Thune rejects Trump’s push to end Senate filibuster

KENT NISHIMURA/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 21. Thune has made preserving the legislative filibuster a central tenet of his tenure, although he has weakened it with several maneuvers.

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump late Thursday renewed his call to eliminate the filibuster to force through legislation ending the government shutdown, but his plea is unlikely to get much traction among the Republicans who control the Senate.

Many Republicans, particularly more senior members, fear that any weakening of the signature Senate rule that requires most legislation to win 60 votes would backfire spectacularly if Democrats regained control. They worry it could lead to a deluge of progressive legislation they would be unable to block, including statehood for the District of Columbia and with it two new Democratic senators.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the majority leader, has made preserving the legislative filibuster a central tenet of his tenure, though he has already weakened it with a rules change to speed confirmations and by stretching the reach of special filibuster-proof tax and spending bills, among other steps.

Earlier in October, Thune reiterated that he would oppose a change that would enable Republicans to bulldoze past Democratic opposition and pass a stopgap spending bill on a simple majority vote. But he has come under mounting pressure from some on the right, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

A Thune spokesperson said today that “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”

Even if he tried to get rid of the filibuster to appease Trump, Thune might lack the votes to do so. Multiple Senate Republicans have indicated an unwillingness to overturn the 60-vote legislative threshold using what is known as the “nuclear option,” in which the majority party changes the chamber’s rules with a simple majority, party-line vote.

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Trump was adamant as he returned from his trip to Asia, urging Thune and his colleagues to act.

“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Under the current rules, at least 60 senators must agree to a final vote on any major legislation, including a spending bill that would reopen the government. Republicans hold 53 seats, and three Democratic-aligned senators have consistently joined them in voting to advance a stopgap spending bill, while one of their own, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has repeatedly voted no. Without more defections, Republicans remain short of the 60-vote margin, prompting Trump’s push to rewrite the rules.

Advocates of doing so have argued that the change could be written narrowly to cover specific bills. But in reality, any change in the filibuster rules in the Senate, which operates according to precedent, would effectively end it for all bills. Opponents have suggested it would be a drastic move for such a limited win as a stopgap spending bill.

The president pushed multiple times during his first term to neuter the filibuster when Republicans controlled Congress. But Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who was the majority leader at the time, refused. McConnell had made deploying the filibuster against Democrats a hallmark of his career.

Senate Democrats in 2022 sought to end the 60-vote threshold on election-related measures but came up short when two of their members, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, sided with Republicans against changing the rules.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company

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