Detailed text transcripts for TV channel - MSNBC - 20110121:01:39:00
Compromise agreement that lowered the cloture threshold to only 60 votes. the rule change coincided with a new system that allowed two or more pieces of legislation to be considered on the floor simultaneously. the democratic majority leader of the time, mike mansfield, thought the two-track system would make it harder for the minority to hold up senate business. instead, he wound up making a filibuster easier. now all a senator needed to do was announce an intention to filibuster and the issue would be set aside until a cloture vote could be held. this type of procedural filibuster was enacte...