President Donald Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, where he encouraged Senate Republicans to finally eliminate the filibuster to pass all of the bills he wants.
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Trump was on his way to Michigan, where he will give a speech on the economy.
“All because of tariffs. All because of me. All because of Trump,” he said.
Trump was asked about Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and his current relationship with the Senate leader.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. He’s got to get his job done. It’s fine. I have a good relationship with John Thune,” said Trump. “He’s just got to get his job done. You got to get the SAVE America Act passed. Or better than that would be the filibuster. If you terminate the filibuster, everything happens. If you don’t terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen. If you don’t terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has spent the past few weeks making the same case, saying that Republicans must cancel the summer to kill the filibuster, pass the SAVE America Act and push through a slew of other bills on Trump’s agenda.
Typically, in an election year, the August recess is time that lawmakers can return home and campaign. Lee isn’t up for reelection.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said that he agreed with Lee, though he also isn’t up for reelection in 2026.
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Eliminating the filibuster is dead on arrival because there simply aren’t enough votes to vote it out, and Democrats could take over the U.S. Senate in November. As it stands, the Senate rules allow members to threaten a filibuster to shut down debate. To stop the filibuster, there must be a 60-vote super-majority.
Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) has said that he supports keeping the filibuster.
Trump’s “SAVE America Act” doesn’t have the vote to pass either. Currently, there are about 50 votes that support it, but there aren’t enough Republicans to pass it, and there certainly aren’t enough Democrats willing to stop a filibuster.
What some have proposed is that the filibuster threat be eliminated and the “talking filibuster” remain, meaning the lawmaker must hold the floor and cannot sit down. Currently, Trump and Lee want to eliminate the filibuster entirely.
On Monday morning, Trump threatened that unless the filibuster is eliminated, the economy will reach levels seen during the 1929 Great Depression.
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