House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) publicly broke with President Donald Trump Monday after speaking out against eliminating the filibuster, which Trump has demanded Republicans do in recent days.
Trump ordered Republicans “terminate the filibuster” – a procedural rule in the Senate that allows a member to block a measure that receives less than 60 votes – as recently as Sunday night as a way to circumvent the 60-vote threshold required to adopt a spending bill in the Senate and re-open the government, now on its 34th day as of Monday and just a day away from tying the record for the longest-government shutdown in history.
Speaking Monday at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Johnson was asked about Trump’s demand. Johnson said he had spoken with Trump over the weekend in a phone call, but had ultimately decided against publicly supporting it.
“I understand desperate times call for desperate measures; I also understand that traditionally, we've seen that as an important safe guard,” Johnson told reporters.
“As much as I have wanted to blow up the filibuster sometimes as a House member when we're not getting what we wanted done in our agenda, I hear my Senate Republican colleagues – some of the most conservative people in Congress – who say it's an important safe guard. It holds us back from the Democrats' worst impulses.”
Trump has not only called for the filibuster to be eliminated as a means to re-open the government, but as a tool to further his agenda in Congress, including instituting a federal voter ID law.
“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, NOT JUST FOR THE SHUTDOWN, BUT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE,” Trump wrote Sunday night on his social media platform Truth Social. “WE WILL GET ALL OF OUR COMMON SENSE POLICIES APPROVED (VOTER ID, ANYONE?) AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
House @SpeakerJohnson rebukes @realDonaldTrump on his demand for lawmakers to eliminate the filibuster pic.twitter.com/lYEXlzxwjk
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) November 3, 2025
