| Congress | Years | Motions Filed* | Votes on Cloture* | Cloture Invoked* | Successful Filibuster** | Senate Majority*** | Republican Filibuster | Democrat Filibuster | |
| 111 | 2009-2010 | 75 | 44 | 39 | 5 | D | 5 | ||
| 110 | 2007-2008 | 139 | 112 | 61 | 51 | D | 51 | ||
| 109 | 2005-2006 | 68 | 54 | 34 | 20 | R | 20 | ||
| 108 | 2003-2004 | 62 | 49 | 12 | 37 | R | 37 | ||
| 107 | 2001-2002 | 72 | 61 | 34 | 27 | D | 27 | ||
| 106 | 1999-2000 | 71 | 58 | 28 | 30 | R | 30 | ||
| 105 | 1997-1998 | 69 | 53 | 18 | 35 | R | 35 | ||
| 104 | 1995-1996 | 82 | 50 | 9 | 41 | R | 41 | ||
| 103 | 1993-1994 | 80 | 46 | 14 | 32 | D | 32 | ||
| 102 | 1991-1992 | 59 | 47 | 22 | 25 | D | 25 | ||
| 101 | 1989-1990 | 37 | 24 | 11 | 13 | D | 13 | ||
| 100 | 1987-1988 | 53 | 43 | 12 | 31 | D | 31 | ||
| 99 | 1985-1986 | 40 | 23 | 10 | 13 | R | 13 | ||
| 98 | 1983-1984 | 41 | 19 | 11 | 8 | R | 8 | ||
| 97 | 1981-1982 | 31 | 30 | 10 | 20 | R | 20 | ||
| 96 | 1979-1980 | 30 | 20 | 11 | 9 | D | 9 | ||
| Total | 1009 | 733 | 336 | 397 | 193 | 204 | |||
| * Data source | |||||||||
| ** Successful filibuster = votes on cloture - cloture invoked | |||||||||
| *** Data source | |||||||||
I was recently challenged regarding my assertion that Democrats have had more successful filibusters in recent history. The source the person used for the challenge is a Washington Post article that analyses the number of cloture "motions filed" and makes the assertion that since this number is higher of late this is somehow a change in the way the senate does business.
My assertion is that over the past 3 decades the filibuster has been used successfully by both parties and in fact the democrats have had more success then the republicans in using the filibuster as a tool to block legislation.
The first point you need to understand is that a motion for cloture means nothing. It is the actual vote for cloture that is important.
The next point is that in order for a filibuster to be blocked the senate has to vote (60 votes required today) to "invoke cloture" (stop debate) thus ending the filibuster.
If you look at the data from the Senate website you will see that going back to the 96th congress the democrats have had 204 successful filibusters while the republicans have had 193 successful filibusters.
I also find it interesting that the same people complaining about the filibuster are also talking about the tyranny of the majority.
