WASHINGTON — The new Senate Republican majority promises to leave the filibuster in place, retaining the 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation — even if it stands in the way of the Trump agenda it hopes to advance.
Shortly after he was elected as the next majority leader, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., responded clearly and unequivocally when he was asked Wednesday whether the filibuster would remain unchanged on his watch.
“Yes,” he told reporters.
In interviews this week, several Republican senators representing various ideological factions said they support preserving the filibuster rule as they prepare to take full control of Washington with President-elect Donald Trump back in the White House, a Senate majority of 52 or 53 seats and a narrow House majority.
“I think there’s unanimity that the filibuster is important. So I don’t think that’s controversial,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who ran unsuccessfully for majority leader, said Tuesday.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he’s committed to protecting the filibuster — and won’t be persuaded by Trump or others.
“No. No. No. We need to keep the filibuster,” Tuberville said.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he “absolutely” supports preserving the 60-vote threshold, even if Trump revives his demands to nix it — as he unsuccessfully pushed the GOP to do during his first term.
“Senators have a tendency to defend their power, just like everybody else does. I don’t know a lot of wimps in the United States Senate,” Cramer said. “I think we’ve all lived through the possibility of losing the filibuster as a tool to defend. And I would be surprised if there were enough Republicans who thought that we should change it now.”
Democrats didn’t share the Republican commitment to preserving the filibuster when they controlled Congress. In 2022, they pursued a carve-out to the 60-vote rule to pass national voting rights legislation by a majority vote. They fell two votes short of changing the rules, although they signaled they’d revisit that push to pass abortion rights if they won the 2024 election.
Republicans are less eager to pierce the filibuster, in part because some of their biggest priorities are already exempt from the 60-vote rule. They include confirming judges and Cabinet nominees, which require simple majorities. Other priorities of cutting taxes and modifying spending laws can be achieved through the 51-vote budget “reconciliation” process in the Senate.
In fact, Republicans hope to kick off that process by advancing a budget resolution early in January, even before Trump is inaugurated, two senior GOP aides told NBC News. That measure would enable them to pass some of their top priorities on a party-line basis once Trump takes office, including extending Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts, delivering more funds for border security and other measures.
Conservative senators also see the 60-vote rule as a backstop against Democrats’ passing their most ambitious progressive priorities when they eventually regain power. Those senators believe their party has more to lose than to gain if there’s no supermajority requirement.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he supports keeping the filibuster “forever — for the length of the republic.”
“If we wanted to take over the country and … get what we want, we’d get rid of the filibuster,” Paul said.
Instead, he said, the GOP will accept that it must govern at “a much slower pace” and not be able to “transform the country” in a hurry.
“Other than one or two things that will pass under the budget reconciliation, most things are going to take 60 votes,” he said.
The filibuster didn’t come up Tuesday in the Senate Republican forum where they heard from candidates for leadership positions, senators in the room said.
Preserving the filibuster means a series of must-pass measures, like government funding, a farm bill and a debt ceiling extension, are subject to 60 Senate votes. The GOP has clinched 52 seats with just Pennsylvania still too close to call, NBC News projects. That means Democrats will have a substantial say on those measures.
“Neither chamber will have an overwhelming majority, and these spending bills will be a bipartisan product,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Appropriations Committee chair, who will become vice chair when Democrats relinquish power on Jan. 3.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has threatened to resign from the Senate if Republicans kill the filibuster, said he remains confident the party will preserve it in the second Trump administration.
“I don’t think that changes,” Tillis said.
Outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters after the election that “the filibuster will stand” in the new era of Republican control. (While he won’t be in leadership, McConnell has said he’ll finish out the remaining two years of his Senate term as a rank-and-file member.)
Paul said Republicans will accept the limitations of the legislative filibuster even when it hinders their goals, like restricting abortion.
“You’ve got people going, ‘Oh, my goodness, the Republicans are going to have a ban on abortion.’ But you know why there won’t be a ban on abortion? Because of the filibuster,” Paul said. “So there actually is a very much a high-minded purpose behind the filibuster. Those of us who are for it now in the majority should get some credit from the left who says, oh, we’re all Hitler and we’re all wanting to destroy democracy. No, we’re actually giving a voice to Democrats to make sure that Republicans don’t win every battle.”
