(CNSNews.com) – Republican senators who oppose the $819 billion economic stimulus plan passed in the House Wednesday declined to say whether they personally would lead a filibuster to try to stop the legislation in the Senate. But they said a filibuster is an option and they are developing a strategy to stop the bill.
The House bill passed 244 to 188. No Republicans voted for the legislation and 11 Democrats also opposed it. As this story went to press, GOP senators indicated they were working on a coordinated plan with Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and that a filibuster is a possible part of that plan.
“I think its going to take 60 votes to pass the bill,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) told CNSNews.com, indicating the likelihood of a filibuster. It takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster, which occurs when a senator blocks legislation by refusing to yield the floor.
“Whatever we can do, whether offering amendments, whether voting against the bill because it could not be amended, or whatever parliamentary possibilities are in front of us we will explore because this isn’t about playing the game,” Sen. Kyl told CNSNews.com when asked whether he would filibuster the bill or encourage his colleagues to do so.
Kyl and 10 other GOP senators participated in a press conference Thursday in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the stimulus bill’s content. They also said it was highly unlikely that Democrats would allow the bill to be altered before it was voted on.
“There are methods that can be used to make sure we have enough debate on the issue,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told CNSNews.com when asked if he personally would filibuster the bill. “I can’t think of a more pressing issue before the American people to use all the tools that are available.”
“I would be a part of it,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said when CNSNews.com asked him if he personally would participate in a filibuster. “We are going to put forth an effort we all agree on, and I will be a part of it.”
According to Senate rules, the only way a filibuster in progress can be broken is if a super-majority of three-fifths of the Senate (60 Senators when all 100 seats are filled) vote to file cloture on the bill in question and bring it to the floor for debate. (Cloture is a parliamentary term, meaning to end debate by calling for a vote.)
On Thursday, Republican senators also said they were unsure whether they would have the votes to stop a filibuster from being broken, or prevent cloture from being filed on the stimulus bill.
“I don’t know, but unless some changes are made there are going to be a lot of people voting against it [the stimulus bill],” Sessions told CNSNews.com. “I think a lot of Democrats have got to feel uneasy about this. They have got to be wrestling with their consciences.”
“I think we have the truth and facts on our side,” said Wicker. “I haven’t counted them [the votes], but there have been many concepts in the past that seemed to be on their way towards passage in the House and the Senate, and the American people started contacting their representatives and the situation seemed to change.”
The Democratic leadership meanwhile, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y), and Sen. Pattie Murray (D-Wash.), who held a simultaneous press conference two floors below the Republicans’ press conference in the Capitol, expressed confidence that the bill would pass through the Senate.
“The train is on the tracks,” said Murray.
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