19. The Senate uses the filibuster almost constantly these years, thus requiring at least sixty votes (ten more than a majority) to pass legislation. “The forty senators from the twenty smallest states represent a population base of 10 percent! In the Clinton era, this means even senators who represent 90 percent of the population are not enough by themselves to pass a bill...” Tom Geoghegan, “The Infernal Senate,” New Republic, November 21, 1994.