Sen. John Thune of South Dakota pledged to defend the filibuster rule, which requires at least 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate, during his first few minutes of floor time as Senate majority leader.
“One of my priorities as leader will be to ensure that the Senate stays the Senate,” Thune stated. “That means preserving the legislative filibuster, the Senate rule that today has perhaps the greatest impact on preserving the founders’ visions of the United States Senate.”
Thune’s remarks were made shortly after the Senate adjourned to start a new session.
Vice President Kamala Harris swore in all 32 senators elected in November, including 12 freshmen, during the opening of the new Congress. Some of these senators contributed to the establishment of a new Republican majority in the upper house.
Republicans hold a three-seat majority in this new Senate with 53 seats, which gives them a comfortable advantage in confirming President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to the federal bench and his Cabinet, as these nominations only need 50 votes to be confirmed.
However, under current Senate rules, legislation must receive 60 votes to pass. The majority of legislative issues will need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats or independents who caucus with Democrats if Thune is able to fulfill his pledge to enforce this rule. It keeps the upper chamber focused on compromise.
In his remarks on Friday afternoon, Thune reiterated his pledge to respect the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, which Democrats tried in vain to circumvent in order to enact voting rights legislation in 2022. Thune has since stated on the floor that he included the protection of the filibuster in his bid to become majority leader.
However, it is noteworthy that Thune, who will undoubtedly be criticized by Trump for failing to advance his legislative agenda quickly, decided to use his first moments as the Senate’s Republican leader to reaffirm his dedication to the 60-vote threshold.
In 2018, his first year in office and with the Senate controlled by Republicans, Trump tried to persuade them to abandon the legislative filibuster rule.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s majority leader at the time, stopped the Senate from doing so. In a similar vein, Democrats indicated last year that they would consider looking into changing the rule if they were able to maintain Senate control, which they were unable to do.
According to Thune’s remarks on the floor today, he will not give in to Trump should the president-elect become irate over the Senate’s slow progress on legislation without Democratic support and launch another pressure campaign to amend the rule.
“Unfortunately, today there are a lot of people out there who would like to see the Senate turn into a copy of the House of Representatives, and that is not what our founders intended or what our country needs,” Thune said.
A procedural tool known as budget reconciliation, which only needs a simple majority of votes to pass the chamber, will allow Republicans to try to enact significant policy changes without any Democratic support. However, it will also be difficult to put together a reconciliation package because of the extremely narrow GOP majority in the House.
60 votes will be needed to pass all other legislation.
According to Thune, the Senate has a long list of goals for the 119th Congress, which includes talks about larger government funding, border security, tax reform, and defense spending changes.
Using a history of bipartisan victories, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in this new Senate, stated that Democrats will try to cooperate with Republicans whenever feasible.
“I want to work with the new Republican leader to keep that bipartisan streak going in the new year,” Schumer stated. “I don’t expect we will agree on everything or even many things, but there will still be opportunities to improve the lives of the American people if we are willing to work together.”
Democrats are prepared to move on after the election, according to Schumer, who frequently denounced Trump before the 2024 election.
“For first time in a long time, the next president will be someone we’ve seen before: President-elect Trump will return to the Oval Office,” Schumer stated.
I want to take a moment on the first day of the 119th Congress to discuss how Senate Democrats plan to spend the next two years. To put it succinctly, Democrats are united not because of who they oppose but rather because of what they stand for: the American people.
Additionally, he congratulated Thune on taking over as majority leader.
McConnell, who led the Senate Republican Conference for eighteen years before resigning, is replaced by Thune. Thune was elected party leader in November, but his first day as leader was Friday.
As their new leader, Thune promised to “work every day” to earn the confidence his party members have placed in him.