As new Senate gets underway, Thune vows to uphold Senate filibuster

(WASHINGTON) — In his maiden floor speech as Senate majority leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota used his first few minutes of floor time to make a commitment to defend the filibuster rule, which requires at least 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate.

“One of my priorities as leader will be to ensure that the Senate stays the Senate,” Thune said. “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 comments came just after the Senate gaveled in to begin its new session.

During the opening of the new Congress, Vice President Kamala Harris swore in all 32 Senators elected in November, including 12 freshman members, some of whom helped to deliver a new Republican majority in the upper chamber.

In this new Senate, Republicans have 53 seats, a three-seat majority that gives them a comfortable edge in confirming President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to his Cabinet and the federal bench since these nominations only require 50 votes for confirmation.

But the Senate rules currently require 60 votes to pass legislation. If Thune holds true to his commitment to uphold this rule, that means the majority of legislative matters will require the buy-in of at least seven Senate Democrats or independents who caucus with Democrats. It keeps compromise front and center in the upper chamber.

Thune’s speech Friday afternoon is not the first time that he has made a commitment to uphold the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, which Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to sidestep to pass voting rights legislation in 2022. Thune made the protection of the filibuster part of his campaign to become majority leader and has since spoken on the floor to the same.

But the fact that Thune, who will no doubt undergo scrutiny from Trump for any failure to move his legislative agenda across the finish line swiftly, chose to use his first moments on the Senate floor as Republican leader to affirm his commitment to the 60-vote threshold is notable.

Trump attempted to pressure Republicans to put the legislative filibuster rule aside in 2018, when Trump was in office for the first time and Republicans controlled the Senate. It was then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who prevented the Senate from taking that step. Democrats similarly signaled last year that they were interested in exploring a revision of the rule if they managed to keep control of the Senate, which they did not.

Thune’s comments on the floor today signal that he won’t cave to Trump if the president-elect grows frustrated by the Senate’s inability to swiftly move legislation that does not have any Democratic support and once again mounts a pressure campaign to change 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.

Republicans will have the ability to attempt to implement major policy changes without any Democratic support using a procedural tool called budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority of votes to pass the chamber. But the razor-thin GOP majority in the House means a reconciliation package will also be a challenge to cobble together.

All other legislation will require 60 votes to pass.

Thune said the Senate will have a laundry list of things it hopes to accomplish during the 119th Congress, including border security, tax reform, defense spending changes and larger government funding discussions.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is now the minority leader in this new Senate, said Democrats will do their part to try to work with Republicans where possible, citing a string of bipartisan wins in previous years.

“I want to work with the new Republican leader to keep that bipartisan streak going in the new year,” Schumer said. “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.”

Schumer, who spoke out repeatedly against Trump prior to the 2024 election, said Democrats are ready to move forward from the 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 said. “In the first day of the 119th Congress, I’d like to take a moment to talk about how Senate Democrats will approach the next two years. It can be summarized like this: Democrats stand united not because of who we fight against but because of who we are fighting for — the American people.”

He also congratulated Thune on his assumption of the role as majority leader.

Thune fills the role of McConnell, who stepped down from leadership after 18 years at the helm of the Senate Republican Conference. Friday was Thune’s first day as party leader despite winning an election to the position in November.

Thune said he will “work every day” to be worthy of the trust his party members have put in him as their new leader.