LogFAQs > #964764600

The senate creates the rules that determines how the senate works. One of those rules lets any senator basically veto a bill and 60 other senators are needed to override that. Used to be that the senate had a thing where a Senator could get up and talk for hours until the senate either got tired and voted to shelve the currently being discussed bill, vote to make the senator shut the fuck up, or the talking senator gave up. Then at one point the senate got tired of folks talking and just decided to skip that step and just decide to either shelve the bill or figuratively make the senator shut the fuck up. This made that action no longer have a cost and so as time moved on, it became more and more common for folks to use it. Now the senate is incapable of passing almost anything without 60 yes votes.