The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal is pushing back on a call from President Trump to eliminate the Senate filibuster so Republicans can pass legislation more easily.
“You knew it would happen. Frustrated by Congress, President Trump is demanding that Republican Senators break the 60-vote filibuster rule to pass legislation,” the Journal wrote in an editorial published on Monday. “As so often in this Presidency, Mr. Trump is going for short-term tactical gain while ignoring the long-term damage.”
The president, during a “60 Minutes” interview over the weekend reiterated his support for eliminating the longstanding Senate rule, which mandates a 60-vote threshold for bills to advance. He first suggested lawmakers use the “nuclear option,” late last month as the government shutdown persists.
“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!!” the president wrote in a Truth Social post early Tuesday morning, as his White House pressures Democrats to make a deal that would open the federal government, which has been down for more than 30 days. The lapse in funding is threatening social services for millions of Americans.
The GOP breaking the filibuster would be “dumb” and “hurt the country,” the Journal argued.
“Republicans could end the government shutdown on a partisan vote, but then what? The GOP will have taken the fraught step of breaking the filibuster for appropriations,” the board wrote. “Democrats will pound the table in faux outrage, but they’ll privately be cheering at what they’ll be able to pass the next time they control Washington — perhaps as soon as 2029 when Mr. Trump is out of office.”
Many elected Republicans, the editorial noted, “understand this,” but warned that some GOP senators who are “hoping to curry favor,” with Trump “may start to echo the President’s short-term opportunism.”
“The Democratic left is quietly cheering them on,” it said.
Both Republican leaders in Congress have brushed off the idea. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the chamber would not have the votes needed to upend the ruling and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the measure as an “important safeguard.”
