Thune Comments On Trump’s Statement On The Filibuster
As the federal government staggered into its 36th day of shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — the Senate found itself at a familiar crossroads, paralyzed not only by political brinkmanship but also by an old procedural safeguard: the filibuster. Once regarded as a cornerstone of Senate deliberation, the rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation has now become a symbol of dysfunction in a deeply polarized era.
President Donald Trump, never one to defer to procedural niceties, called again this week for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster. In his view, it’s not just a relic of the past — it’s a barrier to governing. His frustration is clear: a divided Congress, a stalled agenda, and now, a government that’s ground to a halt. From the White House, Trump has made no secret of his impatience with Senate rules that empower the minority party to obstruct.
But Senate Republicans, even in the face of record-breaking gridlock, are far from unified.
Majority Leader John Thune was blunt. “It’s just not happening,” he said, after returning from a White House meeting where the president made his case. Thune acknowledged Trump’s influence but emphasized the arithmetic: the votes simply aren’t there.
It’s not just Thune holding the line. Senators like John Kennedy and Thom Tillis echoed their long-held support for the filibuster, describing it as an essential check against partisan overreach. Kennedy, with his trademark wit, reminded reporters that senators must sometimes “kill bad ideas,” while Tillis noted his stance hasn’t budged in over a decade — “too old to change now,” he quipped.
Still, cracks are forming. Senators like John Cornyn and Josh Hawley — once staunch defenders of Senate tradition — now express growing unease. For Cornyn, the shift stems from chronic legislative dysfunction, especially over appropriations. Hawley, more visceral in tone, drew a line between abstract procedural fidelity and the very real consequences of a paralyzed government. “If you’re putting me to a choice between, are people going to eat, or am I going to defend arcane filibuster rules… I’m going to choose people eating.”
This evolving sentiment reflects not just ideological drift, but a growing sense that the Senate is drifting out of step with the needs of governance itself.
Meanwhile, Democrats wasted no time seizing the narrative. On the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer hailed Tuesday night’s election results — a string of Democratic victories — as a mandate for change and a repudiation of Republican tactics. “A five-alarm fire for Donald Trump and Republicans,” he declared, demanding immediate bipartisan talks to end what he dubbed the “Republican shutdown.”
Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have renewed their call for negotiations, framing the shutdown not as a budgetary dispute but a broader crisis — one that underscores GOP infighting, procedural paralysis, and a White House at odds with its own party.
Thune, for his part, remained measured. While conceding that the shutdown may have played a role in election outcomes — especially in federal-worker-heavy Northern Virginia — he called the losses “expected.” His focus, he said, must remain on “economic issues” — the ones voters still care about, even as procedural warfare consumes the Capitol.