‘It is not my call,’ Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said of the Senate chamber issue. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has consistently defended the filibuster.
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have defended the value of the filibuster after President Donald Trump urged Senate Republicans to eliminate it in order to fund the government.
“The filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard. If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it,” Johnson told reporters at a press conference with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Oct. 31, the 31st day of the government shutdown.
When asked whether Thune might seek to change the filibuster, a spokesperson for the leader told The Epoch Times via email that his “position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”
Thune has consistently defended the filibuster amid recent chatter about challenging it.
Trump encouraged GOP lawmakers to invoke the option and “get rid of the filibuster” on Truth Social on Oct. 30.
The proposal came almost a month into the lapse in funding driven by a partisan standoff over health care spending.
Republicans have been able to secure a majority of votes for their continuing resolution to fund the government, including from three senators who caucus with the Democrats. Yet, support has so far fallen short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a possible filibuster.
In his post, the president suggested that Democrats would have eliminated the institution under President Joe Biden were it not for resistance from then-Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—who later became independents. Both are no longer in the Senate.
“If the Democrats ever came back into power, which would be made easier for them if the Republicans are not using the great strength and policies made available to us by ending the filibuster, the Democrats will exercise their rights, and it will be done in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it,” the president wrote.
Johnson told reporters that the president’s filibuster talk is “an expression of the president’s anger at the situation.”
“He just desperately wants the government to be reopened,” he said.
Johnson said that a change to the filibuster is “not my call.”
“It’s a Senate chamber issue,” he added.
Over the last week, Republican senators who spoke with The Epoch Times generally sounded skeptical that a push to alter the institution could gain traction.
