When the GOP rules, a filibuster means you stand, keep talking, don't pee, don't eat, don't dare...

[Faryn Balyncd]

20. The US Senate rules are what they are because the Democratic leadership gave the GOP minority ...

... rules which allow the GOP to obstruct any bill it wants, 365 days a year, with simply the threat of filibuster.

And to do it without having to ever actually filibuster, and without haviong to be reported in the news as filibustering.

All they have to do is have the votes to prevent cloture of debate.

During the years when Senate rules led to actual filibusters, filibusters were relatively rare precisely because of the political costs associated with them. Only the current Senate rules & customs allow 40% of the Senate to block cloture of a potential filibuster, and, ever more importantly, allow that 40% to routinely do so without actually filibustering.

Yes, the U. S. Senate has different rules than the Texas Senate.

That's the whole point.

The current U. S. Senate rules, which allow Republicans the benefits of obstruction without the political costs they would pay under historical rules, remain in place because of a spineless and complicit Democratic Senate leadership.