Senate Majority Leader John Thune is on a collision course with President Donald Trump over repealing a long-standing legislative tool designed to end the 36-day government shutdown.
Thune, who promised To defend the filibuster on his first day in office, he confirmed Wednesday that Republicans will not give up the Senate's 60-vote threshold to end the shutdown. The majority leader said allowing most legislation to pass with a simple majority would help Democrats pursue a far-left agenda the next time they take power in Washington. He also added that Republicans simply don't have the votes to scrap the filibuster. (RELATED: Trump's Call to Eliminate the Filibuster Likely Dead on Arrival in the Senate)
“The practical reality is … there are simply no votes in the Senate, not even close, for that matter,” Thune told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a sit-down interview Wednesday.
Tune has just returned from breakfast. meeting with Trump and GOP lawmakers at the White House, during which the president publicly implored Republicans to overturn the procedural rule to reopen the government. Trump added that by eliminating the filibuster, Republicans will be able to “pass legislation at a level you've never seen before” and could strengthen the party in the midterm elections after a lackluster election. performance on Tuesday evening.
While Thune said he did not directly respond to the president's remarks during the meeting, the majority leader said he has had a half-dozen conversations with Trump about the filibuster over the past few weeks.
Thune believes that destroying this procedural tool will give Democrats the desired result – ending the quarantine. He says he's also thinking about how eliminating the filibuster will affect Republicans the next time they find themselves in the minority.
“There is a real concern among Senate Republicans that if [the filibuster’s elimination] ever happens, they don't want to be the ones who opened the door to allow Democrats to pack the Supreme Court, allow abortion on demand and federalize elections,” Thune said. characterizing the Democrats' possible legislative agenda as “a long list of horrors.”
When asked whether the legislative filibuster would remain in effect (without any exceptions) until the start of the new Congress in January 2027, Thune responded: “Yes.”
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 5: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.C.) (C) listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak to Senate Republicans at a breakfast in the White House Dining Room on November 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Thune said he understands the president's frustration that Democrats have decided to hold the government hostage for more than a month with no immediate solution in sight.
Most Democrats have pirate a clean bipartisan spending bill to fund the government 14 times since the end of September. Senate Republicans would be able to fund the government themselves if the legislative filibuster is eliminated.
“I think that's what the president is responding to… these people are not going to do anything I want, even if it's in their best interest, because of their blind hatred of him and his administration,” Thune said.
However, Thune believes that eliminating the filibuster to end the shutdown is not the right answer to solving the government's short-term funding problem. While the Senate's 60-vote threshold was lifted solely for appropriations bills to end the shutdown, Thune believes it will soon be lifted for everything else.
“As soon as that door opens, the horse will come out of the barn,” Thune said. “You can't put the genie back in the bottle.”
Although a handful of GOP senators gave the signal Given their willingness to weaken—or eliminate entirely—the filibuster in the wake of the president's pressure campaign, most Republicans appear to agree with Thune that the votes are missing.
“It only takes a third-grade math student to figure out that if you have 15 or more members who are entrenched, it's not going to happen,” said retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. reporters on Wednesday.
“I don’t think the votes exist,” said Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. “What would be interesting is how Democrats vote.”
Then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and most Democrats tried to weaken the filibuster to pass the so-called voting rights bill in 2022, but were rebuffed by Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kirsten. Movie from Arizona. Neither senator has decided to run for re-election in 2024.
Thune said the independent duo told him that at least eight other Democrats at the time were privately opposed to eliminating the filibuster but feared retaliation from the party base.
“They didn't want to be the ones who took the spear while they [Manchin and Sinema] were willing to accept it,” Thune said.
While Thune is confident that nearly all Democrats would oppose nuking the filibuster under the current Republican trifecta, he left open the possibility that the caucus could split again on the issue once control of the Senate is regained.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared to acknowledge that he lacks the votes needed to break the filibuster in the Republican conference.
“I'm going to follow your wishes. You are very smart people. We are good friends,” Trump told Republican lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday. “But I think it's a huge mistake. It would be a tragic mistake.”
Kayden Olson and Andy Shay Napier contributed to this report.
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