00:00Texas Senator John Cornyn is arguing that passing the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship
00:05to vote, is more important than the sanctity of the Senate filibuster. Now, the filibuster
00:09requires 60 votes to pass as a bill, ensuring broader support for a law than just a simple
00:15majority. In theory, it's meant to stop radical changes to the law by requiring at least
00:20some agreement on both sides of the political aisle. In an op-ed for our very own New York
00:25Post, Cornyn says it's time to end the practice. He writes, quote, after careful consideration,
00:31I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE
00:36America Act and Homeland Security funding past the Democrats' obstruction through the Senate
00:40and on the president's desk for his signature. Now, Cornyn goes on to write that filibuster
00:45reform could mean a talking filibuster that, in his words, removes the obstructionist free
00:51pass and makes them defend their indefensible views on the Senate floor. Now, Cornyn's change
00:56of heart comes as he believes Democrats would nuke the filibuster the next time they're in
01:00power. That was enough to make him support the move. So what would eliminating the filibuster
01:06really mean? And what is Cornyn's political calculus? Here's The Post's political reporter,
01:11Ryan King.
01:11Most big legislation that goes through the Senate has to be bipartisan to overcome the filibuster.
01:17So this would open up the floodgates to all sorts of legislation on things like election
01:23law, abortion policy, immigration, and more that typically would be dead in the Senate.
01:30And basically, if the filibuster were gone, the minority party would have a lot less leverage.
01:36Now, it's important to note the context of, we mentioned Cornyn earlier, coming out in favor
01:43of weakening the filibuster. He's facing a really tough primary in Texas and needs to be a
01:47President Trump's endorsement. And Trump has been pushing Republicans in the Senate to weaken the
01:53filibuster so that he can get the Save America Act through the Senate. And there's been a big
01:59pressure campaign from conservative influencers on Republican senators to weaken the filibuster.
02:04But right now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that Republicans simply don't have
02:10the votes for that. And there are a lot of concerns among Republican senators, particularly ones who have
02:16been in the Senate for a long time, that if they were to take away the filibuster or weaken it,
02:21that it'll come back to fight them in the future if Democrats were to take over the Senate again.
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