Can someone here explain FILIBUSTER & CLOTURE more thoroughly?

[lighthouse99]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/ted-cruz-marathon-speech-obamacare


I get the gist of what these terms mean, but i would like to know more about it. I have done a search, with disappointing results.

I mean, how does talking for 21 hours + as Cruz did against Obamacare--how does that keep a bill from passing? Members of Congress just get tired of it and move on?

Cloture means closure, essentially, getting a bill voted on, i guess.

The thought occurs to me that Congress likes having all these oddly-named procedures and rules so t hat maybe the people won't know too much about what they are doing (sounds like them)

Ted Cruz (at that site) knew he wouldn't win against Obamacare, but he did the filibuster anyway. Did he do it just for principles? If so, what better reason could there be?

In any case, those of us who don't have a degree in Congressology would like to know more, if there is someone here who can explain


:think:

 

[Daniel1769]

A filibuster is a procedure for stopping a bill in the Senate. The idea is that when the bill comes up for debate, a Senator that opposes it can just talk for a very long time. He could talk so long that the other Senators just give up on a bill. I've read about Senators talking for days to stop a bill. Nowadays I hear about filibusters but no one does the long speeches. They just say they are filibustering and everyone just gives up I guess. I don't know.

Cloture is when they decide to end debate and vote on the bill.