{"id":3802,"date":"2026-03-11T21:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/3802\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T21:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:31:12","slug":"john-cornyn-voices-support-for-abolishing-senate-filibuster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/3802\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cornyn voices support for abolishing Senate filibuster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201calready dealt the filibuster a fatal blow.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 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\u2019 obstruction, through the Senate, and on the president\u2019s desk for his signature,\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cThis could be a \u2018talking filibuster\u2019 that removes the obstructionists\u2019 free pass and makes them defend their indefensible views on the Senate floor, or it could be a different reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornyn\u2019s change of heart comes amid a grueling primary battle with Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said he\u2019d consider<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cguarantee the midterms\u201d for the GOP, he said<\/a>, but without it, there would be \u201cbig trouble.\u201d Republicans are looking to preserve their slim majorities in both chambers of Congress in November.<\/p>\n

Cornyn and Paxton advanced to a runoff in last Tuesday\u2019s 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\u2019s endorsement, which he said the day after the primary that he planned to issue \u201csoon.\u201d He has yet to do so in the week since. <\/p>\n

Cornyn had been a defender of the filibuster for years, urging<\/a> Democrats to proceed with caution when they considered eliminating it. Nuking the filibuster, he said in 2022, would be tantamount to breaking the Senate.<\/p>\n

But in his op-ed, Cornyn said that Democrats\u2019 willingness to change the rules \u2014 and opposition to both the SAVE America Act and funding the Department of Homeland Security \u2014 evolved his thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation,\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cBefore moderate Democrats went extinct, the rules worked. But as President Abraham Lincoln once warned Congress, \u2018the dogmas of the quiet past\u2019 can become \u2018inadequate to the stormy present.\u2019 The Democrats\u2019 recklessness and radicalism have changed the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Paxton\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one week, I\u2019ve made him more conservative than in the past 24 years,\u201d Paxton said. \u201cThe historic flip-flop\u2019s great and all, but why aren\u2019t you calling out your buddies like [Sen. Mitch] McConnell opposing the bill?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornyn shot back that Paxton\u2019s claim was \u201cjust like the rooster crowing thinks he is the reason the sun came up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[432,38,286,8,290,291,9,7,3246,1112],"class_list":{"0":"post-3802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-elections","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-john-cornyn","13":"tag-ken-paxton","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-voter-id","17":"tag-well-b-homepage"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116212680757269353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}