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Originally Posted by Danzig
more in total for all three categories. you might want to figure percentages, which tells the tale better than overall numbers. for instance, in the 97th congress, when republicans took over-look at motions, look at votes on cloture-virtually even. about 40 of each, compared to now with over 100 more motions than then, but about 80 more votes on cloture. number wise, both are higher-but percentage of cloture to motions isn't the same.
look at when republicans again took control, motions are similar to the last democrat controlled, 95-96. motions similar to 94, but look at the grey and yellow bars. especially for 2000-'02.
not a very good graph tho, it doesn't say which side filed the motions.
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'Zig, I love ya, but the party in control doesn't fillibuster itself <g>
You make a nice attempt at spin, above, with the "percentages" thing, but that doesn't stand.
It's crystal clear who are filing the fillibuster motions that block everything and grind everything to a complete halt (dark gold line) - it's higher than it's ever been right now, and it's the GOP.
The actual votes the GOP has made this past year (No versus Yes votes), and the number of bills approved by the House but languishing unvoted upon due to Republican blockage not allowing those bills to even come for a vote in the Senate, is on the .gov website. *** and I just found that number, it's 290. 290 bills sent from the House to the Senate for action, and nothing. has. been. done. because the GOP votes to fillibuster and refuse to act upon virtually every damn thing.
Note:
The gold line indicates fillibusters by the opposition party. You don't have to stand on the floor and physically fillibuster now, you just have to "file the motion" with intent. That essentially starts a fillibuster for all intents and purposes. That means everything grinds to a halt, as if some Senator was standing on the floor reading the telephone book.
The "cloture vote" is someone calling for a vote to vote upon closure of the fillibuster, and a vote is taken to close the fillibuster or not. And "cloture invoked" means that the votes were enough in favor to stop the fillibuster. At this point, the Senate continues on with business.