To institute a rule change it was supposed to take 67 votes at the time which was the filibuster rule. But they Democrats who were a 60 vote plus majority at the time. Also, 17 Senators didn't vote at all on such an important issue.
Can anyone get a roll call vote looked up and see who opposed, I'm sure Goldwater, Helms, and Allen from Alabama opposed. I'm sure Byrd, Kennedy, Biden, Inoway, and Leahy voted yes. Don't know who the 17 Senators who took a dive that allowed 2/3 approval.
Senate Votes Easier Cutoff Of Filibuster; Senate Passes Compromise Easing Cutoff of Filibusters
By Spencer Rich, Washington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Mar 8, 1975. pg. A1, 2 pgs
Document types: front_page
Text Word Count 1338
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist Paper 76 that the Senate's role is to refuse nominations only for ``special and strong reasons'' having to do with ``unfit characters.''
Please note the last two words "UNFIT CHARACTERS."
Apparently the abstainers were motivated from voting.
Google turned up this tid bit:
A Change in the Cloture Rule
The Democratic Party scored significant gains in the congressional elections of 1974. The large numbers of new Democrats elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives were in a reformist mood, and one of the things they wanted to reform was Congress itself.
In 1975 in the Senate, the number of votes required to cloture a filibuster was reduced from 2/3 to 3/5, from 67 votes to 60 votes if all senators were present and voting. It was believed that this lowered number of votes required for cloture would make it more difficult to sustain a filibuster in future debates, and the end result would be the Senate would have an "easier time" enacting civil rights bills.
This new cloture rule did not reduce the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, however. In fact, if anything, it appeared to make the filibuster a more acceptable legislative weapon, even for non-southerners. Groups of senators began to filibuster non-civil rights bills, thus requiring the Senate leadership to produce a 3/5 vote or give up on the particular bill in question. Senators found filibusters to be a particularly effective way to kill bills they opposed late in the legislative session when there was little time remaining and the leadership was anxious to enact more important bills prior to adjournment.
Michael Medved today: "Dingey Harry was bloviating today about Jefferson and Washington chatting over coffee. Unbelievable silly story, but the real joke is that COFFEE WASN'T SERVED IN THE CONTINENTAL US until a hundred years later." (..rough paraphrase).
Funny how Sheets, the Dean of the Senate (as opposed to the lunatic Dean of Vermont), conveniently forgot this!!!
(I'm sure he was going to bring it up, but Frist hasn't allowed him enough time).
I would really like to know who those 17 were and do any remain there now.
Now why do I have a funny feeling that the kook mccain will be on that list?
In 1975 the Senators changed the filibuster requirement from 67 votes to 60, after concluding that it only takes a simple majority of Senators to change the rules governing their proceedings. As Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) said at the time: "We cannot allow a minority" of the senators "to grab the Senate by the throat and hold it there." Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Byrd, and Biden, all agreed. Nearly a decade ago, Lloyd Cutler, the former White House Counsel to Presidents Carter and Clinton, concluded that the Senate Rule requiring a super-majority vote to change the rule is "plainly unconstitutional."
filibuster: from the French; "filbustier", n. meaning "pirate, freebooter, buccaneer, brigand."
I think Rush has already talked about this.
This was the rule change in the 70's (submitted by Byrd?) that reduced the number of Senate votes needed to invoke cloture from 2/3 to 3/5.
"The Senate approved a historic change in the filibuster rule last night after seven weeks of angry debate. It voted 56 to 27 to reduce the number of senators needed to cut off a filibuster from two-thirds of those present and voting to a permanent "constitutional" three-fifths (60 senators)."
This change was even more extreme than it seems at first glance... it did not merely change the cloture threshold from 67 to 60... it changed it from a RELATIVE PERCENTAGE to an ABSOLUTE PERSENTAGE!
Note the phrase "two-thirds of those present and voting". That meant that cloture could be voted by as few as 34 Senators... two-thirds of the official Senate Quorum of 51 Senators!!! They didn't LOWER THE BAR... they RAISED IT!
The Washington Post was spinning the truth even in 1975. This article should read:
"The Senate approved a historic change in the filibuster rule last night after seven weeks of angry debate. It voted 56 to 27 to INCREASE the number of senators needed to cut off a filibuster from two-thirds of those present and voting, (34 senators of the Senate's quorum of 51), to a permanent "constitutional" three-fifths (60 senators)."
So sorry but you have the wrong example. Apparently what happened was that the rule was changed by a majority vote and then the Senate went back and fixed it up with a revote to get the two-third vote.
I don't think their is enough good will left in the Senate to do that this time.
Rush talked about this this week. The change from 67 votes to 60 rule change.
Meeky, have you seen this??????