Senate Majority Leader John Thune signaled Republicans are weighing aggressive procedural moves after Democrats blocked a full-year Department of Homeland Security funding bill.
The Senate voted 52–47 to advance the House-passed DHS measure, but the bill fell short of the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster when Democrats withheld support.
Thune accused Democrats of freezing critical government functions by tying the dispute to immigration enforcement.
“I think they want to make this all about ICE, but it’s so much more than that. It’s FEMA, it’s TSA, it’s the Coast Guard, it’s cyber security,” Thune said during an appearance on “Kudlow.”
“There are a lot of important functions and agencies of government that are funded in that appropriations bill, and the Democrats are making it impossible to pass, so we’re exploring all the options.”
He argued that disaster response, airport security, coastal defense and cyber protection remain caught in the crossfire.
Republicans are now studying procedural strategies to break the stalemate.
“We’re looking at a Recon 2.0. Obviously we’re having conversations about a potential talking filibuster. That’s challenging because you have to have 50 to stay together to table every single amendment, or this could be an amendment tree with a lot of really bad votes,” Thune explained.
“Perhaps some of that would end up passing that would be to the detriment of the bill and probably sink it,” he noted.
Thune stressed the need for caution before triggering a floor fight that could spiral out of control.
“You want to be strategic and smart about this. But there’s some things that we’re talking about here, which I mentioned should be bipartisan. The housing bill should be bipartisan permanent reform.”
The South Dakota lawmaker said partisan resistance is blocking even routine legislation.
“Those are a whole range of things, a highway bill, farm bill,” Thune said. “There are a lot of things out there, Larry, that we could be working on together if the Democrats weren’t afflicted with such a case of Trump derangement syndrome that they are blinded and unable to function in a way that even delivers on the very basic functions of the American government for the American people.”
The funding lapse for DHS began Feb. 14, raising pressure on leadership to act.
At the same time, President Donald Trump publicly urged Thune during his State of the Union address to advance the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act.
The House already passed the voter ID bill, but it faces the same 60-vote hurdle in the Senate.
Sen. Susan Collins became the fiftieth Republican to support the legislation, while Sen. Mitch McConnell remains the only GOP senator opposed.
“Perhaps most importantly, I’m asking you to approve the SAVE America Act,” Trump told lawmakers during his address.
🚨 PRESIDENT TRUMP JUST CALLED OUT Senate Leader John Thune LIVE at the SOTU:
“PASS the SAVE America Act! We HAVE to stop it, John!”
“The only way they can get elected is they CHEAT.”
pic.twitter.com/vZv7MNZK4w— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 25, 2026
“To stop illegal aliens and others, who are uncommitted persons, from voting in our sacred American elections.”
“The cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant. It’s very simple. All voters must show voter ID,” Trump continued. “All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote.”
Arguing that Democratic policies cannot win on their merits, Trump pressed Senate leadership directly. “We have to stop it, John.”
Plenty of Republicans want Thune to force Democrats into a talking filibuster to bring the measure to the floor and require them to debate it publicly.
Thune said he plans to schedule a vote to put Democrats on record.
Thune announced Wednesday during a separate Fox News interview that that he would get it on the floor to “have a vote” and “put the Democrats on the record” as being against voter ID.
He said that the Democrats “trying to defend allowing non-citizens to vote in American elections” is a “losing proposition for them,” however, ending the government shutdown is his “first” priority.
Earlier Wednesday, Thune told reporters there is not enough unity within the Republican conference to trigger a full talking filibuster strategy while also trying to resolve DHS funding.
“If we were to go down that path, it’s very hard to pivot and get back to open up the government,” Thune said, referring to the stalled homeland security bill.
He warned that launching a drawn-out floor fight could derail other bipartisan efforts, including housing affordability reforms.
“That’s harder to do once you’re in the throes of a talking filibuster,” Thune cautioned.
🚨 BREAKING: Senate Leader John Thune says there are ACTIVE discussions to bring the SAVE America Act to a talking filibuster and floor vote
If successful, it can PASS with 50 votes + JD Vance
"We're having conversations about it, but it's not a unified position among… pic.twitter.com/CdPAh8wA3j
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2026
He said forcing Democrats to continuously debate and block amendments would require near-perfect GOP unity.
“The talking filibuster issue is on which there is not certainly a unified Republican Conference and there would have to be,” he explained.
“If you go down that path, you’re talking about the need to table what are going to be numerous amendments and an ability to keep 50 Republicans unified pretty much on every single vote.”
He pointed out that “There just isn’t the support for doing that at this point.”
Still, Thune confirmed that the SAVE Act will receive floor consideration.
“As I’ve said, and we will get on it and we will have a vote on the SAVE Act. The context of that, the process in which we consider it, is still an open question.”
