are the political minority who've often used it to restrict the rights of racial minorities the Senate's own website calls the filibuster particularly useful to southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation and it was used most notably by Senator Strom Thurmond just watch him announced his plans to try and kill the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting it to endless debate it will be the aim of our small band of southern senators to make say that every facet of this legislation is discussed considered and expanded at great length even indefinitely if necessary exactly he just gave the game while he wanted to debate it indefinitely his goal wasn't to consider every aspect of the bill his goal was to kill it he's like a five-year-old saying I shall pull the legs off this bug so that every facet of it may be discussed and considered at great length know that little psycho just wants to watch a bug die and Thurman's knew just how obstructing the filibuster could be in 1957 he stalled another civil rights bill by speaking for a still record 24 hours and 18 minutes straight while according to some accounts he had his aide wait in the cloakroom with a pail so he could relieve himself while still keeping a foot on the Senate floor and it's almost impressive to take a morally disgusting act and somehow make it physically disgusting - it's like if Hitler had delivered all his speeches while publicly clipping his toenails now now modern filibusters actually no longer can tame the David Blaine esque feat of endurance element and that is because in the 70s in the interests of efficiency senators agreed to no longer require talking filibusters you know in the style of mr. Smith goes to Washington or mr. Thurmond goes to the bathroom in a bucket instead now if you just signal your intent to filibuster and have 41 votes on your side a bill is doomed which is not to say that senators don't still sometimes choose to stand in Talk vows it's just that when they do it's often a publicity stunt or a protest like when Chris Murphy spoke for 15 hours to draw attention to gun control or Rand Paul filibustered Obama's nominee for CIA director for 13 hours pausing only to eat fun-sized candy with spectacular incompetence which had previously brought a challenge in federal court to the legality of the authorization to target our walk in Yemen release the following statement are you eating something so small that badly I mean it didn't even present the challenge of a regular candy bar we've all gotten into the quad more of a normal sized Milky Way and not being able to get out until everything we know and love is covered in caramel we've all been there but that was fun sighs it should have been easy although I will say this at least Rand Paul stayed on topic unlike when Ted Cruz filibustered against Obamacare and when you watch this remember the stated argument for this tactic is it is supposed to be a vital means of facilitating a full and robust debate I do not like green eggs and I do not like them sam-i-am would you like them in a house would you like them with a mouse I do not like them in a house I do not like them with a mouse I do not like them here or there I do not like them anywhere I do not like that man Ted Cruz I do not like his part right views I do not like his stupid chin I do not like his smarmy grin I do not like him with a beard I do not like him freshly shi'ite I do not like Ted Cruz at all that man Ted Cruz can suck my balls didn't need to do that and when you combine the fact that it's now easier to filibuster with the increasingly partisan nature of the Senate it's frankly no surprise that its usage has skyrocketed if you look at the number of cloture votes which is a good way to measure filibuster use the number during Eisenhower's term here was two whereas in Obama's eight years here there were 506 which kind of undercuts the final argument made in favor of the filibuster that encourages bipartisanship that if you have to get 60 votes to end debate on a bill the parties would you have to work together but the reality there is that is simply not happening thanks to the filibuster many pieces of meaningful legislation some with bipartisan support have died from the manchin-toomey gun control bill to the Paycheck Fairness Act to the public option in Obamacare we have reached a point where senators don't so much brag about what they've passed as brag about what they are going to obstruct just watch Mitch McConnell promising a room of supporters that the green New Deal and Medicare for all won't even see a vote if they ever end up in his chamber [Music] to make sure okay Mitch you really don't have to tell me to think of you as the grim reaper it's like if Donald Trump said think of me as a bunch of trash bags from a Cracker Barrel dumpster brought to life by an ancient curse when a clown a car alarm I'm Way ahead of you there buddy I already think of you that way so to recap the main arguments in favor of the filibuster we've always had it no we haven't it enables debate no it doesn't it protects minorities not the ones you're thinking of it encourages bipartisanship not even close it has become so difficult to pass a law the big issues of our day are now being handled by other branches of the government major issues from immigration to climate change are being decided to things like executive actions and court rulings so why keep the filibuster some presidential candidates including Pete Buddha judge Steve Bullock and Elizabeth Warren want to get rid of it but before you get too excited about some of your favorite Democrats and also Steve Bullock calling for it to be abolished you should know so has this guy we have to get rid of what's called the filibuster rule we have to and if we don't the Republicans will never get anything passed you're wasting your time exactly and there is just nothing that can make you question one of your beliefs quite like Donald Trump unexpectedly sharing it well point out there are endless opinions that a person can have inevitably a few of them will overlap with Donald Trump's for example he and I both enjoy a good hamburger we don't we both think James Comey is a big pasty goober it's true and neither of us are willing to Google Tiffani Trump's birthday we're not completely different here now but the fact that Donald Trump is in favor of ending the filibuster is a good reminder of the serious risk here the side you agree with won't always be in power abolishing the filibuster would make it easier for everyone to do things including people you might not agree with and there have been hard lessons in this regard recently it used to be possible to filibuster judicial nominations that was rolled back even for the Supreme Court and one consequence was last year's 52-48 confirmation of justice sourpuss J booths a lot so look this is undeniably a gamble and you may well feel that is just too risky but personally I have come around to thinking that it is a work a risk worth taking the Senate is supposed to address America's problems and the filibuster is making it basically impossible for them to do that and someone suggested merely reforming it maybe going back to forcing senators to pay a physical price and stand and talk for hours again but as we have seen some senators are more than happy to do that even if they don't have to and do you really want to hear more of Ted Cruz creepily reading you bedtime stories or what Rand Paul battled Phung sized candy to a draw no no you don't so that is why I'm arguing despite the risk that we should get rid of the filibuster and frankly what better way for me to do that than with the exact kind of big stupid speech that I hate so please come with me as I filibuster the filibuster and to be clear I'm not going to talk for 15 hours one it's completely unnecessary and two it sounds hard and we only have a minute left of this show so I'll just do the only parts of a filibuster that anyone remembers anyway here's the beginning part where I'm lucid and on topic and I say the filibuster has made the Senate completely unable to perform its duties and something has to be done my friends something has to be done now let's jump to the fun part where I somehow fail at eating junk food which is why I've bought this big plastic candy cane full of M&Ms how is this so difficult don't help me don't help me I can do this on my own it's harder than it looks and now let's cut straight to the part where I make an important point while also you're an aiding into a bucket oh that's better the point here is my friends the more you learn about the filibuster the more it appears to be a historical mistake that's not serving us well today hold on hold on hold on don't look at me nobody look at me there she goes and while it is good yes to give the minority party a voice in the Senate it should not come at the cost of getting anything done and now let's jump forward 15 hours to my final exhausted points because what I'm essentially saying here is requiring bills to have 60 votes is like pouring coffee out of a perfectly good cup into a saucer and then lapping it up like a cat sure people think it was a good idea yes but at some point someone needs to ask does this make sense or is it actually incredibly stupid that is our show thank you so much for watching my boys out too much you [Music]

Channel: LastWeekTonight

Views: 6,861,889

Rating: 4.8699064 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 3y1QA6OeAcQ

Length: 19min 6sec (1146 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/HKYHCheng]

I remember this I laughed so hard

[u/External_Philosopher]

I miss john Oliver in this trying times

[u/Galaar]

I do not like that man Ted Cruz,

I do not like his far-right views.

I do not like his stupid chin,

I do not like his smarmy grin.

I do not like him with a beard,

I do not like him freshly sheared.

I do not like Ted Cruz at all,

That man Ted Cruz can suck my balls.

[u/themathymaestro]

I really needed this back in my life today, thank you!

[u/ajdaniels]

ELI5 please: What are these sounds behind the camera when John talks and makes jokes?

[u/pleasantviewpeasant]

I love how much John's accent showed during that poem.

[u/soki03]

You said it.

[u/KellehM]

I was thinking today how sad it is that LWT is on break at the moment. After yesterday, I’m sure this week’s episode would have been FIRE.

[u/prncrny]

Again I say I dont like Cruz

I do not like him in the news

I do not like his faux accent

He did not let me pay my rent

I do not like his imposition

I do not like his tried sedition

When I see his face, I scoff

That Ted Cruz can fuck right off.