Democrats are actively using the filibuster they tried to abolish
In 2022, Senate Democrats attempted to change Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation with a simple majority. Had they succeeded, the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance a bill through the chamber, would have ended.
In 2025, Democrats have used the filibuster four times to block Republican-led bills.
Straight Arrow News asked the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat: What’s the party’s current stance on using the filibuster?
“We’re not ruling it out, of course. It has been used in the past, sometimes to our favor, sometimes to the Republicans’ favor. But I think it depends on the circumstance of the situation,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.
Which bills have Democrats blocked?
Democrats blocked a ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, a regulatory framework for stablecoin digital currency, sanctions against the International Criminal Court and a bill requiring medical care be provided to babies who are born after surviving an attempted abortion.
“We’re using the filibuster now to protect vital freedoms and our democracy,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.
Blumenthal said he would not engage in hypotheticals when asked by SAN what Democrats would do now if they had abolished it in 2022. He did say, though, that he doesn’t think Republicans would necessarily pass bills Democrats vehemently opposed.
“If there were no filibuster, I’m not positing or assuming in advance what Republicans would or could do, maybe they’d be more responsive to the merits of the bills,” Blumenthal said. “Many of these legislative battles come down to a few votes because we’re evenly divided, and when they are close votes, anything can happen.”
What is the filibuster?
The filibuster is a procedural maneuver to delay or stop a vote on legislation through unlimited debate. Ending debate, or overcoming the filibuster, requires 60 votes, nine more than a simple 51-vote majority.
Republicans are accusing Democrats of hypocrisy, given that they once tried to eliminate the tool they are now utilizing.
“So pretty remarkable, honestly, that the Democrats are now in love with the Senate filibuster, given the fact that every single Senate Democrat either voted for or campaigned in favor of getting rid of the filibuster,” Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.
Didn’t President Trump want to abolish the filibuster?
Senate Democrats aren’t alone in wanting to abolish or reform the filibuster. President Donald Trump has called for it on multiple occasions since 2017.
“The very outdated filibuster rule must go,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW.”
He was frustrated Republicans didn’t have the numbers to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Trump’s call to abolish the filibuster led 61 bipartisan senators to write a letter to leaders Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urging them to preserve it.
Republicans’ views have not changed since.
“I’ve said the day that Republicans vote to nuke the filibuster is the day I announce my retirement from the Senate,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told SAN.
What reforms are Democrats proposing?
Blumenthal is calling for the filibuster to be reformed.
“Maybe there should be a talking filibuster. Maybe there should be a change in the rules that apply to the filibuster. That’s the kind of reform that, I think, should come to the Senate,” Blumenthal said. “Because there’s a real possibility that we’ll be gridlocked as a result of the present structure.”
Democratic leaders have also said they will consider the same rule change they tried in 2022 if it means passing their agenda.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
