Senate Republicans are adamant they will fight Donald Trump’s threats to abolish the chamber’s filibuster rule should the former president return to the White House in November.
The filibuster is a Senate rule that blocks votes on legislation by preventing debate on it from ending. Sixty votes are required to break the filibuster, forcing Congress to exercise bipartisan cooperation to reach the majority threshold.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) is tracking Trump’s filibuster comments, reporting the likely GOP presidential nominee has urged Senate Republicans to gut the Senate procedure “at least 30 times.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, Lankford said, “The Senate filibuster is a cornerstone of the Senate and a hallmark of our democracy that should be protected. It serves as a uniquely American invention that forces thoughtful deliberations and gives all Senators a voice in the legislative process.”
The Oklahoma senator, who is helping lead the charge against Trump’s efforts to kill the filibuster, added, “Regardless of changing Administrations, Republican or Democrat, this mechanism must remain, and defending the filibuster is not only critical to the integrity of the legislative process but to our democracy.”
Lankford’s support for the filibuster remains solid despite the rule’s detrimental effect on his border legislation earlier this year. In February, the Oklahoma senator’s border bill, which he called “the most conservative border security bill in four decades,” stalled in the Senate after it failed to garner the 60 votes required to break a filibuster.
Trump blasted Lankford’s border legislation at the time, telling supporters during a Jan. 27 Las Vegas rally, “As the leader of our party, there is zero chance I will support this horrible open borders betrayal of America.”
Other Republicans have joined Lankford’s opposition to killing the filibuster rule.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said, “The day that Republicans vote to nuke the filibuster is the day I resign from the U.S. Senate,” while Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) recently committed to preserving the filibuster during a closed-door GOP meeting on Capitol Hill. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL) have joined their Republican colleagues in affirming their commitment to upholding the Senate tradition.
Republicans aren’t the only ones worried about Trump’s demands to topple the filibuster.
Over the years, centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) have undermined Democrats’ efforts to kill the filibuster. The senators have consistently aligned themselves with GOP Senate leaders who ignored Trump’s opposition to the rule. Now, Manchin hopes Senate Republicans will coalesce around the filibuster once again.
“They did that before — they held strong. So I have more faith that they would,” Manchin told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
When the Washington Examiner asked for Sinema’s reaction to the filibuster battle, her office signaled the senator’s support for the filibuster remains firm, referring to her op-ed on the subject.
“It’s no secret that I oppose eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote threshold,” Sinema wrote in the 2021 op-ed. She added that filibusters “force continued negotiations toward better solutions.”
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However, Republicans won’t have the two votes to uphold the filibuster on the other side of the aisle next year as Manchin and Sinema are not running for reelection.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.