Clearly, the act of filibustering has become inefficient and largely irrelevant, especially since the emphasis is on endurance, not changing minds. No longer a relative legislative rarity, by the adjournment of the 111th Congress in December 2010, for example, the number of filibusters had totaled 137. Initially conceived as a way to give a voice to the minority, the act of filibustering has proved a handy tool to strangle Senate decision-making. Article content AP Photo/Eric GayĪt the same time, the display Tuesday night proved the nonsensicality of a broken Senate.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. No one stands for 13 hours - forgoing food, water and bathroom breaks - just to toe the party line. Overcome by emotion at several points throughout the day, the scene may have given merit to Rick Perry’s accusation of Davis as a “show horse,” but the Senator was undoubtedly standing up for something that she finds personally significant. Needless to say, her choice to filibuster these new abortion restrictions did not occur on a whim. Something special is happening in Austin tonight: #StandWithWendy- Barack Obama June 26, 2013ĭavis spoke to the testimony of women opposed to SB 5 (many of whom were not permitted to speak in the House of Representatives the week before), emphasizing what she called a “raw abuse of power” by Republicans to pass a bill that was in opposition to the interests of “thousands of Texans.” An advocate for women’s issues, Davis voted against a controversial 2011 Texas bill forcing women to have a sonogram before an abortion, and later co-sponsored a bill granting hospitals the resources to gather physical evidence after an alleged assault. But Tuesday evening, obviously, was her night. Elected to the Senate in 2008, Davis held a filibuster once before (for two hours, mind you) in response to a bill that would have cut education funding by $4-billion.
Wendy Davis - a teen mom from a trailer park turned Harvard Law School grad - rendered the Texas Senate captive to whether or not she leaned against her desk. Nevertheless, it’s quite remarkable how the same scene can be both uplifting at farcical at the same time. Though Governor Rick Perry would later call for an additional special legislative session to pass the abortion bill, Tuesday night (or rather, Wednesday morning), it was a victory for Davis and her supporters. The crowd erupted in what has since been dubbed the “people’s filibuster,” delaying the final vote until after the midnight deadline. With the clock ticking, Democrats took their turns at the mic, culminating with Senator Leticia Van De Putte finally asking, “At what point does a female senator need to raise her voice to be heard over the male colleagues in the room?” That was it. Shortly after 10 p.m., the GOP voted to end the filibuster on a third point of order related to the germaneness of an argument on sonograms.
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