Senator Zell Miller (D-Georgia) has offered legislation that would lower the threshold of a filibuster on successful cloture votes.

Currently 41 Senators can block just about any piece of legislation or nomination moving on the Senate floor. Last week, Senator Miller introduced legislation that would keep the 60-vote requirement intact on the first cloture vote. But on the second cloture vote, it would decrease to 57 votes and on the third vote, only 54 votes would be needed to break a filibuster. If a fourth vote is called a simply majority, or 51 votes, is all that would be needed.

Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut) made a similar effort in 1995, but were defeated soundly. The filibuster is the most potent weapon Senate Democrats currently have in their arsenal.