He's about 9 hours in at this point. I love it.
For the majority not in the US, the Senate business can be held up if a senator holds the floor and keeps talking for an extended period of time, unless overruled by 3/5ths of the Senate. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Unfortunately, senate rules have become lax, so someone can just say "filibuster" and it shuts down business like an actual filibuster. Unless 3/5ths vote against it, the dude who said it doesn't even have to work for it.
Rand Paul brought back the old school filibuster, standing and talking for 13 hours about drone strikes on US citizens, to hold up confirmation of a new CIA head a couple years ago. He's back at it over the Patriot Act:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?326084-1/senator-rand-paul-rky-nsa-surveillance&live
Finally, some real passion in US politics.
For the majority not in the US, the Senate business can be held up if a senator holds the floor and keeps talking for an extended period of time, unless overruled by 3/5ths of the Senate. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Unfortunately, senate rules have become lax, so someone can just say "filibuster" and it shuts down business like an actual filibuster. Unless 3/5ths vote against it, the dude who said it doesn't even have to work for it.
Rand Paul brought back the old school filibuster, standing and talking for 13 hours about drone strikes on US citizens, to hold up confirmation of a new CIA head a couple years ago. He's back at it over the Patriot Act:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?326084-1/senator-rand-paul-rky-nsa-surveillance&live
Finally, some real passion in US politics.