This week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on Republicans to nuke the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act and ensure safe, secure elections.
Eliminating the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate has been a controversial step, but one some members of the GOP are calling increasingly necessary to get some of the bigger pieces of the MAGA agenda done.
President Trump has called on the GOP to eliminate the filibuster.
“The president couldn’t have been more clear. I couldn’t have been more clear a couple months ago. I had an editorial in The Wall Street Journal just saying we’ve got to get rid of the filibuster,” Bessent said during a sitdown with CNBC.
“You know, in game theory, the best known game is Prisoner’s Dilemma, and it’s who moves first. And if you have bad actors in the Prisoners’ Dilemma, which the Democrats are, then you should move first. It’s kind of kill or be killed,” Bessent continued.
“Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrats basically had nuked the filibuster but they refused to go along with it and guess where they are? They’re both sitting at home now.”
“And I think Republicans need to be smart about this. Maybe the filibuster doesn’t get withdrawn for everything, but there are things that we’ve got to do, we’ve got to keep the government open, and I mean, look, we’re on the verge of another government shutdown, and the Democrats think this is the way to hurt President Trump, but they are willing to hurt the American people.”
“If the Democrats shut the economy down again, it is a sign that they are bad actors, they don’t care about the American people, and we ought to move forward, not let the government shut down, have voter integrity, and many other of our signature issues.”
Watch the clip below:
🚨 BREAKING: Sec. Scott Bessent just demanded the Senate GOP NUKE the 60-vote filibuster for the SAVE America Act, and perfectly explained why
"The prisoner's dilemma…kill or be killed!"
"Republicans need to be SMART about this!"
"If you have bad actors in the prisoner's… pic.twitter.com/iYEDB39ppq
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 13, 2026
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