WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn announced he supports scrapping the filibuster if needed to pass a voting restrictions bill, a marked change from his longtime support of the procedural tool as he courts the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
In an op-ed in the New York Post, Cornyn argued that Democrats, many of whom voted to reform the filibuster when they had a majority but were stymied by centrists in their party, have “already dealt the filibuster a fatal blow.” The filibuster, which sets a 60-vote threshold to end debate on a bill and bring it up for a vote, essentially gives the minority party veto power over most legislation.
“After careful consideration, I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and homeland security funding past the Democrats’ obstruction, through the Senate, and on the president’s desk for his signature,” Cornyn said. “This could be a ‘talking filibuster’ that removes the obstructionists’ free pass and makes them defend their indefensible views on the Senate floor, or it could be a different reform.”
Cornyn’s change of heart comes amid a grueling primary battle with Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said he’d consider dropping out of the runoff between the two last week if Senate Republicans drop the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, which Trump has called his top priority.
The measure, which has already passed the U.S. House, would require documentary proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering to vote, as well as photo identification when voting.
Trump has threatened to not sign any bills that reach his desk until the SAVE America Act is passed, casting the stakes as electorally existential for Republicans. Its passage would “guarantee the midterms” for the GOP, he said, but without it, there would be “big trouble.” Republicans are looking to preserve their slim majorities in both chambers of Congress in November.
Cornyn and Paxton advanced to a runoff in last Tuesday’s primary after Cornyn finished narrowly ahead but neither candidate reached the 50% threshold needed to win the nomination outright. The close race between them has heightened the intense jockeying for Trump’s endorsement, which he said the day after the primary that he planned to issue “soon.” He has yet to do so in the week since.
Cornyn had been a defender of the filibuster for years, urging Democrats to proceed with caution when they considered eliminating it. Nuking the filibuster, he said in 2022, would be tantamount to breaking the Senate.
But in his op-ed, Cornyn said that Democrats’ willingness to change the rules — and opposition to both the SAVE America Act and funding the Department of Homeland Security — evolved his thinking.
“I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation,” Cornyn said. “Before moderate Democrats went extinct, the rules worked. But as President Abraham Lincoln once warned Congress, ‘the dogmas of the quiet past’ can become ‘inadequate to the stormy present.’ The Democrats’ recklessness and radicalism have changed the landscape.”
Republican activists have put relentless pressure on GOP leadership to scrap the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act, putting a spotlight on the issue at a critical juncture in the Senate Republican runoff.
Paxton’s offer to consider exiting the race over the bill brought the issue to the fore. He credited himself for pushing Cornyn to change his position.
“In one week, I’ve made him more conservative than in the past 24 years,” Paxton said. “The historic flip-flop’s great and all, but why aren’t you calling out your buddies like [Sen. Mitch] McConnell opposing the bill?”
Cornyn shot back that Paxton’s claim was “just like the rooster crowing thinks he is the reason the sun came up.”
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