US President Joe Biden called on the US Senate on Tuesday to break with the parliamentary tradition called “filibuster” in order to forcibly pass his major electoral reform, which aims to protect minority access to the vote.
– What is ‘filibuster’? –
For a long time, the US Senate did not limit the duration of debates on the bills. This possibility of obstruction allowed parliamentarians to prevent a text from being voted on. There was then talk of “filibuster”, a word derived from the French “filibustier”, as it “pirate” the closing of the debate.
Since 1917, senators can decide to stop these debates whenever they gather enough votes. Today, 60 of the 100 senators are needed to put a bill to a vote.
In a Congress where Democrats and Republicans each have 50 seats, this supermajority is almost unattainable on the most sensitive issues, which has translated into blocking most of the initiatives of President Joe Biden, Democrat, since the beginning of his term. The rule does not apply to budget laws.
– Are there alternatives? –
Rather than abandoning the filibuster rule altogether, Democrats are considering a “nuclear option” that would allow senators to exceptionally vote on the president’s electoral reform by a simple majority.
This option was so called because it breaks with tradition. With it, there is a risk that, in the future, the Republicans will do the same.
To activate the nuclear option, Democrats need the support of their entire camp, but some senators, such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, were skeptical.
The Republican opposition opposes a filibuster reform, saying it would be tantamount to “cracking the Senate” and granting too much power to Democrats.
In 2017, Republicans used this famous option to reduce the votes for lifetime Supreme Court nominations to 51, which sparked protests from Democrats.
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