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More on Filibusters
"In 1975 the senators changed the filibuster requirement from 67 votes to 60, after concluding that it only takes a simple majority to change the rules governing their proceedings. As Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield ([D-Mont.) said at the time: ''We cannot allow a minority'' of the senators ''to grab the Senate by the throat and hold it there.'' Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Byrd and Biden all agreed."
Nearly a decade ago, Lloyd Cutler, the former White House counsel to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, concluded that the Senate rule requiring a supermajority vote to change the rule is ''plainly unconstitutional.'"'
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