Omar Bennett
The US Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate. However, the cloture rule, which requires 60 votes to end debate on most measures, has effectively become the minimum number of votes needed to pass a law in the Senate. This is because of the filibuster, a tactic used to delay or block a vote on a bill, which can only be broken with a cloture vote. While technically, a simple majority of 51 votes is needed to pass a bill, the filibuster has been increasingly used in recent years, resulting in the de facto 60-vote requirement.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of votes required to pass a bill | 51 |
| Number of votes required to cut off debate | 60 |
| Number of votes required to remove an impeached official | 2/3 majority |
| Number of votes required to override a veto | 2/3 majority |
| Number of votes required to appoint cabinet members | Simple majority |
| Number of votes required to appoint non-Supreme Court judicial nominees | Simple majority |
| Number of votes required to appoint Supreme Court justices | Simple majority |
| Number of cloture votes on legislation by August 2022 | 40 |
| Number of successful cloture invocations by August 2022 | 25 |
| Number of cloture votes on presidential nominations | Over 200 |
| Number of filibusters since 1917 | Over 2000 |
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What You'll Learn
The filibuster and its history
The filibuster is a procedural tactic used in the United States Senate to delay or block a vote on legislation, nominations, or other procedural matters. The term is derived from the Dutch word for "freebooter" and the Spanish "filibusteros", which described pirates raiding Caribbean islands. While the tactic of using long speeches to delay votes has been around since the first session of the Senate in 1789, the term "filibuster" began appearing in American legislative debates in the 1850s.
In the early years of the Senate, there was no formal process to end debate and force a vote, which allowed for the use of filibusters to "talk a bill to death". In 1806, the Senate stopped using a motion that allowed for a simple majority to end debate, inadvertently giving senators the right to unlimited debate. This change paved the way for the filibuster as we know it today.
Over time, the filibuster has been used by senators on both sides of the aisle to delay or block votes on controversial issues. Some notable examples include Wisconsin senator Robert La Follette's filibuster in 1917 to demand free speech during wartime, and South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond's filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
In 1917, the Senate adopted its first cloture rule, which enabled debate to be ended by a two-thirds supermajority vote. However, obtaining such a majority was difficult, and filibusters remained an effective tool to block legislation. In 1975, the Senate reduced the requirement to three-fifths of all sitting senators (60 votes), making it easier to break filibusters.
Today, the filibuster is often criticised for slowing down the legislative process and entangling the Senate in procedural manoeuvring instead of substantive debate and lawmaking. There have been increasing calls for its elimination or reform, especially given its historical use to block civil rights legislation and voting reforms. However, others defend the filibuster as a protector of political minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
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Cloture votes
The US Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate. However, Senate rules allow individual senators to speak for as long as they want about almost anything. Senators have used this privilege to block unwelcome legislation through a tactic called a filibuster.
To counter this, the Senate adopted the cloture rule in 1917, enabling debate to be ended by a two-thirds supermajority vote. In 1975, the requirement was changed to three-fifths of all sitting senators, or 60 votes, to make breaking filibusters easier. This has effectively become the minimum number of votes needed to pass a law.
Senate Vote #124 on March 13, 2025, was a motion to invoke cloture. While not all votes are meant to pass legislation, this vote was related to a bill. The motion was agreed to with the required three-fifths majority.
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Exceptions to the filibuster rule
The filibuster is a tactic used in the United States Senate to delay or block a vote on a measure by preventing debate on it from ending. The Senate's rules place few restrictions on debate, allowing senators to speak for as long as they wish. This is known as the right of unlimited debate.
Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate allows the Senate to vote to limit debate by invoking cloture on the pending question. In most cases, this requires a majority of three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn (60 votes if there is no more than one vacancy), so a minority of senators can block a measure, even if it has the support of a simple majority.
There are, however, exceptions to the filibuster rule. Here are some notable examples:
- Budget Reconciliation Process: Congress's annual budget reconciliation process requires only a simple majority vote and cannot be filibustered. This is specified in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
- Trade Agreements: Trade agreements negotiated using fast-track rules cannot be filibustered.
- Military and Arms Sales: Measures involving military base closures or arms sales are exempt from the filibuster rule.
- Presidential Appointments: In 2013, Democrats changed the Senate rules to enable the confirmation of executive branch positions, including the cabinet, and non-Supreme Court judicial nominations with a simple majority.
- Federal Judgeships: Procedural changes adopted in 2013 and 2017 mean that only a simple majority is required to confirm federal judgeships, bypassing the filibuster.
- Time Limitations: Certain types of legislation have specific time limitations for debate, eliminating the need for cloture to cut off debate.
Between 1969 and 2014, 161 exceptions to the filibuster's supermajority requirement were created, according to an analysis by Molly Reynolds of the Brookings Institution.
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The 60-vote requirement as a hurdle
The 60-vote requirement in the Senate, also known as the cloture rule, has become a significant hurdle in the legislative process, particularly for controversial or partisan issues. This requirement, which came into effect in 1975, mandates a three-fifths majority (60 votes) to end debate and bring a bill to a final vote. While it was intended to make breaking filibusters easier, it has had the unintended consequence of making filibustering more common and effective.
The cloture rule has been invoked successfully multiple times in recent years, indicating that achieving 60 votes is indeed possible but challenging. However, several key initiatives, such as protecting voting rights, guaranteeing access to abortion services, addressing sex-based wage discrimination, and investigating significant events like the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, have failed to clear this hurdle.
The 60-vote requirement has significant implications for the legislative agenda of the majority party, especially when the Senate is closely divided. For example, after the 2020 elections, the slim Democratic majority in the Senate, relying on Vice President Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote, faced obstacles in advancing their agenda due to Republican filibusters requiring 60 votes to overcome.
The increased use of the filibuster, which has escalated beyond its traditional use for only the most controversial issues, has contributed to a slowdown in Senate business. Critics argue that the chamber becomes entangled in procedural manoeuvring instead of substantive debate and lawmaking. This has led to calls for filibuster reform or even its elimination, with some characterising it as a "'Jim Crow' relic" that has been used to block civil rights legislation.
While there are exceptions to the filibuster rule, such as in presidential appointments and budget reconciliation processes, the 60-vote requirement remains a significant hurdle for passing legislation in the Senate. It poses a challenge to any incoming president's policy agenda and has become a contentious issue in partisan politics.
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The 60-vote requirement and the budget reconciliation process
The US Constitution does not explicitly require 60 votes in the Senate to pass a bill. However, the 60-vote requirement has become the de facto minimum for passing legislation in the Senate due to the filibuster rule. The filibuster allows senators to indefinitely delay a bill without supermajority support, requiring 60 votes to invoke cloture and end the debate. This rule has been used increasingly in recent years, often bringing business in the chamber to a halt.
The budget reconciliation process is a special legislative procedure created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. It allows for the expedited consideration of certain tax, spending, and debt limit legislation. Reconciliation bills are not subject to filibuster and can pass with a simple majority vote, making it an attractive option for advancing controversial fiscal measures.
The reconciliation process has been used most frequently when the same party controls the presidency, the House, and the Senate but lacks the 60-vote majority in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. It has been used to pass high-priority legislation that might otherwise be blocked by the minority party. For example, Republicans used reconciliation to pass a tax law during the Trump administration that slashed the corporate tax rate and gave tax breaks to the top 1%.
While reconciliation offers a way to bypass the 60-vote requirement, it has limitations. Reconciliation bills must affect the federal budget by changing expenditures or revenues, and these changes cannot be merely incidental to the policy changes in the bill. Additionally, the scope of amendments is limited, and the debate time is fixed at 20 hours, after which unanimous consent is required to extend.
In summary, while the US Constitution does not mandate 60 votes in the Senate, the filibuster rule has effectively created this requirement for most legislation. The budget reconciliation process provides a mechanism to bypass the filibuster and pass certain bills with a simple majority, but it is limited in scope and subject to specific procedural rules.
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Frequently asked questions
No, the US Constitution does not explicitly require 60 votes in the Senate.
While a simple majority of 51 votes is required for a bill to pass in the Senate, there is a catch. Before it can get to a vote, it takes 60 votes to cut off debate and bring bills to a final vote, which is why 60 votes are considered the de facto minimum for passing legislation in the Senate.
A filibuster is a tactic used to delay or block a vote on a bill by extending the debate indefinitely. The Senate filibuster was traditionally reserved for only the most controversial issues, but its use has escalated in recent years.
A cloture vote is a vote to end all debate on a bill and put it to an immediate vote. Cloture requires 60 votes to pass.
