Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Tuesday that White House efforts to gain Republican support for ending the legislative filibuster have failed. Roughly 25 to 30 Republican senators oppose changing the long-standing procedural rule, Thune confirmed.
President Trump had directly pleaded with GOP senators to eliminate the filibuster to clear the way for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, a voting reform bill passed by the House.
Thune resisted the President's pleas. He told GOP colleagues that his conference lacks the votes needed to bypass the filibuster and pass the bill.
The Republican leader also declared the "talking filibuster" dead as a viable path. This procedural tactic requires Republicans to maintain strict unity to defeat every potential Democratic amendment. Without that cohesion, Democrats could hijack the Senate floor and derail the measure.
Thune appeared on Fox News to frame the upcoming Senate vote on the bill as a messaging effort for Republicans, saying he would not pursue a futile attempt to pass it.
