Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent a warning shot Monday over the talking filibuster, saying the procedural playcall is “way more complicated” than many supporters realize.

“This particular approach in terms of the process is much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment,” Thune told reporters, cautioning that a talking filibuster without forcing through a formal rules change — for which there isn’t the votes — could take up months of Senate floor time.

Thune’s comments came after President Donald Trump urged the Senate to quickly take up and pass GOP-led voting legislation, known as the SAVE America Act — even if it means invoking a talking filibuster, which would force Democrats to physically hold the floor in order to block consideration of the bill.

Trump also pitched expanding the bill’s scope beyond voting to include red meat issues like banning men from participating in women’s sports and prohibiting gender affirming surgery for children. Thune said Monday it would “make sense” for the House to send an updated bill to reflect Trump’s latest priorities.

Thune is the target of a fierce online pressure campaign to skirt the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster — coming both from House Republicans and what the majority leader characterized Monday as a “paid influencer ecosystem.”

Part of the pitch from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and his allies has been that Republicans could force Democrats into a talking filibuster without having to officially change the Senate rules or precedents. Thune reiterated Monday that formally nuking the legislative filibuster is “not going to happen.”

“The one thing I’ve said all along and I’ve told him and others — that I can’t guarantee an outcome,” Thune said, referring to Trump. “I can’t guarantee a result if the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster. We don’t have the votes to do that, and so that’s just not a realistic option and I’ve made that clear to anybody who’s asked.”

But a significant number of GOP senators are also skeptical of a talking filibuster even without changing the Senate’s rules. Some believe the gambit would permanently weaken the 60-vote legislative filibuster. Others think the procedural option being floated by Lee and others is unworkable because it would let Democrats bog down the floor and potentially hijack the bill for any proposal for which they could get at least 50 votes.

“The process and how you ultimately try and get a result is still unclear to me based on all the research we’ve done,” Thune said Monday about invoking a talking filibuster, adding that conversations are still ongoing within the conference about the process.

Rep. Andy Ogles said on Monday that Muslims have no place in America, an Islamophobic attack from a sitting member of Congress.

“Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie,” the Tennessee Republican posted Monday morning on X.

It is not the first bigoted social media post Ogles has made.

He has also said that “America and Islam are incompatible,” and has introduced legislation to halt immigration from Muslim-majority nations.

A spokesperson for Ogles referred Blue Light News to an interview the member of Congress did with Fox News following a shooting in Austin, Texas, in which he said that “mass Islamic immigration, legal or illegal, has transformed America and brought destructive consequences.”

Ogles’ post comes as Republicans gather in Florida for their annual retreat and could serve as a distraction as the party seeks to hash out its agenda ahead of the midterms.

Spokespeople for the offices of the top three House Republicans — Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ogles’ legislation, the Halt Immigration from Countries with Inadequate Verification Capabilities Act, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act by refusing admission to immigrants from some majority-Muslim countries like Iran, Libya and Syria. North Korea, Venezuela and Yemen are also named in the bill, which does make exceptions for U.S. citizens.

The bill, which is unlikely to become law, has already garnered the support of Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who said “we must protect America from jihadists.”

Fine has also come under fire for Islamophobic remarks recently.

Last month, the Florida Republican faced criticism for implying that dogs were preferable to Muslims. At least one Democrat called for Fine to be censured.

A spokesperson for Fine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House Republicans are descending on President Donald Trump’s Doral resort Monday for their annual policy retreat, with hopes of sketching out their legislative priorities before the midterms.

Trump may have just upended that plan.

The president on Sunday said he wouldn’t sign any bills until Republicans pass the sweeping elections overhaul known as the SAVE America Act. Paired with a new Middle East War, surging oil prices and persistent internal turmoil threatening the House GOP’s razor-thin majority, the kickoff of the party’s South Florida gathering is looking anything but sunny.

Here’s a preview of what’s coming at the retreat:

— TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA SCRAMBLE: The president is set to speak to Republicans Monday at 5 p.m. We’ll be watching the extent to which he leans into his SAVE America Act ultimatum and another demand that Republicans add restrictions on transgender surgeries and mail voting. Trump’s request to expand the bill may trigger more GOP infighting and further weaken a push to skirt the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster to pass it.

— RECONCILING RECONCILIATION: Many House Republicans hope to leave the retreat with clarity on another major question: whether they’ll try to pass a second party-line budget reconciliation bill. Speaker Mike Johnson promised some members he would try, but the effort would require near-total GOP unity and could well be DOA in the Senate. Some Republicans think the need for more war funding could jumpstart a fresh reconciliation push given opposition by Senate Democrats.

— COMMITTEE CHAIRS SPEAK: Committee chairs are set to discuss their legislative plans for the year Tuesday afternoon.

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith is expected to talk through a list of bipartisan health care and tax priorities. House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he’s planning to discuss his panel’s reconciliation priorities, as well as unfinished housing and crypto bills he’s working out with the Senate.

House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino said he was planning to share details about how the DHS funding lapse is degrading the department’s preparedness and discuss reauthorization bills under his panel’s jurisdiction.

Republicans expect House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole and Rep. Ken Calvert, who chairs the funding panel that oversees the Pentagon, to discuss an anticipated White House request for more military funding in light of the Middle East war.

— ROUNDING OUT THE WEEK: Republicans on Tuesday are set to hear from White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, 2024 Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. Conservative commentator Scott Jennings will brief them on GOP messaging, while podcast host Ben Shapiro will address the “speed of new media” in a Wednesday morning session.

What else we’re watching: 

— Housing bill’s House hurdles: The Senate is set to pass bipartisan housing legislation as soon as this week, but House conservatives are gearing up to fight it. At issue is a part of the bill that would restrict the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency through 2030. The House has passed a permanent CBDC ban, and on Friday 32 House Republicans told leaders in a letter that the housing bill would be “dead on arrival” without it. The White House has said it wants to pass the Senate bill as-is.

— AI-boosted campaign ad: Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is campaigning to reclaim the South Side of Chicago seat he once held, is launching a new TV and digital ad Monday featuring an endorsement from former Rep. Bobby Rush delivered partly via artificial intelligence. The spot initially shows Rush speaking in his actual voice, weakened from a battle with throat cancer. He then continues speaking in a restored version of the voice he had decades ago.

— Rudd nomination: The Senate will vote to advance the nomination of Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to be a general Monday. If confirmed, he’s set to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.

Katherine Hapgood, Shia Kapos and Calen Razor contributed to this report.