Update Friday, September 29th

[Stirfry]

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Someone explain why the AL Senator gets 30 minutes to filibuster.

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I don't know how it works, but if they give Byrd 40 minutes to thank nice guys for being nice guys I guess this dude gets a shot at mumbling.

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Just FYI, one of the things that differentiates the Senate from the House is that there is no set limit on a Senator's speech. The Senate is designed to be the "contemplative" body - with 100 more seasoned members, they can afford to take more time, it wouldn't work with 435 relatively green House members.

Granted, the "contemplation" that comes out now is junk, but that's the history of it. It's typically not abused, actually - when it is, that's a fillibuster.

Note that when he finished just now, he noted that he saw no one else on the floor (ie, no one was just waiting to speak), so he called a quorum call (again) just as a way of taking a recess without actually having to call a recess.

Gotta love parliamentary procedure.