Filibuster Meaning: Talking, Stalling and the 60-Vote Rule

Filibuster meaning, briefly

To define filibuster simply: a lawmaker, or a group of them, keeps a debate going so the chamber cannot reach a final vote. The aim may be to kill the bill, to win changes to it, or to draw public attention to an issue.

The classic image is a senator speaking for hours, reading from long documents to hold the floor. Today, in the US Senate, a filibuster is often just the threat of extended debate, which means a bill needs enough support to force debate to end.

How it works in practice

In the US Senate, ending debate on most legislation takes a vote called cloture. The Senate adopted its cloture rule in 1917, at first requiring a two-thirds vote. In 1975 the threshold for most bills was changed to three-fifths of the full Senate, which is 60 of the 100 senators.

Some business is not subject to it. Certain budget measures have limited debate under special rules, and since the 2010s a simple majority has been enough to end debate on presidential nominations, including judges. The House of Representatives has strict time limits on debate, so filibusters are rare there.

From pirates to parliament

The history is colorful. The word traces back to Dutch vrijbuiter, "freebooter", someone who raids for loot. It passed into French as flibustier and Spanish as filibustero, names for pirates who raided in the Caribbean. In the nineteenth century, English used filibuster for private adventurers who led armed groups into Latin American countries without their government's approval.

In the 1850s American lawmakers began using the word for members who obstructed debate, comparing them to those raiders seizing control. The Senate's own historical notes record it in debates from 1853.

Using filibuster as a noun and verb

The standard definition of filibuster treats it as a noun, yet the verb is just as common.

• Noun: launch a filibuster, end a filibuster, threaten a filibuster, break a filibuster.
• Verb: Opponents vowed to filibuster the bill.
• Verb, used loosely: He filibustered the team meeting with a forty-minute story.
• Adjective-like phrases: a filibuster-proof majority, meaning enough votes to pass cloture.

Example sentences

• The senator spoke for more than ten hours in an attempt to filibuster the measure.
• Supporters lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster.
• The student union president tried to filibuster the motion by reading the entire constitution aloud.
• Commentators debated whether the filibuster should be changed.

Why people argue about it

Supporters say the filibuster protects the minority in a chamber, forces the majority to seek compromise, and slows down big changes so they get careful thought. Critics say it lets a minority block measures that most members back, causes gridlock, and makes the Senate less able to act. Views on it have often shifted depending on which side holds a majority at the time. Proposals range from keeping it as it is, to requiring a real "talking filibuster", to ending it for some or all legislation.

Other countries and similar tactics

Delaying debate is not only an American practice. Many legislatures have seen members talk at length, propose large numbers of amendments, or use procedure to run out the clock, and some parliaments call letting time expire on a bill "talking it out". Rules differ widely, so whether a filibuster is possible depends on each chamber's procedures. Related words of government include democracy, federalism and gerrymandering; more are on the law, politics and society page.