Congress Filibuster

Written in the Constitution, Section one, is that all legislative powers will be given to Congress. This was instituted by the framers to separate powers among three branches to limit the power of one branch over the other. Congress was charged by the Constitution with three primary duties writing laws, overseeing the implementation of laws, and serving the needs of their constituents. Within the confines of writing laws, there are actions that Congress may take to delay a bill from being passed such a filibuster. However, even before a bill might appear before Congress the bill must go through a rigorous process run by the House Rules Committee which regulates the flow of legislation that appears before Congress. Then once a bill is passed …show more content…
This might also be its most criticized duty in recent years with a lack of bipartisanship, and thereby a lack of laws being put on the floor. One of the ways that the Senate has brought law making to a standstill in many cases is by filibustering. The filibuster was instituted in the early years of this country as a way to further ensure minority opinions were being heard, though in recent years has been used to further a political agenda (Barry). Any Senator could keep talking on the Senate floor about a bill for as long as he wants until he feels that his opinion was sufficiently represented. This delays the passing of the bill and the implementation of the bill. In 1917 President Wilson tried to limit filibusters in the Senate creating the Cloture Vote that 2/3rds of Senators can vote to end the Filibuster. Nonetheless, in 1975 the Senate created Virtual Filibusters, which means that the Senator doesn’t even have to be on the floor to start a filibuster, and also increased the amount of Senators need to pass a Cloture vote to 3/5ths. After that the use of filibusters has sky rocketed and over the last twenty years has been used over six hundred times to delay a bill from being passed. Recently Senator Ran Paul (R-KY) filibustered over the Patriot Act and John Brennan’s nomination as CIA Director for thirteen hours (Dinan). He was quoted as saying about the Act that …show more content…
One of the methods used by Congress to maintain oversight is the Budgetary Process, also known as the “power of the purse”. The Constitution, Article I, Section 7, Clause 1 states that “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.”. This means that Congress has the power to fund or defund bills and projects, and that the Executive Branch can’t spend money without Congress’s say-so. This was used in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 which expanded the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and eliminated all funding for the Vietnam War, thus effectively ending the