Question about a counter-strike to banning the fillibuster

[Kelvin Mace]

Can the Senate pull the same stunt the Texas legisature did and not show up, thus denying quorum to the neo-cons?

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[mattclearing]

1. That would be a fine idea.

eom

[genius]

2. The fillibuster cannot be burned. There are no quorum rules like Texas

They don't have enough votes to break the filibuster. If they try we could use the nuclear option and block ALL bills, except the budget.

[AllegroRondo]

4. Block all bills!

not a bad idea!

[unblock]

3. it only takes 51 senators to make a quorum

moreover, it takes 11 senators to question the existence of a quorum.
in other words, even if you don't have enough for a quorum, the senate can still operate unless 11 senators want it to stop. so 11 democrats would have to be present to challenge the presence of 51.

bottom line is, the banana republicans don't need any democrats to be present. the best democrats could do in this vein is to have 11 democrats show up and keep challenging the existence of a quorum. this would force most of the republicans to be physically present, which at least would keep them from their all-important photo-ops and fund-raisers. meanwhile, the rest of the democrats could be out in front of cameras.

[merwin]

5. Can't you filibuster the bill to stop filibusters?

[Kelvin Mace]

6. I thought it was a rules change which only required a

majority vote.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org