Republican Senate Leader John Thune says the White House’s attempts to move Republican senators to end the filibuster have been unsuccessful in most cases.
The three-fifths majority threshold required to bring most measures to a vote has blocked much of the president’s ambitious legislative agenda.
On Thursday, Mr. Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told the Ruthless Podcast at the Republican National Convention that roughly half of Republican senators support ending it.
“I’d say it’s probably more like 25 or 30” Republicans in support of the filibuster, he said.
The Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
Mr. Thune has withstood pressure from President Trump and fellow party members to attempt to override the filibuster for months.
He said in the interview that Republicans support maintaining the filibuster as a firewall against a future Democratic majority.
“At some point, Democrats may try and steal the car, but we’re not going to hand them the keys,” he said, adding that by terminating the filibuster, “We would enable all the crazy stuff they would do, whether it’s adding Puerto Rico and D.C. as states, whether it’s federalizing elections, or packing the Supreme Court.”
Mr. Thune said he had encouraged the White House to try to move Republicans on the filibuster issue themselves, but they have not had success.
“I think they sat down with 20 or so Republican senators and 16 were no’s on this issue,” he said.
Lauren Bis, a White House spokeswoman, told The Washington Times of Mr. Thune’s remarks, “The president’s team is working hard to execute his agenda and repeal the filibuster.”
The South Dakotan got a mixed reception at the convention. On Wednesday, the president mentioned in his speech that Mr. Thune was in attendance, drawing spontaneous booing from the crowd.
Mr. Trump interjected, “No, John is working hard. He’s got great opposition … [Leader Charles E.] Schumer and these guys, they’re terrible. He’s working hard. He’s going to have great success — you watch.
Mr. Thune took leadership of Republican senators after Mr. Trump’s election, succeeding long-time leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.
The filibuster barrier has gradually been eroded since its adoption in 1917.
In 1975, the chamber lowered the threshold for ending debate on a bill from two-thirds to three-fifths.
Later, under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, the chamber exempted executive branch nominations from the filibuster.
Democrats attempted to override the filibuster to pass a federal election bill under President Joseph R. Biden, but were blocked by just two defecting caucus members.
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