The 60-vote advantage is also important because it will make it far more difficult for Republicans to block passage of bills through a filibuster, in which senators tie up the floor in long speeches to prevent a vote.
VOA: standard.2009.06.30
Indeed, the block was formed in 1967 partly to tie Indonesia down in a Lilliputian web of regional commitments.
Now there are people who believe it was an honest-to-goodness charge and people who believe it was not a charge, arguing that the Michigan defender was not set, and the proper call would have been a block, sending the Orange to the line with a chance to tie.