Utah Sen. John Curtis is opposing calls from President Donald Trump to eliminate the filibuster to end the government shutdown, defending the traditional rule as being crucial to bipartisanship in lawmaking.
“The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate. Power changes hands, but principles shouldn’t,” Curtis said in a post on X. “I’m a firm no on eliminating it.”
Curtis’ statement came directly in response to Trump’s demand to GOP senators to “play their ‘Trump Card’” by going nuclear to “get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” The filibuster has been in place for centuries in the Senate as a delay tactic to block votes as it requires a two-thirds majority, or 60 votes, to end debate on certain pieces of legislation.
This has given the minority party power they wouldn’t otherwise have, especially when the margins between the parties are small.
This year, that 60-vote threshold has allowed Democratic senators to block the Republican-led spending resolution to reopen the government, giving them leverage to demand health care reform amid the shutdown fight. That tactic, which has now resulted in a 31-day shutdown, has angered enough Republicans in both the House and Senate who have begun calling for a rule change.
Those Republicans are calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to “go nuclear,” a rarely used maneuver that allows the majority party to change Senate rules with only a simple majority vote. Thune most recently used the nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster for some lower-level Trump administration nominees, and now some Republicans, particularly on the House side, want him to invoke the motion once again.
Thune has resisted those calls, warning it could come back to haunt Republicans in the future if they lose their slim majority.
“Is it possible? Yes. … Is it wise? A lot of people would tell you it’s not,” Thune told reporters earlier this month. “I mean, on the Republican side, I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now.”
Other Senate Republicans have defended the traditional rule, making it unlikely that Trump can sway enough members of his party to eliminate the filibuster completely. Thune’s spokesperson on Friday confirmed that the majority leader’s stance on the subject has not changed, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also came out against the idea on Friday morning.
“The filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard,” he said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it.”
Democrats threatened to eliminate the filibuster in 2022 and 2023 when they controlled both chambers, but a few moderate senators — including former Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin — blocked those efforts.
When Manchin spoke to The Wall Street Journal earlier this week about the filibuster, he said 15 of his Republican colleagues promised not to end the rule and he called on them to keep their promise.
“I gave my word, my sacred word, that they never had to worry about me ever voting to get rid of it. And they gave me their word,” Manchin said. “And I’m praying to God they keep it.”