Filibusters and Delays in the Senate

Floor Speech

FILIBUSTERS AND DELAYS IN THE SENATE -- (Senate - April 15, 2008)

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Mr. DURBIN. A filibuster is a way to stop the Senate from acting. A filibuster is an effort to make sure the Senate does nothing. You saw the movie with Jimmy Stewart, ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'' He took to the floor as a freshman Senator and stood there speaking in a filibuster until he collapsed in physical exhaustion.

Well, it does not quite happen that way anymore. What happens, of course, is someone says: I am going to stop the Senate, and you are going to have to come up with 60 votes to stop me.

Well, Democrats have 51 votes in this current Senate; the Republicans have 49. So anytime we want to move forward with a piece of legislation to which a Republican Senator objects, we need their help to stop a filibuster. They know that.

So their strategy this year has been to slow us down to a crawl so nothing happens and to make sure when something comes up that they think might be a delicate vote for them to face, they start a filibuster. Then we cannot come up with 60 votes, and we move on to something else.

The net result of this filibuster strategy from the Republican side of the aisle is that critically important issues, such as the ones mentioned by the majority leader, cannot be addressed in the Senate. The House passes important and timely legislation and sends it over, and the Republican strategy on this side is to stop anything from happening.

Look at the issues we are facing in this country. The Senator from California is here. She is the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and this committee is considering critical legislation on the question of global warming. This is important for us as a nation. It is important for our planet. And we know when this critical legislation which has now been reported from her committee comes to the floor, we will face a string of filibusters.

That is part and parcel now of the procedure in the Senate. But you say: Well, wait a minute. That is a big issue. Global warming is a controversial issue with some. You expect some political controversy. Right?

Well, accepting that argument, I then have to ask you: Why were we involved in a filibuster until last night by the Republicans on the bill before us today? This is a technical corrections bill. When we passed the highway bill, the Federal highway bill years ago, it was a huge bill affecting the entire United States of America. Then, as we combed through it, word for word, line for line, page for page, we found there were technicalities that needed to be changed: punctuation, references to a road instead of a trail. You find them in here. They go on for hundreds of pages.

But they are technical in nature; it is not a big policy debate. This kind of bill usually passes in the Congress by a voice vote late at night and no one notices. It is housekeeping. That is ordinarily what we do when we try to catch up and make sure everything is done just right.

Senator Boxer has worked long and hard to bring it out of her committee and bring it to the Senate floor, and the Republicans initiated a filibuster against the technical corrections bill. That is like having a resolution to salute motherhood and having them initiate a filibuster. Where is the controversy? There is no controversy in this bill. If they want to offer amendments, we said on this side: If they are germane amendments to the bill, have at it. That is what the Senate is all about, after all.

But the Republican strategy of filibusters, as indicated by this chart, in the history of Congress, the minority party has initiated no more than 57 filibusters in any 2-year period of time. That is the record, 57 in 2 years.

So far in this Congress, we are barely a few months into the second year. The minority party, the Republicans, has initiated 65 filibusters, and we are still counting.

You say to yourself: Well, they must have been some pretty controversial issues they had to filibuster. A technical corrections bill? So why do they filibuster? So that we burn the clock and eat up days so we cannot address the issues that are even more important to this country.

Would it not be great for us as a Senate to consider and debate a national energy policy to bring down the price of gasoline in the United States? No way. The Republicans insist on filibustering a bill that focuses on punctuation. Would it not be timely for us to consider the cost of health insurance to businesses and families across America and find a way to make it more affordable and accessible? No way. The Republicans want to debate a bill which changes the word ``trail'' to ``road'' and filibuster it.

That is the reality. And time and again when we have brought up issues, the Republicans have initiated a filibuster in this Congress. You cannot read this; I can barely read it. It is a list of the Republican filibusters so far in this Congress, 65 and still counting.

Let me give you a couple of examples, if I can, of the egregious Republican filibusters in this Congress. We had a bill to implement the 9/11 Commission Report to fight terrorism in America--filibustered by the Republicans.

We had a bill authorizing the intelligence agencies to make America safer--filibustered by the Republicans.

We had a bill for court security so that judges and their families would be safe when they are at work or at home--filibustered by the Republicans.

We had a water resources bill to deal with the infrastructure of America and create good-paying jobs right here at home--filibustered by the Republicans.

The Clean Energy Act, an effort to use renewable, sustainable energy to reduce pollution and stimulate the needs of our economy--filibustered by the Republicans.

The CHIP reauthorization bill, a bill for health insurance for poor children across America, not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, not lucky enough to have health insurance--filibustered by the Republicans.

The economic stimulus package to get this country out of the recession and moving--filibustered by the Republicans.

A Consumer Products Safety Commission overall to stop toys with lead-based paint from coming into this country from China--filibustered by the Republicans.

GOP used to stand for Grand Old Party. That is what the Republicans called their party, the Grand Old Party. But when it comes to the Republicans in the Senate, GOP stands for ``Graveyard of Progress.'' They want to stop this Senate from making any progress on critical issues for this country. They want to run out the clock by filibustering a technical corrections bill.

There is only one remedy for this. It comes in November. The American people will have a chance to speak then. They can initiate a filibuster which the Republicans will hear. They can speak long and loudly and clearly that it is time for change in this Senate. The old ways of Washington dominated by special interest groups really hidebound to the partisanship that will not even let us bring up these technical correction issues has to change.

Voters in this country have the last word in November to elect agents of change, people who will make a difference for improving this country.

I yield the floor.

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