It’s blindingly obvious that Senate Majority Leader John Thune would much rather have Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) back in Congress for six more years than see him replaced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But Cornyn’s failure to capture anywhere near 50 percent of last week’s primary vote, plus the prospect of an ugly and expensive runoff, doesn’t bode well for his future. Despite the far left and genuinely weird Democrat nominee, James Talarico, Cornyn’s unpopularity may reduce GOP turnout in the general election enough to cause his Senate seat to flip blue. This is why Thune should pounce on Paxton’s tentative offer to drop out of the race if the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.
Sunday morning, President Trump put even more pressure on Thune to get moving on the legislation by taking to Truth Social and issuing the following ultimatum: “I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed.” The SAVE America Act would, of course, require everyone to provide documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote and to show a photo ID to cast a ballot. Senate Democrats, who fear few things more than election integrity, would certainly filibuster the bill. Yet the Republican leadership is under increasing pressure to either kill the filibuster or force Senate Democrats to endure a “talking filibuster,” which would require them to stand on their feet and talk hour after hour in order to block the bill.
This is what most Americans imagine when they hear the term, “filibuster.” Until Senate rules were changed in the 20th century that was the only way a Senate vote could be blocked by the minority party. But the days of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are long gone. In 1975, the Senate adopted a rule to allow a three-fifths majority of all senators to end a filibuster. Consequently, a vote of 60 senators is required for cloture (ending debate). The current 53-47 GOP majority obviously doesn’t control 60 votes, so a single Democrat can initiate a “silent filibuster” by objecting to a unanimous consent request to move forward with a bill. But a talking filibuster can be forced by a simple majority without a rules change according to Heritage Action:
Once a quorum [51 Senators] has been established, senators opposed to the bill have two options: give speeches or offer motions or amendments. To do this, there would need to be at least 20 opposition allies on the floor to provide a sufficient second on the motion required to initiate a roll call vote. If there were fewer than 20, the bill supporters could table amendments by voice votes. Further, supporters of the bill could prevent any amendments from receiving a vote by offering a motion to table and voting to set aside the amendment under consideration. The final option is endless debate: the talking filibuster. This process becomes grueling very quickly.
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