Kamala Harris backs calls to modify Senate’s 60-vote rule, while Trump could be a wild card with Republicans
It wasn’t a topic Senate Democrats were expecting musician John Legend to ask them about.
But during a 2019 donor event held at Legend’s California home, the pop star pressed lawmakers on how they would actually pass the policies they were proposing—given the hurdle of the Senate filibuster. That rule requires 60 votes for most bills to advance, rather than a simple majority, and Legend wanted Democrats to end it.
“That was the first time I heard that raised at a fundraiser,” recalled Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), who was at the event. “Now it’s commonplace.”
After years of rising complaints from activists and donors, Senate Democrats say they are still working to find a way around that rule—if they can manage to win both the White House and Senate in November. Senate Republicans say they are fiercely opposed to any changes, while former President Donald Trump remains a wild card.
The filibuster effectively gives the minority party veto power and has frustrated Democrats’ efforts on issues including voting rights and abortion. In 2022, Democrats made a run at carving out an exception to the rule for a voting-rights bill. The effort failed, with two members of the Democratic caucus refusing to go along.
But the coming retirements of those lawmakers—Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona—as well as recent comments from Vice President kamala harris reiterating support for weakening the filibuster to pass abortion protections, are rekindling Democrats’ interest. Any rule change would only require a majority vote.
“The Senate was meant to be the proverbial cooling saucer, but it wasn’t meant to be a deep freeze,” said Merkley, who has been urging his colleagues for years to move to a talking filibuster, which would require senators to be present and talking on the floor to block bills.
Changing the Senate’s rules could have broad implications. While various proposals have been floated, any weakening of the filibuster could make it easier for Democrats to codify abortion rights as well as overhaul election laws or raise the minimum wage. GOP critics warn Democrats could entertain more contentious ideas, such as single-payer health coverage, tighter environmental laws or the addition of justices to the Supreme Court. Some business groups have also decried getting rid of the filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said the rule is something Democrats would discuss next year, while candidates on the campaign trail have thrown their support behind changing it.
“Right now, the filibuster acts as a block to make progress” on issues ranging from gun safety to workers’ rights, said Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) at a debate Thursday night. The Democratic nominee to succeed Sinema in Arizona, Rep. Ruben Gallego, has said he supports changes to the filibuster rules, too.
Republicans see a ‘terrible mistake’
Opponents of weakening the filibuster say that it would undercut bipartisanship and destabilize the legislative process, with one party passing new laws only for the other to reverse them when it inevitably takes power again. Republicans have been chilly to the idea of any changes, even when they are in the majority.
“That’d be very shortsighted and be a terrible mistake,” Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said of changing the filibuster. “I feel confident that Republicans are determined not to allow that to happen.”
Some priorities for the party—such as cutting taxes—can be accomplished through a separate budget-related process called reconciliation that requires only 51 votes.
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GOP leaders have warned that if Democrats rolled back the 60-vote filibuster, Republicans have their own wish list ready to go, including antiabortion measures, tighter election and immigration laws, and concealed-carry gun reciprocity.
What does Trump think?
Trump unsuccessfully urged Senate Republicans to end the filibuster repeatedly during his administration. More recently, he condemned Harris’s talk of weakening the filibuster. Trump has rarely talked about the issue during the campaign, and his representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment on where he stands.
GOP senators could come under increased pressure in a second Trump administration if legislation backed by the president stalled because of the filibuster.
“I know there’s going to be a temptation to do it, but it’s a temptation that will haunt us well into the future,” said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), who, like Cornyn. is among those running for GOP leader in the next Congress. “I don’t know what he does this time around,” said Thune of Trump’s position. He said he hopes Trump understands the reasons to keep the filibuster in place despite his past calls to end it.
Harris’s recent filibuster comments were her first on the issue since becoming the party’s nominee, but her position on making an exception for restoring abortion protections isn’t new.
She previously had said she “cannot wait to cast the deciding vote to break the filibuster on voting rights and reproductive rights,” a nod to her ability as vice president to break a 50-50 tie if needed. Asked whether she still supported an exception for passing voting-rights legislation as well, Harris’s campaign declined to comment. Critics say carving out any one exception will effectively end the rule, as it sets a precedent for any number of new exceptions.
Still, the filibuster might get a reprieve even if Harris wins the White House, as Democrats face a challenging path to retain the Senate, which they now control 51-49, and it is also possible new dissenters emerge. They also could decide changes aren’t worth it unless the party also wins the House—now controlled by the Republicans.
Supporters of the filibuster long have argued that it reins in the excesses of the House, where legislation can advance with a simple majority. Those pushing for changes counter that recent examples of legislation passed in the Senate with a simple majority, via reconciliation, still required intense negotiations between the Democratic Party’s centrist and more liberal wings—albeit no Republicans.
“Reconciliation is your test case for what a majority-ruled Senate looks like, and what passed along the reconciliation track was very moderate, center-left legislation,” such as the climate- and healthcare-focused Inflation Reduction Act, said Adam Jentleson, a former senior Senate aide who wrote a book about the filibuster’s history.
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