Thune says ending filibuster ‘not happening’ despite Trump’s demands

(WASHINGTON) — Returning from the White House Wednesday after President Donald Trump made yet another call for Senate Republicans to overturn the filibuster, Majority Leader John Thune reiterated his view that there are not the necessary votes among Senate Republicans to change the Senate rules.

Thune was asked Wednesday if he believed that Trump could sway some of his reluctant members to support the filibuster.

“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune said. “But I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and … it’s just not happening.”

Thune has been an outspoken defender of the Senate’s rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislative matters. But he’s not the only Republican who has publicly expressed skepticism about overturning the rule.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds was among the group of Republicans who met with Trump for breakfast at the White House after a bruising election night, which saw Democratic victories in several races. After the meeting, Rounds said that the president made “a really good point” about Republicans changing the rule. But he wasn’t sold.

“I think there’s a lot of us that really think the Senate was designed in the first place to find a long term, stable solution to problems, so we’ll listen to what the president has to say,” Rounds said.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy called the filibuster “important.”

“My position hasn’t changed,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “As I’ve said before, the role of a senator is not just to advance good ideas. The role of a senator it to kill bad ideas. And when you’re in the minority, we’re not now, but we could be someday, it’s important to have a filibuster.”

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said his views on the filibuster aren’t changing.

“There’s nothing that could move me on the filibuster,” Tillis said. “I’ve been that way for 11 years. Too old to change now.”

Other lawmakers said they they could be persuaded to end the filibuster.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn has been an outspoken defendant of the filibuster for years. On Wednesday, he told reporters, “I’m open to changing the filibuster.”

Cornyn said his mind is being changed on this issue by the “fact that we haven’t been able to do regular order appropriations for a while” and “having a willful minority being able to shut down the government at any time they want to.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also said the shutdown was beginning to change his tune on the rule.

“My message is to my Democrat friends; we better find a way to get to the table real fast. Because if you’re putting me to a choice between, are people going to eat, or am I going to defend the arcane filibuster rules, I’m going to choose people eating. So, we’re getting there real fast,” Hawley said.

Thune said Trump “honestly believes” in ending the filibuster, but then pivoted, saying the focus should be on reopening the government — which has been shut down for 36 days as of Wednesday, making it the longest government shutdown in history.

He was asked whether he agreed with Trump’s assessment that the government shutdown negatively affected Republicans during Tuesday’s election. He said it was “hard to draw conclusions.”

“Well, I mean, here in Northern Virginia, possibly. I don’t know for sure,” Thune said of the Virginia election, which saw Democratic victories for the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general races. “This is a community here, obviously, in Northern Virginia, that has a lot of federal workers. So it certainly could have been a factor in the elections.”

The election losses, Thune said, were “pretty much expected.”

“So I think that, you know, the challenge for us going forward is to make sure we are speaking to the issues the American people care about — the economic issues.”

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took a victory lap on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, saying the election results prove that it’s time for Republicans to negotiate with Democrats on ending the shutdown.

“Last night was a great night for America and a five-alarm fire for Donald Trump and Republicans. The Republicans’ high-cost house is on fire, and they’ve only got themselves to blame,” Schumer said on the floor. “As loudly and clearly as they could have, the American people said last night, ‘Enough is enough.'”

Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a new letter addressed to Trump, are demanding a bipartisan meeting with Republicans to end the shutdown and address the “Republican health care crisis.”

Schumer and Jeffries have repeatedly requested bipartisan negotiations throughout the shutdown.

“It is time to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to bring this Republican shutdown to an end,” Schumer said on the floor Wednesday. “We told the president we’ve been asking for a meeting for weeks and even months, but now the election results ought to send a much needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis.”

ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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