Word: metzenbaum
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...with the House. He also saw the filibuster as a threat to his developing reputation for running the Senate briskly and feared that the Senate would end up with no natural gas bill at all. The filibuster leaders, South Dakota's James Abourezk and Ohio's Howard Metzenbaum, thought they were helping Carter to get an effective energy bill...
Carter's position was more complex. Presumably anxious to get his program moving, he did not want to discourage such supporters as Abourezk and Metzenbaum, but he also did not want to step on Byrd's leadership prerogatives. In the end, he apparently failed to communicate to anyone his desires on whether to end the filibuster...
...cloture vote for Monday, Sept. 26. (Under Senate rules, this would limit debate on the subject to one hour for each Senator and bar any new amendments.) But Abourezk spotted a loophole in Byrd's strategy: old amendments could still be called up for action. So Partner Metzenbaum put his staff to work all weekend writing 508 amendments, mostly technical, which he filed only hours before the Senators voted 77 to 17 for closure. Then he and Abourezk insisted that each amendment be voted on separately by roll call, a process that takes about 15 minutes for each measure...
...listening for the bell that signaled roll calls. After several votes that were made harrowingly close by the absence of heavy sleepers, Byrd ordered aides to compile a roster of Senators, listing the nooks and hallways where they were catnapping, so they could be roused in time. Abourezk and Metzenbaum spelled each other occasionally and consented to several brief meal-and-shower breaks for their colleagues during the all-night session...
...find a solution." The one he found was a proposal by Henry ("Scoop") Jackson to raise the price ceiling to $2.03-higher than the Carter plan but lower than what decontrol advocates figured the free-market price would be ($2.75 to $3.25). Byrd won the approval of Abourezk and Metzenbaum for the Jackson compromise. But the Senators who favor decontrol refused to go along. To block the compromise -and prevent a move to freeze prices at the current ceiling-they began their own talk fest. Said Louisiana Democrat Russell Long: "A filibuster is an act of piracy. So if there...