WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, rolled back the Senate filibuster Wednesday after years of unwavering support for the 60-vote threshold to pass most bills.
Now, locked in a competitive Republican runoff for his Senate seat and considering President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Cornyn says he will support “any changes to Senate rules that may be necessary” to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election reform bill that Trump has called his No. 1 priority.
Cornyn’s comments are part of an op-ed he wrote in the New York Post published Wednesday, titled: “Why the SAVE Act Matters More Than the Filibuster.”
The legislation would impose proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote, photo identification to cast a vote in person or by mail and require states to run voter lists through a federal database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.
Cornyn supports the bill, but his Republican runoff opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has aligned himself with Trump in calling for abolishing the filibuster to pass the bill and criticized Cornyn for refusing to take the same stance.
NBC News reported Tuesday that Trump seemed ready to endorse Cornyn in the race just a week ago, but that the president’s decision is now in “a holding pattern,” as Trump emphasizes that Congress must do everything in its power to pass the SAVE America Act.
Cornyn on Wednesday denied changing his position on the filibuster to win Trump’s endorsement, telling NBC News, “I would say that’s not true.”
The legislation passed the House, but faces a difficult road to reaching 60 votes in the Senate, where Democrats have vowed to filibuster it. Non-citizen voting is already illegal and very rare, and Trump has now asked Congress to add other provisions to the bill that would ban transgender people from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
“After careful consideration, I support any changes to Senate rules that may be necessary so we can get the SAVE America Act and national security funding past Democratic obstruction, through the Senate and to the president’s desk for his signature,” Cornyn wrote in his op-ed.
“This could be a ‘talking filibuster’ that eliminates a free pass for filibusters and makes them defend their indefensible views on the Senate floor, or it could be a different reform,” Cornyn added.
But when Democrats have proposed changes to the filibuster in the past, Cornyn has vigorously defended the 60-vote threshold, such as in early 2022, when Democrats attempted to pass their own election reform bill, called the Freedom to Vote Act.
“Power is fleeting, and at some point the situation will always be on the other foot,” Cornyn said at the time, in January 2022. “Liberal activists may like the idea of bombing the filibuster today, but they will soon find themselves regretting the day their party broke the Senate.”
He said in another speech that same month: “Not only are our colleagues trying to take advantage of the authority given by the Constitution to the states to manage their own elections, they are also willing to bring a wrecking ball to the United States Senate itself and, in particular, the rules of the Senate.”
And he defended it on Fox News in 2022. “That’s what the filibuster does. It requires us to work together,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn addressed his past defense of the filibuster in Wednesday’s op-ed. “I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation,” he wrote. “Before the moderate Democrats became extinct, the rules worked… The recklessness and radicalism of the Democrats have changed the landscape.”
When asked specifically about his previous statement that changing the filibuster would “be a wrecking ball” for Senate rules on Wednesday, Cornyn responded: “I said I would be open to reform.”
When asked follow-up questions, Cornyn put his hand in front of the NBC News camera and said, “Go away.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly said there are not enough votes in the Senate to break the filibuster or pass the bill.
Thune told reporters Tuesday that he will bring the SAVE America Act to the floor, but that Democrats will reject it. “I can guarantee debate. I can guarantee a vote. I just can’t guarantee a result,” he said.
