Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for ending the Senate filibuster during a recent interview, placing the progressive Democrat in rare agreement with President Donald Trump on changing Senate rules.
Ocasio-Cortez discussed the issue while speaking with former Obama adviser David Axelrod about the Senate procedure requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation through the chamber.
The New York congresswoman argued the filibuster allows senators to avoid accountability by preventing legislation from reaching a final vote on the Senate floor.
“When you have to meet a 60 vote threshold, you’re not really responsible for any consequential decisions,” Ocasio-Cortez said while criticizing the parliamentary procedure during the interview.
Her comments specifically targeted moderate Republican senators including Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski over legislation involving voting requirements and election rules.
“Let Lisa Murkowski take that vote on the SAVE Act,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Let Susan Collins take that vote on it. I dare you. Call the question.”
Ocasio-Cortez argued senators should be required to publicly support or oppose legislation instead of relying on the filibuster to block bills without direct recorded votes on final passage.
The congresswoman also described the filibuster as tied to segregation-era politics and argued it became a tool historically used to delay civil rights legislation and Black voter enfranchisement.
“I do not appreciate the wholesale fictionalization of American history,” Ocasio-Cortez said while discussing the origins and historical use of the Senate procedure.
She argued the filibuster was not intentionally included in the Constitution as a major compromise but instead developed through Senate procedural changes later exploited by segregationist lawmakers.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to pass legislation, including his proposed SAVE America Act, by a simple majority vote, per the Daily Mail.
The legislation would require proof of US citizenship to vote in federal elections and would allow documents such as passports, birth certificates or qualifying REAL IDs as verification.
Trump has also argued the Senate version of the proposal should include voter identification requirements, restrictions on mail-in ballots and additional social policy provisions supported by conservatives.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, though ending the filibuster would require support from senators who have historically defended the chamber’s procedural traditions.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has opposed eliminating the filibuster and argued the procedure “makes the Senate the Senate” by protecting minority-party rights.
Critics of removing the filibuster from both parties have argued the rule could later benefit Democrats when political control of Congress and the White House changes in future election cycles.
