[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 14 (Thursday, January 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S306-S307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               FILIBUSTER

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I think we all remember the situation just 
a few short months ago in the lead-up to the election. Democrat 
Senators and Senate candidates were declaring their commitment to 
eliminating the filibuster or creating carve-outs that would render it 
meaningless. The Democratic leader himself made it very clear that the 
days of the filibuster were numbered, telling a crowd at the Democratic 
National Convention that his party would be changing the rules to pass 
the Democrats' Federal takeover of elections. The filibuster, it 
seemed, was on its way out.
  Fast-forward to yesterday. Yesterday, it seems there was a sudden 
change of heart because yesterday every Senate Democrat--the Democratic 
leader, new Democratic Senators, long-serving Democratic Senators who 
had expressed their desire to get rid of the filibuster--joined 
together and filibustered a bill. That is right. Every Democratic 
Senator participated in a filibuster of yesterday's legislation.
  I will leave aside the disturbing fact that Democrats chose to unite 
to block a bill to protect living, breathing, newborn children born 
alive after an attempted abortion.
  What I want to talk about today is Democrats' apparent belief that 
there should be one rule for Democrats and another rule for everyone 
else. Back in 2017, during President Trump's first term, when 
Republicans controlled the Senate, 32 Senate Democrats--many of whom, I 
might add, are still serving today--joined a letter to Senate 
leadership asking for preservation of the legislative filibuster. Then 
Democrats took power, and all of a sudden Democrats started to find the 
legislative filibuster a major inconvenience. They wanted to pass 
highly partisan legislation like their Federal takeover of elections, 
and they discovered the filibuster was getting in the way.
  Now, Republicans are in power again, and it seems Democrats are back 
to supporting the filibuster. And the only thing I can gather from that 
is that Democrats think they should be free to pass any legislation 
they choose when they are in power but the Republicans should not; that 
the rules should apply when they serve the aims of the Democratic Party 
and that the rules should be abolished whenever they interfere with 
Democrats' far-left agenda; in short, that one party, the Democratic 
Party, should be making decisions in this country.
  That is not a very democratic attitude. It also betrays an elitism, a 
disdain for half of the electorate that perhaps had something to do 
with Democrats' electoral defeat in November.
  Now, there is no doubt that the filibuster can sometimes be 
frustrating. I am frustrated that we couldn't pass legislation 
yesterday to uphold basic human decency by requiring that babies born 
alive after an attempted abortion receive appropriate medical care. But 
the filibuster serves a crucial purpose.
  The Founders intended the Senate to be a counterbalance to the House. 
It was designed to be a more stable, thoughtful, more deliberative 
legislative body to check ill-considered or intemperate legislation or 
tyranny by the majority. And as time has gone on, the legislative 
filibuster is the Senate rule that has had perhaps the greatest impact 
in preserving the Founders' vision of the Senate.
  The filibuster acts as a check on imprudent or ill-considered 
legislation. It forces discussion and compromise, and, critically, it 
ensures that Americans whose party is not in power also have a

[[Page S307]]

voice in Congress. Preserving the filibuster is crucial to preserving 
the Senate's checks and balances role in our system of government.
  I expect that Democrats will continue to display a renewed enthusiasm 
for the filibuster during this Congress. And while I may strongly 
disagree with their choice of when to use it, I will continue to defend 
their right to do so. Keeping the Senate the Senate and ensuring it 
continues to fill the role envisioned for it by the Founders is more 
important than temporary political gain. I hope that when the day comes 
that Democrats retake the Senate, their time in the minority will have 
reminded them of the crucial role the filibuster plays and that they 
will carry their newfound enthusiasm for the filibuster with them when 
they again find themselves in our shoes.

                          ____________________