WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump is urging Republicans to take an unprecedented action to reopen the government.
The Senate filibuster has existed for centuries, but the president believes it’s time for it to go. Trump told Republican senators at the White House Wednesday morning that it is time to “do what they have to do, and that is terminate the filibuster.”
“It’s the only way you can do it,” Trump said.
Experts say the filibuster was designed to help the minority party promote bipartisanship.
“The biggest reason is really to protect the minority and to make sure that there was enough consensus on any particular issue or nomination going forward,” said Dr. Todd Belt, professor and director of the Political Management Master’s Program at George Washington University.
The president believes ending the filibuster is the best option for ending the government shutdown — now the longest in U.S. history. Doing so would allow the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority instead of the 60-vote threshold currently required.
It would also make it nearly impossible for the minority party to have any leverage.
“If they get rid of the filibuster in the Senate, then it means whatever Donald Trump wants is probably going to go right through the Senate as well as the House, like it does now,” said Belt. “It also means that whoever becomes president, if they get both chambers of Congress, even if they don’t have big majorities, they’ll also be able to pass legislation very easily, meaning that there will be less bipartisan compromise. You’re in the majority one year and then two years later you might be in the minority.”
Many Republicans oppose removing the filibuster.
“I’m not for that,” said Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., citing concerns that it would be used against Republicans in the future. “If we do that as Republicans, when the Democrats are in power, they have said explicitly that they would want to eliminate the filibuster,” he added.
“If you went back to the Biden years and looked at all the crazy things that the Democrats would have been able to do if we didn’t have the filibuster, I think you’ll see that it would have been very detrimental to the country,” McCormick said.
“The reason the president doesn’t really care about this is he’s not running for reelection after his term is up. He is termed out. Of course, the members of the Senate are going to have to deal with other presidents in the future. They’re more concerned with the long-term consequences here,” said Belt.
Many Democrats campaigned on removing the filibuster — but it is now their only source of leverage.
“We ran on that. We ran on killing the filibuster. And now we love it,” said Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who agrees with Trump that the filibuster should be eliminated now to end the shutdown.
“And I support it because it makes it more difficult to shut the government down in the future. And that’s where it’s totally appropriate,” Fetterman said.
The argument from Trump and some Republicans for removing the filibuster is that if they don’t do it now, Democrats will the first chance they get. If it’s going to happen, Trump argues, it might as well be Republicans so that their agenda is enacted first. But analysts say it’s a slippery slope that would likely result in far less bipartisanship.
