The State of the Senate: How the Filibuster Caused Gridlock

In September of 2023, polls were conducted that put the approval rating of the United States congress at 17 percent. Although this statistic seems incredibly low, the unpopularity of congress is not undeserved. It has become gridlocked and dysfunctional with every budget renewal threatening a government shutdown. It seems to have become almost impossible to pass even the most common sense laws.

How Did This Happen?

So how did American democracy develop a dysfunctional branch of government? A large part of Congress’s deterioration can be attributed to the use of the filibuster. The filibuster is, in essence, the abuse of the Senate’s right to unlimited debate. Although bills require just a majority to pass the Senate, there is a catch. Before a bill can be voted on, debate has to end, and that requires 60 votes.

The Filibuster Explained

The origin of the filibuster was in a technical loophole: under the first laws of the Senate, ending debate required a simple majority. However, in 1806, then Vice President Aaron Burr ended the motion, arguing that it was unnecessary. This created a loophole in the passage of bills. Before the senate could vote on a bill, debate would need to end. Yet if there was no way to force and end to debate, it could remain ongoing forever, preventing the passage of the bill entirely. In 1917, the Senate adopted a rule which allowed the senate to limit debate with a two-thirds, or 67 to 33, majority vote, otherwise known as invoking cloture. Yet due to the vast supermajority needed to invoke cloture, the filibuster was still practically impossible to overturn; in the 40 years following, the senate only invoked cloture five times. In an attempt to mitigate this, in 1975 the Senate changed the majority required to invoke cloture from a two-thirds majority to a three- fifths majority, or the 60 vote majority that is still used today.

The filibuster has a troubling history, having often been used to block civil rights bills. One of its earliest uses was by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who used it to protect Southern white landowners dependent on slavery. Between 1917 and 1994, 30 measures were blocked by the filibuster. Half of them pushed for civil rights. Filibusters derailed anti-lynching bills in 1922 and 1935; the Civil Rights Act of 1957; and legislation prohibiting poll taxes and discrimination. The longest filibuster that was ever recorded, lasting for more than 24 hours, was in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Although the filibuster prevented a problem in the 20th century, the use of the filibuster has skyrocketed recently. As polarization has increased, use of filibuster has increased in tandem. There have been 2000 filibusters since 1917, and 1000 of them happened in the last 15 years. The overuse of the filibuster magnifies the problems of representation unique to the structure of the senate, where every state, no matter its population, is represented by two senators. When the senate was created, there was only a small population disparity between the most and the least populous states, but that has changed dramatically. In the modern world, the 26 smallest states hold only 17 percent of the United States population, meaning that a group of senators who represent a small minority of the US population could use the filibuster to block bills that have widespread popular support. Most recently, the filibuster has blocked voting rights bills, a motion to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour, and many other bills.

Conclusion

Abolishing the filibuster is possible. However, neither party seems to be willing to take the steps necessary to do so. The filibuster is useful to Republicans and Democrats alike, allowing them to wield influence in lawmaking even when the public votes them out of office. Despite the detrimental effects to democracy, the filibuster will most likely shape lawmaking for years to come.

Sources

United States Senate. “U.S. Senate: About Filibusters and Cloture | Historical Overview.” Www.senate.gov, www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/overview.htm. Accessed 22 Nov. 2023.

Lau, Tim. “The Filibuster, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice.” Www.brennancenter.org, 26 Apr. 2021, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/filibuster-explained. Accessed 22 Nov. 2023.