U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) holds his weekly press conference following the Republican caucus policy luncheon at Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 13, 2025.REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The House and Senate are fighting again, and this time it's tearing apart the Republican Party as the 2026 midterm elections near.
NOTUS reported on Wednesday that the current battle over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security is so contentious that it has slowed Congress not merely to a crawl, but a standstill.
Many Republicans were eager to speak frankly with NOTUS about their frustrations, but they were too fearful to have it attributed to them.
“The Senate clearly, like transparently, has zero respect for the House at all,” one House Republican said when speaking to NOTUS. “There’s this idea that they are far superior to us intellectually, that they understand issues better than we do. The Senate sees the House as a bunch of sort of barbarians or Philistines, and they’re the enlightened ones.”
“Now come on … the Senate and House love each other," another senior Republican said sarcastically.
The member added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune “does not respect or trust” Speaker Mike Johnson.
House Republicans willing to speak out on social media are placing the blame on Thune. Senate Republicans are placing it on Johnson.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told Fox News that the Senate GOP has "a real disgust for this president." Sharing the video of the comments on X, Burchett wrote that the Senate “needs guts and new leadership.”
Outgoing Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) attacked Thune on CNN Sunday, calling him a "thorn in the side" of Republicans.
The report cited a popular quote from former House Speaker Tip O’Neill, who famously told Democratic members that Republicans weren't the enemy, they were the opposition. "The Senate is the enemy.”
A top Senate GOP aide told NOTUS that the capability to pass laws has hit rock bottom.
“The Senate is still acting like the Senate, which is why the House hates it. It’s sort of ignoring the House’s plight. I think leadership’s trying to be sensitive to that, but members aren’t,” the aide said. “Even if the relationships are not at an all-time low, the functioning is at an all-time low.”
With Democrats blocking Trump's voting restrictions, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has been among those pressuring Thune to "edit" the filibuster making it a requirement that a lawmaker must only do a talking filibuster. It's something Democrats have advocated for as well.
“It is frustrating because sometimes there will be someone describe the Senate and how simple things are to be able to move in the Senate, if only you did X, Y, Z,” said Sen. James Lankford, (R-Okla.).
“I’m one of the folks that was in the House and thought I understood the Senate — until you get into the Senate and you understand, no, that this is a very, very different body and I’m not willing to be able to blow up the filibuster and turn the Senate into the House,” he said.
Another House Republican summarized it succinctly, "It's bad."
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (Del.) explained the conflict as each house not wanting to be told what to do by the other.
“We hate it when they jam us. They hate it when we jam them," he said.
When it comes to the DHS funding bill and the debate between the House and Senate, he said, “You could see this one coming."