Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans will discuss whether to enforce the talking filibuster rule to break a Democratic blockade on a GOP election integrity bill, but he advised to consider “ramifications.”
The Senate rules allow for two ways to break a filibuster. The one the modern Senate uses is filing cloture to end debate, a procedural vote that requires 60 votes for the legislation under consideration to advance.
The alternative that some GOP senators want to enforce is requiring any senator or group of senators wanting to block a bill to hold the floor and talk. When the talking filibuster concludes, the Senate can proceed to a simple majority vote.
Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, said enforcing the talking filibuster rule creates “an opportunity cost.”
“It ties up the floor indefinitely, so it means you’re not doing other things,” he said. “There’s some important things that we want to do — housing reform, market structure, permitting reform, maybe AI, farm bill, highway bill. … The coin of the realm in the Senate is floor time, so you have to decide how you’re going to prioritize it.”
The renewed debate about the talking filibuster is coming in the context of a GOP push to enact the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a recently revamped bill to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and an ID to cast a ballot.
Some House Republicans had threatened to block a government funding package if the election integrity measure was not attached, but ultimately dropped that demand after President Trump and Senate Republicans told them of the plan to use the talking filibuster.
Republican Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Tim Burchett of Tennessee told reporters after the discussions that Mr. Thune would consider using the talking filibuster, also sometimes called a standing filibuster, to pass the SAVE America Act.
“We are hearing that that is going well, and that he is considering that,” Ms. Luna said.
She doubled down on social media, saying if Mr. Thune goes forward with the talking filibuster plan and succeeds, he would go down in history “as one of the best leaders the Senate has ever had.”
“Voter ID is a must, and the ball is now in your court,” Ms. Luna said.
Mr. Thune said he has not made any commitments about using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, which he supports.
“I made a commitment to have a conversation about it with our members and try and find out where the consensus of the Republican conference is,” he said.
