President Donald Trump's initial response to Republicans' lopsided losses in multiple elections on Tuesday night was to call on Republicans to end a longstanding practice in the U.S. Senate in order to ram through his policies with minimal opposition. But multiple senators are already pouring cold water on the proposal.
In a series of Truth Social posts Tuesday night, Trump demanded that Senate Republicans "TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER" and make it possible for the GOP to pass restrictions on voting, ban mail-in ballots and impose a national voter ID law, among other policies. As long as the filibuster remains in place, those policies would need 60 votes in the Senate in order to clear the upper chamber of Congress (Republicans currently have just 53 seats).
However, Semafor correspondent Burgess Everett reported Wednesday that scrapping the filibuster isn't likely anytime soon, according to multiple Republican senators. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) all communicated to Everett that the idea was a non-starter.
"There’s nothing that could move me," Tillis said.
Additionally, Bloomberg congressional reporter Steve Dennis tweeted that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was the top Senate Republican for more than a decade, stopped him in a Capitol hallway and said of abolishing the filibuster: "We're not going to do that."
There are likely more than just those seven who are opposed to eliminating the filibuster, according to Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who told Everett that several more of his colleagues are not fans of the idea.
"There’s 10 to 15, probably, hard no’s in the Senate," Daines said. Let’s focus on getting the government back up here with 60 votes. I think we’re getting close."
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told Semafor that Tuesday's elections may prove to be a turning point in negotiations to end the ongoing federal government shutdown, which officially became the longest in U.S. history this week.
"There are some changes in circumstance with regard to the president weighing in, and we’re going to see how those shake out — saying ‘the shutdown needs to end’ … I think it will catch the attention of Republicans," Baldwin said.
Click here to read Semafor's full report in its entirety.