Originally Posted By: Just Lou
Originally Posted By: olivant
I'm not sure what you mean by total control. Total control of what? Congressional committees have almost an equal number of Democrats and Republicans populating them. Passage of bills in either chamber still requires a majority vote.


Cloture - The only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the cloture rule (Rule XXII), the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes. Cloture under the Senate rules means that a bill can’t get to the floor unless 60 Senators vote for it.

With 60 votes, the Dems can do as they like without any Republican support.


Not true Lou. You should read all of the Congress' rules, especially those of the Senate. What you cited was Cloture to close off a Filibuster. Nothing else. There are Unaninmous Consent Agreements and Holds for example in the Senate which an objection by one Senator can stop in its tracks.

Mig's statement was about total control of the Congress. That betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the compromise that is necessary in the Congress. It's a vast oversimplification to state otherwise.

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