Assigment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assigment 2 - Essay Example The Texas State Senate and United States Senate allow their members to filibuster bills. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences between Texas state senate and United States senate filibustering. Similarities In the US, filibustering is a powerful legislative tool and it has been used to influence many senate proceedings and outcomes. For instance in the united states senate, most major legislations require over 60% votes before being nominated for a house debate. While filibustering may be viewed as a democratic move in most senates, most people believe that filibustering is negative and uncalled for in any proceeding. This is evident in both the US and Texas state senate’s, where parliamentarians have created bills to stop filibustering. Filibustering has also attracted positive criticism in both the US and Texas state senate. For instance filibustering has been used to shun contentious bills from being passed without prior participation of all senate members. F or instance, the abortion bill that threatened to criminalize abortion and instruct the closure of all abortion clinics has been delayed due to the existence of filibustering in the Texas. Thus, in both the US ant Texas state senate, filibustering has positive and negative criticism. Senate Rule XXII, the US state senate allows certain senators to prolong a bill or a speech for as long as they can. The law recognizes the necessity to prolong certain bills. This is usually true in both the US and Texas senate. In the US senate, prolong a house debate was an open practice until the house of representative passed a permanent rule in 1842 to limit the length of debates. Similar measures have been taken in the Texas state senate to regulate house debates. There are many uncertainties in filibustering bills as administered in both senates. The main issue attached to filibustering, is the determination of the length of a debate. According to critics, it is impossible to determine or out ru le, the length of a bill based on the filibustering policy. For instance, it is impossible to define how long a long speech is. Lack of a clear-cut definition on the length of a debate has been applied by critics to shoot down filibustering bills. Lack of clear-cut policies on filibustering is evident in both the US and Texas state senate. The passage of filibustering legislations has not been welcomed by most senators who use lengthy discussions or debates to prevent or influence the passage of bills. The issue of filibustering is commonly associated with US politics. In both the Texas and US senates, republicans are believed to be the main filibusters. The political association is historic and it has minimal implication on bill passage. However, senate proceedings are influenced by the US senate. More so, the bill of rights and other contentious issues are often ruled out depending on political affiliations. The rules of both houses are clear on the issue of filibustering and neit her of the houses identifies filibustering as a political issue. Indeed, both senates recognize filibustering as important in any proceedings. The cause of filibustering in both the US and Texas senate are similar and they are protected by the law. For instance the in the US senate, most common filibustering occur when a senator attempts to delay or obstruct a vote or a bill. On such