Who's idea was it to agree to 60 vote majorities in the Senate?

[Joe the Revelator]

There is no hard and fast rule on this, right?

[slackmaster]

1. US Senate Rule 22

http://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_index_subjects/Cloture_vrd.htm

[emulatorloo]

2. 60 votes to break a filibuster. Simple majority to pass a bill. See Senate rules above.

Worked pretty good until Republicans decided to abuse the fillibuster

[Joe the Revelator]

3. Don't they get a chance to amend the rules every year?

Why didn't they amend the filibuster?

[emulatorloo]

4. Because if Republicans take over the Senate in 2012 election, Dems will want the option to filibust

filibuster and will want the 60 vote cloture threshold.

There was some talk early on about reform and making it harder to filibuster. But nobody could agree what that meant exactly.

[CleanGreenFuture]

5. And for the first time in history a 60-vote majority is required to raise the debt ceiling.

As Sen. Leahy has said.

Gee, I wonder why that is.

I suspect we will default and Wall Street will reap the rewards of all that extra money coming in from higher interest rates on everything we pay for, our homes, our cars, our credit cards....EVERYTHING.

[HockeyMom]

7. People will STOP buying

You don't think they won't? They aren't buying now in this economy. They will rent, keep their clunckers, etc. In the end that is going to HURT business.

[JHB]

6. The people who...

...don't make the Republicans actually filibuster (I.e., keep talking nonstop),and who don't actively seek ways of breaking up the Republican's lockstep voting.

[emulatorloo]

8. The modern filibuster is not like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

They can phone in a filibuster. Then they can vote against cloture, that's it. Done bill is dead.

[JHB]

9. All the more reason to make an issue of their Politburo-crade voting conformity n/t

[Seedersandleechers]

10. Let me take a guess

The pubs get into power and change the 60 vote rule.