Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday he wants the Senate to vote on nixing the legislative filibuster, as an effort to convince fellow Republicans to bypass it altogether is running into a brick wall.
The Wisconsin Republican’s suggestion comes as the Senate will next week begin consideration of a partisan election bill known as the SAVE America Act. Some GOP senators on the conference’s right flank have been lobbying leadership and their colleagues to agree to invoke a “talking filibuster” as a way to get around the 60-vote requirement to advance the legislation. It would force Democrats to hold the floor if they want to block the measure.
“If we do go to a cloture vote [on the election bill], immediately after that we ought to vote on ending the filibuster,” Johnson told reporters, referring to the 60-vote threshold.
That vote, too, would fail to garner the necessary support, but Johnson said his position was, “let’s get people on the record” — including Democrats, many of whom have previously supported weakening the 60-vote filibuster.
According to the Senate GOP’s current strategy, first reported by POLITICO, Senate Republicans are expected to take up the House-passed elections bill next week — a step for which they will only need 51 votes. It’s unclear if Republicans will even be able to clear that bar, as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Thursday he will vote against taking up the bill and a handful of other GOP senators haven’t yet said how they will vote.
If Republicans are able to overcome that initial hurdle, the chamber will then debate the measure for several days, with potential amendment votes to incorporate some of Trump’s new priorities into the underlying legislation. That includes barring transgender women from participating in women’s sports and prohibiting gender affirming surgery for children, as well as possibly imposing a near-universal ban on mail-in voting.
But at the end of this lengthy process, the SAVE America Act will need to clear a 60-vote threshold. That means it will fail, since Democrats are expected to oppose the proposal en masse.
Johnson, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and other conservatives had previously pitched invoking a talking filibuster because it wouldn’t require a formal rules change. It has, however, sparked widespread concern inside the party that the maneuver would backfire and allow Democrats to eat up months of the legislative calendar before the midterms.
Johnson acknowledged Thursday that a “true talking filibuster” would also allow Democrats to force amendment votes, which could put vulnerable GOP incumbents in a tough spot — and that the process the Senate will use instead will still put Democrats on the record over the GOP elections bill.
Lee also appeared to acknowledge in a video he posted to X late Wednesday night that the talking filibuster gambit was a no-go, but urged Republicans to delay a final, 60-vote cloture motion for as long as possible to try to put pressure on Democrats to relent.
“We shouldn’t file for cloture until we think we can get to 60. Otherwise, we keep it going,” Lee said.
Johnson, separately, quipped Thursday that perhaps Republicans will be “so successful” in making their case for the bill that the “American people” will put “so much pressure on Democrats” and the SAVE America Act will pass.
He added, however, that he doesn’t actually believe that’s “highly likely.”
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