EXPLAINER: Why is filibuster such a barrier to voting bill?

By BRIAN SLODYSKO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the fifth time in recent months, Senate Republicans this week are expected to block Democrats’ sweeping voting legislation by using a longstanding parliamentary tactic known as the filibuster. Democrats lament that Senate rules give outsize power to the chamber’s minority to “filibuster” the priorities of the majority. Yet they are hardly alone in their complaints about the tactic, which has been used since the 1800s to block civil rights legislation.