Thune says talking filibuster has never passed a bill in Senate history

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans have launched a test of Senate Democrats’ resolve against voter ID legislation, and while it doesn’t look like what many wanted, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued it was the only way forward.

Thune has come under pressure from President Donald Trump, a cohort of the Senate Republican Party and a fervent online network of conservatives demanding that he activate the filibuster to pass the Safeguarding American Voters Eligibility Act (SAVE).

But it’s a grassroots tactic that Thune says has never succeeded in getting legislation passed.

REPUBLICS SIGNAL NO RETREAT ON BACKUP ACT AS SENATE MARATHON DEBATE BEGINS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., rebuffed outside pressure for him and Republicans to initiate the filibuster, and told Fox News Digital “No one really knows how it ends, and those who say they know don’t.” (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“No one really knows how it ends, and those who say otherwise don’t know,” Thune told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Because it’s never been done, or at least it hasn’t been done in modern history.”

Speaking filibuster proponents see it as a method to surpass the Senate filibuster threshold of 60 votes and ensure the SAVE America Act passes. But this comes at the high price of the Upper House’s most valuable currency – speaking time – which, in the current shutdown, is not something lawmakers would want to give up.

Thune added that Senate Democrats had also considered the move in the past under the leadership of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and noted that they “chose not to pass it in both cases because I think they felt like the price we would make them pay wasn’t worth what they were trying to do.”

GOP LAUNCHES SENATE MARATHON TO EXPOSE DEMS’ OPPOSITION TO TRUMP-SUPPORTED VOTER ID BILL

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin in the Oval Office of the White House on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“If I saw a path forward, even if it was a small percentage to get an outcome, I would be more inclined to do it,” Thune said. “But we looked at it, evaluated all contingencies, calculated, mapped out what it would look like on the floor, researched, studied history, and we haven’t found a single example in modern Senate history where a filibuster actually led to the passage of a law.”

Instead, Thune and Senate Republicans are doing a version of the filibuster that allows unlimited debate but prevents an unlimited number of amendments from Senate Democrats that would radically change the bill and that Republicans know they don’t have the votes to kill.

Nor was it something he did of his own accord. The nature of Thune’s leadership style, which helped secure his top spot in the Senate Republican Party, is to avoid unilateral decision-making and allow Republicans to reach agreement on a plan.

SENATE GOP WATCHES BLAME GAME AS TRUMP SUPPORT STANDS FOR DEFEAT

Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, was determined to make sure the Senate continued debating his voter ID bill until it “passed for good.” (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Still, some critics aren’t happy with the plan Republicans landed on given that it doesn’t lower the threshold for passing the bill. But the pressure Thune felt from all sides was not enough to make him relent and pull the trigger on the filibuster.

“I think there’s a sort of leadership guru whose main point is that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, and so I try to figure out what’s achievable,” he said. “And there are a lot of people who overpromise and create false expectations about what we can do here.”

The Republicans’ plan saw the Senate engage in three straight days of debate over the SAVE America Act in an effort to force Senate Democrats to oppose the legislation. The question of when this debate will end is still up in the air.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Some, like Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, who is the bill’s lead sponsor, want the Senate to spend time on the bill “as long as it takes” to wear down Senate Democrats.

“And if we’re not there yet, we need to continue to debate it,” Lee said.