'Nuclear' scenario looms as 'cataclysmic' change to Senate rules mulled: report
Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-SD) resistance to eliminating the filibuster is eroding as prominent Republicans who once defended the 60-vote threshold reverse course, signaling deepening fractures within GOP ranks over the Senate's most consequential procedural rule.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who warned in 2021 that scrapping the filibuster "would be bad for the Senate and bad for the country," reversed his position last month after the Republicans' voting bill stalled in the chamber, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), another former filibuster defender, now supports ending it.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured Thune to eliminate the rule that currently allows Democrats to block much of his legislative agenda, reported the Washington Post.
"Changing Senate rules without the consent of the minority party is considered so cataclysmal that it is known as the 'nuclear option,' although both parties have done it," the Post reported. "Democrats scrapped the filibuster for confirming most presidential nominees in 2013; Republicans did the same for nominees to the Supreme Court four years later, allowing Trump to put three justices on the court even though none of them won 60 votes."
"The consequences of doing away with the filibuster entirely would be enormous," the report added.
But Democrats have also reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with the 60-vote requirement.
"The Senate has reached the point that the 60-vote requirement has really shut down most of our legislative activity," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
A recent Republican maneuver to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without Democratic support using budget reconciliation has accelerated concerns about the rule's future.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned that Republican tactics are "just putting us on a path to 50 votes." If Democrats regain Senate control, they could pursue voting rights legislation, restore abortion access or pursue other priorities currently blocked by the filibuster.
Thune has pledged to preserve the filibuster while serving as majority leader, and dismantling it would require broad GOP consensus that currently doesn't exist. However, Republicans have already begun eroding the threshold through alternative methods, including aggressive use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn agency actions.
Some Republicans expressed concern about the trajectory. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) warned that circumventing the appropriations process "erodes what's been successful for 250 years."
Both parties have previously invoked the "nuclear option" in the recent past. Democrats eliminated the filibuster for most presidential nominees in 2013; Republicans did the same for Supreme Court nominees in 2017.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, argued the filibuster's preservation prevented worse outcomes. "If we didn't have the 60-vote requirement, we'd have the Save Act or something worse," he said, referencing Republican voting legislation and potential abortion restrictions.