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Abolition of the filibuster was once a taboo idea among Senate Republicans, but the idea is gaining traction thanks to the president donald trump There have been repeated calls to scrap the long-standing process.
The Senate filibuster threshold is 60 votes and applies to most bills in the upper chamber, which means legislation often requires a bipartisan push given the narrow bipartisan majority in recent years.
It has proven to be a key obstacle to reopening the government and advancing several other Republican priorities in recent weeks, such as the Republican Obamacare package, which was gutted senate democrats.
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Some Senate Republicans are beginning to reverse their stance on abolishing the filibuster after President Donald Trump renewed his call for lawmakers to “eliminate” long-standing procedural safeguards. (Anna Chanmemaker/Getty Images)
For years, it was viewed as a tool of the Senate minority party, designed to prevent the majority party from forcing through partisan legislation that both Republicans and Democrats exploited.
But Trump’s nearly monthly push and recent displeasure with the 43-day government shutdown have some Republicans rethinking their stance on the filibuster.
“It’s something I’m seriously considering right now,” Senator Roger MarshallThe Kansas Republican told Fox Digital News.
“Never, never, never, never, no,” Marshall previously told Fox News Digital when asked if he would consider changing the rules after Trump called on Republicans in October to abolish the filibuster.
Just a few months later, Marshall began to reconsider his position.
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas told Fox News Digital that he is reconsidering his stance on the filibuster. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“I think the last shutdown and the threat of this one gave me pause,” he said. “The appropriations process seems to be slowing down. On health care, it feels like the Democrats, really the Democratic Party, don’t want to get anything done. So eliminating the filibuster ends that.”
He echoed Trump, who told reporters on Monday that he wants Senate Republicans to “abolish” the filibuster.
“You’re not going to see January 30th coming, because January 30th is coming, you know that, right? If we eliminate the filibuster, it’s going to be a simple approval,” he said. “But there are some Republicans who — they can’t explain why, you know if you ask them why they can’t explain, they can’t win the debate, but they should eliminate the filibuster.”
The chances of this change passing the Senate are low, given the Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D. has consistently maintained its position that the filibuster should not be touched.
Still, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a member of Thune’s leadership team, said his position on the filibuster has also changed.
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Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol during a vote on President Trump’s “Great and Beautiful Act” reconciliation package on June 30, 2025 in Washington. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Mullin told Fox News’ Will Kaine that at a recent meeting with Senate Republican leaders, he asked attendees if they truly believed Senate Democrats wouldn’t try to get rid of procedural safeguards when they regain the majority again.
“If we believe they’re going to do it, then why don’t we just do it?” he said.
Other Republicans are more skeptical about the possibility of eliminating the filibuster. Some, like Mullin, think it could be narrowly tailored to apply only to spending bills, while others think the move is a fantasy.
“This is not going to happen,” Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno told Fox News Digital.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, said lawmakers weren’t even “taking advantage of the tools we have right now” to pass the Republican agenda.
Kennedy had been pushing Another round of budget reconciliationConsider that Republicans have two more attempts in this grueling process to address the country’s growing affordability issues.
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He believes that’s how Republicans passed the legislation Trump signed earlier this year, “a big, beautiful bill.”
“Yeah, you can’t do everything, but you can do a lot of things, and that’s what I’m going to focus on,” Kennedy said. “I have respectfully expressed to the president that I don’t think the United States Senate will abandon the filibuster or the blue sheet. He obviously disagrees, and I respect that reasonable people sometimes disagree, but I’m a pragmatist. I deal with the world as it is, not the way I want it to be dealt with.”
