Season: 2
Episode: 39
Title: The Stackhouse Filibuster
Aired: March 14, 2001
Story by: Pete McCabe
Teleplay by: Aaron Sorkin
Directed by: Bryan Gordon
The President's (Martin Sheen) staff waits impatiently for elderly but stubborn Senator Howard Stackhouse (George Coe) to yield the floor as he stages a marathon filibuster hoping to stave off a vote on Bartlet's Family Wellness Act bill. Meanwhile, Toby (Richard Schiff) is leery of the Vice President's (Tim Matheson) sudden interest in supporting another bill tightening fuel-emission standards. Donna (Janel Moloney) discovers that Stackhouse is holding out for more money for autism research, and that his grandson is autistic. Knowing the truth, the staff decide to help out the Senator and make his act worthwhile.
Elsewhere: C.J. (Allison Janney) anxiously paws through her memory as she seeks to locate a missing ceramic cat statue given to the President by a Mideastern potentate who expects to see it displayed during his upcoming visit; Josh (Bradley Whitford) strains to finish business in time to catch a flight for a weekend visit to the spring-training camp of the New York Mets in Florida.
Quotes:
"Mr. Vice President, what do you know that I don't?"-Toby Ziegler
"Toby, the total tonnage of what I know that you don't could stun a team of oxen in its tracks."- Vice President Hoynes