Republican majorities in both houses of the US Congress will Donald Trump power to achieve many of his goals when he is sworn in as president, but when he is blocked, expect to hear the F word.

This is the “filibuster,” the Senate rule that requires 60 of the House’s 100 members to agree to pass a majority of legislation. President-elect Trump’s party will be able to bypass him on some issues — such as tax cuts — but efforts to rewrite immigration laws or dismantle government departments will face challenges.

Here is an explanation of the obstruction:

WHAT IS FILIBUSTER?

To “filibuster” is to delay action on a bill or other issue by speaking.

The Senate filibuster first captured the American imagination in Frank Capra’s 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” when Jimmy Stewart’s character spoke for more than a day before collapsing from exhaustion.

There is no filibuster provision in the US Constitution. But by the 1800s, long speeches were a common dilatory tactic in the Senate. In 1917, senators agreed that a two-thirds majority could end debate. This threshold proved difficult to reach and in 1975, the Senate lowered the threshold to the current three-fifths, 60 votes.

Under Senate rules, a filibuster can only be stopped if 60 senators vote to end debate in a process called cloture. Neither party has reached a 60-member majority since 1979, and the Republican majority will be well below that.

ARE FILIBUSTERS A COMMON TACTIC?

Yes, more and more. In 2021-2022, a record 336 removal motions were filed in the Senate to remove filibusters. Compare that to 68 filed in 2005-06 and just one in 1959-60. The number of filibusters has fallen during the current two-year session, with 238 filed from 2023 to September 2024, when Congress adjourned.

WHAT IS THE LONGEST FILIBUSTER SPEECH?

Groups of senators have banded together to delay work on individual bills for days or weeks. But the longest continuous speech by a single senator is 24 hours and 18 minutes in 1957 by Senator Strom Thurmond, a segregationist opposed to civil rights legislation.

More recently, it has become rare for a single senator to take the floor and talk and talk and talk. Instead, a senator or group of senators announces that they will try to prevent a bill from passing through a filibuster. But they come and go from the room in the middle of short speeches or “quorum calls” where nothing happens on the floor other than a clerk calling out the roll.

WHAT DID THE DEMOCRATS TRY TO DO?

Frustrated Democrats have floated a slew of ideas to change the filibuster rule. One proposal was to require senators who oppose a bill to stay on the floor and actually debate it.

In early 2022, the Senate defeated a Democratic move to change the rules and require a “speaking filibuster” amid a push for expanded voting rights legislation.

Two senators who were then Democrats voted with all Republicans to defeat this rule change.

Democrats have also threatened to suspend the filibuster to pass a bill guaranteeing abortion rights after the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade.

WHAT WILL THE REPUBLICANS DO?

When he was president for four years starting in 2017, Trump feared that he and his fellow Republicans would be impeached by voters if they failed to implement his agenda because of Democratic opposition. But then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell balked at the idea of ​​changing the filibuster rule and was supported by his own ranks.

McConnell, however, ended the filibuster against Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, years after Democrats banned it for all other presidential nominations that need Senate confirmation.

McConnell, 82, is stepping down from his leadership role next year. Republican senators chose Sen. John Thune to succeed them, and Thune said he would defend the practice. It was unclear whether Trump might try to sway Republican senators in the other direction.

DOES THE HOUSE HAVE A FILIBUSTER RULE?

Not. With 435 members, the US House of Representatives has strict limits on debate, which makes it easier for the majority party to pass legislation.

Defenders of the Senate filibuster argue that it is the “cooling saucer” of the intemperate House and gives more voice to minority views. And that, they argue, is what makes the Senate “the greatest deliberative body in the world,” a claim that many senators now scoff at in this increasingly partisan and sometimes atrophied chamber.

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