The top Senate Republican brushed off suggestions that he would change the chamber’s decades-old rules surrounding the filibuster in order to pass Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s election security bill, noting conversations among party members are still ongoing.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said any discussions to alter the filibuster rules were premature, telling reporters on Tuesday there “weren’t any commitments made” to do so. That contradicts what Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said the night before that the White House had “made assurances” to schedule a vote on Lee’s bill to ban noncitizens from voting in federal elections in exchange for her vote to reopen the government.
“We’ve got some members, as you know, who expressed an interest in that, so we’re going to have a conversation about it,” Thune said.
Thune warned that changing the rules to reinstate what is known as the “standing filibuster” would take up hours on the Senate floor that could be used to pass other legislation central to Republicans’ agenda. A standing filibuster differs from current rules by requiring that senators who oppose certain legislation physically talk in order to delay a vote — which could take up to 940 hours of debate time under current margins, Thune said.
“It ties up the floor indefinitely, so it means you’re not doing other things,” Thune said. “So there’s always an opportunity cost.”
Thune’s skepticism comes after Luna and a handful of other congressional Republicans said she got “assurances” from the Trump administration to implement the standing filibuster and that Thune himself was “considering that.”
That guarantee prompted Luna to vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion spending package to reopen the government, which the Florida Republican previously threatened to tank unless Lee’s SAVE America Act was included as an amendment. The SAVE America Act would enact stricter requirements for voting in federal elections, including photo identification to cast a ballot.
Lee had also urged his Republican colleagues in the House to reject the spending deal unless it included his SAVE America Act as well as other language to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the full fiscal year.
Luna acknowledged her conversations with the White House about changing filibuster rules may have been preliminary, telling reporters on Tuesday that her agreement with President Donald Trump wouldn’t “technically remove the filibuster, but it’s a workaround.”
“I think I might have told you guys about some internal conversations that slipped that I probably shouldn’t have, but to my understanding, this is a very real thing that’s on the table,” Luna said, adding her conversations have been directly with the president rather than with Thune.
Thune reiterated promises that he would bring the SAVE Act to the floor for a vote, although timing on that is not yet clear. Thune said on Tuesday it would be considered “whenever we can work it in.”
Still, the legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate as Democrats are adamantly opposed to it. Without changes to the filibuster, Lee would need at least seven Democrats to cross party lines to advance.