Filibusters

After a committee referral of a bill to the House of Representatives or the Senate, passing both committees, it is moved to the floor of the House and Senate.  In the House, debate is limited, but in the Senate, two tactics can be used to slow down the process of a bill, even to the point of outright killing it; the hold and the filibuster.

The hold is when a senator asks for time to be informed of a bill, preventing debate from continuing until he is given time to be consulted by a sponsor of the bill.  More interesting, however, is the filibuster due to its recent potency in Obama's first term.

A filibuster is when a senator takes the floor and presents a speech so long that a vote never takes place, or takes place after a long period of time.  It's interesting its almost comical nature -- the speech in question doesn't even have to be related to the bill.  Once a senator has the floor of Congress, he keeps it until he is finished.  The only requirement is that he is physically capable of continuing the speech.  Therefore, the most potent filibusters are those in which the speakers are the most physically fit to continue talking nonsense for as long of a time as possible.

During Obama's first term, the House was dominantly Republican.  Obama, being a democratic President, found it extremely difficult to pass any bill due to Republican filibuster blocking power.  There is only one way to stop a filibuster, and that is with the cloture rule.  Sixty senators must vote to cut off debate.  This super-majority is extremely difficult to attain, and therefore it is very difficult to stop a filibuster once it has begun.

It's a mechanism considered heavily bureaucratic and slows down congressional proceedings greatly.