Despite calls in 2024 for Senate Democrats to finally end the filibuster, it never happened. And now MAGA Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is floating the idea to do just that despite Republican cries of outrage when Democrats were considering it, reports MSNBC.
The Ohio senator suggested in an interview on Fox News that Republicans should get rid of the 60-vote threshold to end the shutdown, saying “Let’s make this a Republican-only vote.”
Moreno, MSNBC says, complained that the filibuster was allowing Democrats to “hold us hostage” indefinitely.
“My point of view would be this: We have almost all Republicans on board,” Moreno told host Laura Ingraham. “Maybe it’s time to think about the filibuster. You say look, the Democrats would have done it. Let’s just vote with Republicans. We got 52 Republicans. Let’s go. And let’s open the government. It may get to that.”
Moreno also made false claims on Ingraham's show about Democrats' demands for reopening the government, claiming they include “re-funding USAID” and “abortions on demand."
Instead, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Democrats want any funding bill to include the extension of a set of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year.
As MSNBC opinion columnist Hayes Brown explains, "the GOP has benefited far more from the legislative filibuster than Democrats, as its agenda is less dependent on new legislation to enact."
"And when Republicans are in the minority," Hayes notes, "they’re more than happy to use the 60-vote threshold as leverage to water down Democratic legislation in the name of bipartisanship."
But, as Politico noted Thursday, “nuking the legislative filibuster sparks unease and outright opposition with a number of GOP senators, who worry that it will come back to bite them when they are in the minority.”
Republicans, however, "are trying to have it both ways: refusing to treat Democrats’ votes as worth courting while still preserving the right to blockade future Democratic bills," Hayes says.
As for ending the filibuster, Hayes says, "The onus now falls on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to defend the institution, even as it hamstrings his party’s agenda."
"It would probably be too much to hope that Moreno keeps this same energy should he find himself serving in the minority during his time in Washington," Hayes adds.
On Friday afternoon, Office of Management and Budget director and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought announced "substantial" mass layoffs of federal employees.