If a man throws at you and misses, that doesn’t make him a pacifist – it just means he has bad intentions.
To stand still and give him a free second swing would be neither wise nor honorable; it would be stupid.
In 2022, Chuck Schumer and 47 other Senate Democrats are trying to change the rules of the US Senate and “nuke” the filibuster to cut through the takeover of electoral laws by the left.
They were stopped short by two embattled Democrats who were quickly kicked out of their party and retired.
In 2024, Schumer assured reporters that Democrats intend to end the job and kill the 60-vote limit the next time they take the majority.
For years, I believed that if the US Senate overturned the filibuster, Texas and our nation would lose more than it would gain.
My conservative colleagues and I have proudly used the 60 vote threshold to protect the country from all kinds of bad ideas and dangerous policies.
But when reality changes, leaders must assess and adapt.
Today, Democrats are using Senate legislation to block the SAVE America Act, defund the Department of Homeland Security and harm the American people – all in tandem with President Donald Trump.
But they clearly said that if these same laws ever get in the way of the Democrats, they will not hesitate to tear them up.
A law is only a law if both parties follow it.
I believe that the Democrats, through their votes and statements, have already dealt the filibuster a fatal blow: The rules of the Senate will change eventually, whether the Republicans like it or not.
This leaves the Conservatives with two options.
We can disarm ourselves, or we can stand and fight.
We can let the Democrats continue to disrupt today and break the rules at the first opportunity, or we can act now and use the authority that the American people have given this president and this Congress to protect our elections, protect our country and restore sanity.
The answer is obvious: We need to stand, fight and win.
Democrats started this war. Now the Republicans have to finish it.
When 48 Democrats nearly killed the filibuster, tougher legislation had to be passed increase election fraud.
They have tried to block voter ID requirements, legalize vote harvesting, and funnel taxpayer dollars to Democrats’ campaign funds.
The SAVE America Act, which I sponsored, would do the opposite.
It would make it easier to vote but harder to cheat, by requiring proof of citizenship and voter ID.
These basic, common defenses are very popular with the American people – and the fact that the radicals apparently see them as a threat to their chances in November really gives their game away.
The president called the SAVE America Act “very important,” and he’s right.
But it is also urgent to overcome other aspects of the leftist blockade.
Americans are forced to wait in line for three hours at airport security checkpoints because Democrats blocked funding for homeland security and immigration enforcement.
It’s bad enough that the Democrats’ political rage is ruining travelers’ days – but in this time of hostility with Iran, their financial blockade of DHS is not just bad, it’s dangerous.
Texans don’t need endless discussions about the laws in Washington that Democrats have promised to break. Talk is cheap.
They need leaders who get results.
And the results are exactly what I was proud to help President Trump deliver during his two terms.
I joined with the president to cut taxes for working families, rebuild our military, stop inflation, reform the courts and secure our border.
Now this success story needs its next chapter.
After careful consideration, I support any changes to the Senate rules that may be deemed necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and national security funding past the obstruction of the Democrats, through the Senate, and onto the president’s desk for signature.
This could be a “talking filibuster” that removes a free pass for the vetoes and allows them to defend their indefensible views on the Senate floor, or it could be a different revolution.
The process is important, but the results are more important: The Democrats’ assault on electoral integrity and national security must be stopped.
Leadership means supporting core principles and applying them thoughtfully as circumstances change.
I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote limit was a huge benefit to Texas and our country.
Before the moderate Democrats disappeared, the laws worked.
But as President Abraham Lincoln once warned Congress, the “quiet doctrines of the past” may be “insufficient in the stormy present.”
The recklessness and radicalism of the Democrats changed the situation.
On these critical issues, at this critical time, the old ways are no longer compatible with the core American values we must defend.
It is time for our Senate Republican Conference, led by our strong and strategic Majority Leader John Thune, to take action again, rebuild momentum and get results.
I respectfully urge the few remaining Republican colleagues who still cling to the old position I used to share to review the new reality and revise their thinking.
We must use the authority the voters entrusted to us to pass the SAVE America Act, fund our homeland security, and end the left-wing ban.
John Cornyn represents Texas in the US Senate.
