FILIBUSTER & RECONCILIATION, 101

Many people seem confused about the health care debate and why the Democrats need 60 votes. Others are also unsure about the reconciliation process. Here's a quick review.

Simply put, if a group is opposed to a piece of legislation they can literally talk it to death. They simply get up and talk.

They can read out of Federal Registry logs.


They can read from the Bible.


It doesn't matter. All they need to do is talk, endlessly.


This is called a filibuster. To end a filibuster you need 60% (3/5) of the Senate to call for closing "discussion" (cloture). If you can do that you can then vote on a proposed piece of legislation. Voting on legislation - rather than on ending a debate on a topic - only requires that you get a simple majority in the Senate (50 + 1). Today that means you need 60 members from the Senate to call for closing discussion on a piece of legislation, which will then allow the Senate to vote on that same piece of legislation.

But don't the Democrats have 60 members, you ask? Sure, they do. But this doesn't mean that they have 60 votes. Several Senate Democrats are what we call Blue Dog Democrats. They are conservative Democrats, and will often vote with Republicans. This means they will not necessarily vote with the Democrats to end a filibuster.

How do we avoid this mess? Simple. A process called reconciliation. Click here to listen to a nice synopsis - and a brief history - of reconciliation.

At the end of the day, reconciliation might not be such a bad thing if the Obama administration really wants to get the public option into the health care bill.

- Mark

UPDATE: See this "Reid Can't Lead a Prostitute to Bed" post for a review of what's going on in the Senate, and why Henry Reid (D-NV) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are two of the biggest problems to getting a public option in the health care bill. One's gutless, the other's clueless.