Democratic senators are declining to embrace President Donald Trump's push to eliminate the Senate filibuster, even as he pressures Republicans to use every procedural option to pass the SAVE America Act, an election integrity bill now stalled in the upper chamber.
Interviews with Democratic lawmakers during the intensifying fight showed little support for abolishing the 60-vote threshold across the board. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said he would want to know the specific measure before agreeing to any change: «I'm in favor of eliminating the filibuster for specific measures, not across the board.» Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington pointed to constitutional concerns, saying she would consider setting the rule aside if people were «overriding the Constitution and not following the Constitution.» She cited her willingness to do so when Democrats wanted the Voting Rights Act passed.
The comments underscore a familiar partisan split over the filibuster. Democrats previously sought to create exceptions for voting rights bills after Republicans repeatedly blocked those measures during the Biden administration. Republicans now accuse Democrats of applying the rule selectively, arguing the same lawmakers who wanted exceptions then are refusing to allow one for the SAVE Act.
Trump has made the issue a direct challenge to Senate Majority Leader John Thune. In a post on Truth Social, the president urged Thune not to let the Senate leave for August recess until lawmakers either pass the SAVE Act or terminate the filibuster. He also said Senate Democrats would eliminate the filibuster to advance their own agenda if they regained the majority.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks said the filibuster is the main obstacle between the SAVE Act and passage. «The filibuster is what's preventing President Trump from his SAVE Act,» she said.
Republican senators pushed back on what they described as Democratic inconsistency. Senator Roger Marshall said his own position had shifted and that he now supports eliminating the filibuster because, in his view, Democrats are unwilling to cooperate. «Every Democrat senator that's here now, that was here when they had the chance, voted to end it,» he said. Marshall added that Democrats «want to do everything they can to make life miserable in America, thinking it's going to help them politically.»
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana acknowledged that the votes are not currently there to remove the filibuster, even with Trump's support. «He knows the votes aren't there to do what he wants to do, in the way he wants to do it,» Kennedy said. He pointed instead to the budget reconciliation process as a path forward, noting that the House has already passed a budget resolution to get reconciliation started. «We can pass the SAVE Act with the right, correctly crafted bill,» he said.
Speaker Mike Johnson is working on legislation that would carry elements of the SAVE Act through reconciliation, a maneuver that would allow it to pass without Democratic votes in the Senate. Kennedy said he is ready to vote and willing to remain in Washington into August or September to finish the work. «There comes a time when you got to stop talking and just vote,» he said.
The clash could keep the Senate in session into August, with Trump pressing for action on the SAVE Act and Democrats resisting a broad filibuster change.
