Cornyn, Amid Race for Trump’s Endorsement in Texas Senate Primary, Embraces Changes to the Filibuster, Despite Years of Opposition

Senator John Cornyn, the senior lawmaker from Texas, now says he is in favor of changing the filibuster in some way in order to pass the SAVE America Act and funding for the Department of Homeland Security. For more than two decades in the Senate, Mr. Cornyn has never advocated for such changes, and is now doing so at the same time he is angling for President Trump’s endorsement in his heated re-election campaign. Mr. Cornyn is being challenged by his state’s hardline conservative attorney general Ken Paxton, and barely finished ahead of him in the first round of voting earlier this month. Both men are set to face off again at the end of May, which would be preceded by a lengthy runoff race which is costing Republicans millions of dollars every day. In an opinion piece for the New York Post on Wednesday, Mr. Cornyn said that he has changed his mind about the filibuster. He says that the SAVE America Act and re-opening DHS are more important than the Senate’s traditions. “Texans don’t need more endless discussions over Washington rules that Democrats have already promised to break. Talk is cheap,” Mr. Cornyn wrote. “They need leaders who get results.”In the piece he mentions what some call the “talking filibuster,” which has been pushed by conservatives as a possible pathway in order to pass the SAVE America Act. Mr. Cornyn says he would be supportive of such a move, or “whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and homeland security funding past the Democrats’ obstruction.”Mr. Cornyn says that this is not about politics, despite he is just now adopting Mr. Trump’s preferred stance two decades into his Senate tenure while also angling for the president’s endorsement. He says it was the Democrats who forced his hand. “Process matters, but outcomes matter more: The Democrats’ assault on election integrity and national security must be stopped. Leadership means upholding core principles and applying them thoughtfully as circumstances change,” he wrote. “I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation. Before moderate Democrats went extinct, the rules worked,” Mr. Cornyn added. Mr. Trump has said he will endorse in the Texas Senate Republican primary “soon,” so that the GOP can coalesce around their nominee quickly. The president said in a Truth Social post earlier this month that he would also be asking the person he does not endorse to drop out of the race altogether. Democrats wrapped up their nomination quickly, with state representative James Talarico defeating Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett with a majority of the vote just hours after the polls closed. Polling shows he is a strong candidate for the fall, given he is statistically tied with both Messrs. Cornyn and Paxton in the general election, which is giving Republicans even more anxiety about letting this runoff continue.Mr. Trump has been intensely focused on getting the SAVE America Act passed. For weeks, he has been firing off clear warning shots at his fellow Republicans via Truth Social, demanding that they pass what he sees as the most important legislation in decades. The majority leader, Senator John Thune — who is pushing hard to get Mr. Trump to endorse Mr. Cornyn — has all but closed the door on using a talking filibuster in order to force Democrats on to the floor for a debate and an eventual vote at a simple-majority threshold. That process could take months, he says, all while other Senate business is put to the side. “We don’t have the votes either to proceed — get on — a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it. That is just a function of math and there isn’t anything I can do about that,” Mr. Thune told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. “I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.”“For better or worse, I’m the one who has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here,” he said.

Cornyn, Amid Race for Trump’s Endorsement in Texas Senate Primary, Embraces Changes to the Filibuster, Despite Years of Opposition

Cornyn, Amid Race for Trump’s Endorsement in Texas Senate Primary, Embraces Changes to the Filibuster, Despite Years of Opposition

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