Both chambers of Arkansas' legislature passed the voter ID bill, and could override the governor's veto with simple majority votes in both the House and Senate.
While Mr. Hagel's supporters needed 60 votes to advance the nomination, they will need a simple majority of 51 votes on the separate matter of whether to approve his confirmation.
It's a type of budget maneuver that requires a simple majority -- 51 votes -- to pass.
As a result, Ornstein argued, Democratic leaders may now try to short-circuit the traditional Senate legislative process by passing a more partisan bill through an obscure tactic known as reconciliation, a type of budget maneuver that requires only a simple majority -- 51 votes -- to pass.
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Democrats hold a 55-45 advantage in the Senate and would have the votes to confirm Hagel on a simple majority, but they would need five Republican votes for the 60-vote threshold to break a GOP filibuster.
In reality, it takes a simple majority to pass legislation but 60 votes to break a filibuster.
Pope John Paul II changed the rules so that after roughly 12 days of fruitless votes, a simple majority was enough to elect a pope.
More than half the Senate voted against the CTBT, and if the ABM treaty were brought to a vote today, it too would fail to win a simple majority, let alone the 88 votes it garnered 27 years ago.
But the bill requires the votes of only a simple majority in Congress.
One of the alternatives is a parliamentary tactic known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority and can pass with only 51 votes, instead of the 60 needed to break a filibuster.
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More controversially, Republicans are talking about challenging what is arguably the most important rule in the Senate the filibuster, a delaying tactic which means that to get anything done you need 60 votes, not a simple majority of 51.
House of Representatives votes on the resolution - simple majority required.
Senate Democrats are ginning up their own procedural workaround that would allow them to approve health care with a simple 51-vote majority instead of the 60 votes normally needed to forestall a Republican filibuster.
The gist here is that Republicans want to be able to confirm President Bush's judges with a simple majority because they occasionally have trouble getting enough Democratic votes to reach 60.
The procedural agreement meant that amendments by both parties required 60 votes to advance, rather than a simple majority.
Parliament will elect South Africa's next president by a simple majority, putting Mr Zuma in line for the post when the new assembly votes in May.
In order to get the up or down vote on Owen that Republicans want, Majority Leader Frist is threatening to change the rules of the Senate so that Democrats can't require 60 votes to move on the nomination and Republicans would need just a simple majority.
However, problems immediately arose when, unable to obtain two-thirds of the votes needed to approve a new constitution, Morales announced that only a simple majority would be needed.
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