The filibuster. And before you say, "Oh, that is
some boring Senate rule. What the (bleep) does that
have to do with me, Trevor?" First of all,
please do not curse on my show. There's no need to be crude. And secondly,
it actually has to do with pretty much everything
right now. Like,
think of all the big issues that President Biden
wants to tackle. Voter suppression,
protecting unions, immigration reform, finding out who snitched
on his dog Major. Right now, Senate Republicans
can block Joe Biden from doing any of that stuff. Which is why now Biden is saying he wants to shake things up. For the first time
in his presidency, President Biden
is making the case for not eliminating
but reforming the Senate, uh,
legislative filibuster. You've been reluctant
to do away with the filibuster. Aren't you gonna have to choose between preserving
the filibuster -and advancing your agenda?
-BIDEN: Yes. But here's the choice. I don't think you have
to eliminate the filibuster. You have to do it
what it used to be when I first got to the Senate
back in the old days. With a filibuster, you had to
stand up and command the floor. And you had to keep talking on. So, you got to work
for the filibuster. So, you're for that reform. You're for bringing back
the talking filibuster. I am. That's what
it was supposed to be. It almost is getting
to the point where there's... You know, democracy's
having a hard time functioning. That's right. Biden doesn't want
to stop the filibuster entirely. He just wants to slow it down. Kind of like how they try
and slow drivers down with those little speed bumps
that they installed around my neighborhood's
elementary school. At least,
I think those are speed bumps. And this may seem
like a small change, but making things
just a little more annoying could actually make
a big difference. I mean, think about it.
We buy stuff online because we can get it
in one click. But when you actually have
to go down to the store, then all of a sudden,
you're like, "Man, where...
Ah, I have to find my keys. "You know what? I don't
need that heart medicine. I'll be fine." But the question is
how did the filibuster become the legislation buster
that it is today? Well, let's find out
in another episode of If You Don't Know,
Now You Know. ? ? Let's start with the simplest
explanation of the filibuster. It's basically a loophole
in the Senate rules for blocking legislation
because even though you only need 51 votes
to pass a bill, you need 60 votes
to stop the debate over voting on that bill
in the first place. Which means
as long as the minority party can keep "debating," then the bill is basically dead. And if you're wondering,
"Why on earth would the founding fathers
put that in the Constitution?" Well, they didn't. The filibuster began
as a historical accident. It's not some great tradition
in the Senate that's protected
by the Constitution. It happened in 1805 after Aaron Burr
suggested a rules change. NEWSMAN: Aaron Burr, as vice
president in the early 1800s, was going over
these rules of the Senate, and he made a critical mistake. He thought,
"We don't really need a way "to stop a debate, do we? "I mean,
there's just a few of us. "Like, we will debate
until we're done, "till everyone's had their say. How slow
could the Senate really be?" NEWSMAN 2:
Nobody knew it at the time. It'd be three more decades
before the first filibuster was actually mounted,
but that was the moment the Senate
created the filibuster. That's right. The filibuster isn't in the Constitution. It's just a rule
that was made up by that guy
who shot Lin-Manuel Miranda. And it didn't seen start out
as a way to block legislation. It was a way for the Senate
to keep debate open, not to debate for so long that nobody could ever
actually vote on a bill. So, its original purpose
is completely different from what people decided
to use it for later on. It's insane. It's sort of like
how Facebook was invented as a way to see which
of your classmates were hot and then years later
became a way to organize a lynch mob
for Mike Pence. Who, by the way, is hot. And you might wonder
why senators back then would want to risk having
an endless debate. But don't forget, guys,
in the 1800s, there wasn't
anything better to do. I mean, it was either listen
to Thaddeus talk about a bill or take a bumpy carriage ride
back to your plantation, where a bunch of Black people wanted to discuss
their terms of employment. You're probably gonna want to
hear what Thaddeus has to say. Either way, eventually,
senators realized that they could block
legislation by debating forever. And that could get
pretty ridiculous, because there was no rule
on what counted as a debate. So senators came up
with all kinds of random ways to fill that time,
which led to moments like this. NEWSMAN:
Louisiana Democrat Huey Long filibustered several bills. In arguing against a bill, he recited recipes
for salad dressing and discussed at length
the best way to fry oysters. His most famous filibuster
was on June 12, 1935. He was able to speak
without stop for 15 hours and 30 minutes. Running out of things to say
about the bill, he offered to give advice on
any subject someone requested. Yep. In 1935, this white dude rambled on
about nothing for over 15 hours, and, somehow, he gets zero credit
for inventing the podcast. So unfair. But the Senate is crazy, man. This guy got on the floor
and talked for 15 hours about oysters
and salad dressing. I mean,
they should make it a rule that you at least have to try
to connect your speech to the bill that you're supposed
to be debating. "I guarantee this salad dressing
is delicious, "but you know what doesn't leave
a good taste in my mouth? Letting women wear pants." But, still, I'm not gonna lie, it's impressive that
he could talk for that long. That shit is hard.
I can't even think of 20 seconds of stuff to talk about
to a coworker in an elevator. -(Muzak playing)
-So, going to floor nine, huh? (chuckles) Yeah. How's this weather
we're having? So much weather. (exhales) I think
I-I'm just gonna get out here. (grunts) -(thud) -I will say though,
it makes sense that senators are so good
at filibustering, because most of them
are grandparents. Don't forget that. Visit your granddad and see if he doesn't take
three hours to tell you a story
that happened in 20 minutes. "You're filibustering, Grandpa!" But it wasn't until
the late 1950s that the filibuster started
to become more common. And what cause was so inspiring
to senators at that time that they just had to stand up
and speak for hours? Being racist. NEWSMAN:
For a few decades, the filibuster was used
but pretty sparingly. Then the Senate
starts to consider civil rights legislation, and Southern senators
really hate this. But they don't have the votes
to actually defeat the bills, so they start using
the filibuster. NEWSMAN 2: It became a tool
that Southern senators used to prevent
the federal government from intervening
in racial segregation. NEWSMAN 3:
Perhaps the most famous one was when South Carolina's
Strom Thurmond took the floor against
the 1957 Civil Rights Act. NEWSWOMAN: Thurmond
notoriously read the phone book, clocking in
at more than 24 hours, to try to block
a 1957 civil rights bill. How did you last 24 hours? You never left the Senate floor. I had gone down
to the Senate bath for three or four days
beforehand -and dried out my body.
-In the sauna? Yeah, so I wouldn't be tempted
to go to the bathroom. (both chuckle) And so... and-and so I was able
to do that. (chuckles)
Oh, Strom, you are too much.
(laughs) And when I think
about all those Black people who suffered because of you. (laughing) (scream-laughing) Yo, for real, man-- how gross was that story? This guy dried out his body to help him filibuster? You know someone
is committed to racism when they're willing
to jerky themselves for it. And it really is amazing
what humans can accomplish when confronted
with their worst fears. Just as a mother will be able
to lift a car off of the ground
to save her child, a racist senator
will suddenly be able to speak for days at a time only if it will stop a Black
person from using his bathroom. I mean, the filibuster was used to block Black people
so many times, I'm surprised
they never use it at nightclubs. "Uh, uh-oh. A Black guy. "Hey, before I let you in, "have I ever told you
about my salad dressing? "Two tablespoons of lemon juice, "a pinch of rosemary. "And what you want to try and do
is make sure the-- Okay, he's gone. All right." Now, eventually,
the Senate decided that all of these talkathons were slowing things down
too much. So, in 1975, they made what they thought was
a small adjustment to the rules. Instead of having to speak, a senator could just announce
that they planned to speak. And unless there were 60 votes
to prevent them, the filibuster
would be considered successful. And that actually worked
for a while, until two things happened: America elected
a Black president and a Senate minority leader who was willing
to do anything to stop him. NEWSMAN: The practice became
an art form for Republicans under Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell. During the Obama years,
McConnell impeded nominees and legislation left and right-- he has the nickname
"the Grim Reaper" for a reason. NEWSMAN 2: Today, it's being
used in a different way. It's being used to, effectively,
kill a measure, a bill, a proposal that the minority
really doesn't like. NEWSMAN 3: In fact,
there have been more filibusters during Obama's time in office than in the '50s, '60s,
and '70s combined. Over the entire history
of the Senate, before President Obama, just 68 judicial and executive
branch nominees were blocked and required cloture,
which ends a filibuster and forces an up or down vote. By contrast,
79 of President Obama's nominees required cloture
from 2009 to 2013 alone. NEWSMAN 4:
Republicans used the filibuster against virtually
every controversial bill and nomination and some that
weren't controversial at all. Mitch McConnell has
the devious distinction of being
the only sitting senator that filibustered his own bill. Goddamn. Mitch McConnell loves
to filibuster so much, he filibustered his own bill. And he had to get four ribs
removed to be able to do it. The man is sick. But, yes,
once Obama became president, McConnell began filibustering
everything. Obama wanted to appoint a judge, McConnell blocked it. Obama wanted to pass a bill, McConnell stopped him. Obama wanted to watch something
on Netflix, McConnell hid the remote
in his neck folds. "Mah, I haven't seen it
anywhere. Mah, maybe you should read
a book. Mah." And once McConnell decided
to block Obama's entire agenda, that became the new precedent. You know?
When Democrats got the chance, they blocked President Trump's
agenda just as hard, to the point where now
practically every piece of legislation in the Senate
needs 60 votes to pass. And that's why
there's a movement to get rid of the filibuster
entirely. Because it's not healthy
for a democracy if the losers can always block
the winners from passing their agenda. Now, the Democrats
don't have the votes right now to kill the filibuster
completely. But based
on Joe Biden's interview, it seems like
they may be willing to make it more annoying again, which won't stop filibusters
from happening, but at least we'll finally get
to find out what Mitch McConnell uses
in his salad dressing. "Eh, so what you want is
the tears of poor people, "mah, and then you want
to grind it up with oppression. Mah." So, that's the filibuster. And if you don't know,
now you know.
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