McConnell says filibuster is secure with Republican Senate majority

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the filibuster is secure now that Republicans have won a majority in the chamber. McConnell made the comment to reporters while taking a victory lap the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 6. 

“This shifting to a Republican Senate Majority helps control the guardrails to keep people who want to change the rules in order to achieve something they think is worthwhile is not successful,” McConnell said. “So I think the filibuster is very secure.”

The Senate’s filibuster allows for unlimited debate on legislation and can only be overcome with 60 votes. Without that supermajority, bills cannot be approved. 

In January 2022, Democrats tried and failed to alter the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. 

Earlier this year, senior Senate Democrats told Straight Arrow News they would reconsider changing the Senate’s filibuster rules if they held the majority. They were unable to make the change with their current majority because Sens. Joe Manchin, I-WV, and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., opposed it.  

“Because Senator Sinema essentially opposed changing the filibuster, now, we may have a majority in favor of reforming this set of rules which is obstructive, really an obstacle to progress that the American people want,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in March. 

“I hope that we will use this opportunity to take a hard look at the Senate rules,” Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said when Sinema announced her retirement. 

President-elect Donald Trump has called for eliminating the filibuster on multiple occasions. 

In 2017 he called on McConnell to end it after Republicans failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obama care. 

The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing R's in Senate. Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT'S TIME!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

In 2018 he told them to do it again, because he heard Schumer would do it the next time Democrats won a majority, so he said Republicans might as well do it first. In both instances, McConnell and Republican leaders rejected him. 

McConnell also said Wednesday that as long as Republicans have a majority, they won’t allow the District of Columbia to be granted statehood, something that would lead to two new Democratic Senators. 

“The filibuster will stand, there won’t be any new states admitted that give a partisan advantage to the other side, and we’ll quit beating up the Supreme Court every time we don’t like a decision they make,” McConnell said. 

In 2021, House Democrats used their majority to pass a bill that would make the District of Columbia the 51st state. However, the legislation could not get through the Senate.