Is It Time? Scott Bessent's Bold New Call to End the Filibuster
By Ward Clark | 12:25 PM on November 23, 2025
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
Is it time to end the Senate's long-standing rule, known as the filibuster? For years, centuries in fact, it has stood as what many describe as a bastion of republicanism, preventing the Senate from being taken over by short-term political passions. Both parties have used it to block legislation that otherwise would have been driven through by a simple majority.
Many Democrats, almost certainly a majority of that party, have sworn to eliminate the filibuster the moment they regain the Senate, which, sooner or later, they will. The last time they were in charge, they were only blocked from doing so by two moderate Democrat Senators: West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema. They have both since left the Senate.
President Trump, most notably after Democrats used the filibuster rule to keep the federal government locked down for over a month, has become a strong proponent of eliminating this rule. On Sunday, in a Washington Post opinion piece, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent makes a strong argument for doing away with this ancient Senate rule.
The American people are just now emerging from the longest and most devastating government shutdown in U.S. history. And while the blame lies squarely with Senate Democrats, we cannot ignore the weapon they used to hold the country hostage: the legislative filibuster.
In January, when spending considerations again come due, if Democrats once again choose to shut down the government, then Republicans should immediately end the filibuster. By wielding the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote Senate supermajority to pass legislation, Democrats inflicted tremendous harm on the nation, including: $11 billion in permanent economic damage; an estimated 1.5 percentage points in lost GDP growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025; 9,500 canceled flights; and the paychecks of 1.4 million federal workers held for ransom by the left’s demands.
In January, when spending considerations again come due, if Democrats once again choose to shut down the government, then Republicans should immediately end the filibuster. By wielding the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote Senate supermajority to pass legislation, Democrats inflicted tremendous harm on the nation, including: $11 billion in permanent economic damage; an estimated 1.5 percentage points in lost GDP growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025; 9,500 canceled flights; and the paychecks of 1.4 million federal workers held for ransom by the left’s demands.
This is all accurate enough. But what about the cooling effect? What about the protection of the minority? The United States, we should remember, is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic. The Senate, where every state from Florida to Alaska, from New York to Texas, from Rhode Island to Wyoming, has an equal voice, is one of the (small r) republican institutions. But doing away with the filibuster moves us closer to direct democracy, which the founders were dead-set against.
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READ MORE: https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/11/23/is-it-time-scott-bessents-bold-new-call-to-end-the-filibuster-n2196485
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Here's the most troubling part of all this: We may regret this move in the long term. But maybe there is no more long-term to consider. Maybe all we can do is what we can do today. And nuking the filibuster will allow that.
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