Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana on Friday reportedly cautioned against using what he called the “nuclear option” to end the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, emphasizing that the filibuster remains an important guardrail in the nation’s legislative process—even as President Donald Trump renewed calls to abolish it.
At a Capitol press conference, Johnson said he understood the frustration behind Trump’s demand, which came Thursday night on Truth Social, but stressed that removing the Senate’s long-standing supermajority rule could have damaging consequences.
“The filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard,” Johnson said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it.”
The Speaker noted that while he had not spoken with the president since his post, he viewed Trump’s remarks as “another expression of the frustration, of the anger that has been felt, the anger by the President.” Johnson framed the debate not as a clash within the Republican Party but as a broader question about how to preserve institutional checks in an increasingly partisan era.
Eliminating the filibuster would allow the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority vote, bypassing the need for bipartisan agreement that the 60-vote rule enforces. Johnson warned that such a change could backfire if Democrats regain control of the Senate, saying that without the filibuster, “they would make the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico states, ban firearms, and do all sorts of things that would be very harmful for the country.”
Trump’s call to scrap the rule came after his return from a trip to Asia, where, he said, foreign leaders questioned how Democrats could “shut down the government” and why Republicans had “allowed them to do it.”
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump posted.
Currently, Senate Republicans hold 53 seats, a narrow majority that gives them procedural leverage but not enough to pass most legislation without Democratic support. Technically, the chamber could change its rules by simple majority to end the filibuster for government funding bills, but such a move would set a powerful precedent and reshape how the Senate operates.
Senate Republicans, however, showed little appetite for Trump’s proposal. Sen. John Curtis of Utah wrote Friday that he was a “firm no” on eliminating the filibuster. “The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate. Power changes hands, but principles shouldn’t,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota echoed that sentiment last week, calling any move to end the filibuster to reopen the government a “bad idea.”
For Johnson, the debate underscored a difficult balance: honoring the frustrations of conservative voters and Trump loyalists who see the Senate’s rules as an obstacle to governing, while warning that dismantling those same rules could, in time, hand Democrats the power to reshape the country without resistance.
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