Speaker Johnson warns against consequences of using nuclear option to bypass Senate filibuster

House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Friday against the consequences of using the nuclear option to bypass the Senate filibuster, specifically regarding the 60-vote threshold needed to reopen the federal government.

Johnson's comments follow President Trump posting on Truth Social on Thursday night, urging Senate Republicans to use the option. The federal government has been shut down for 30 days, with the Republican senators in GOP-controlled chamber needing seven Democrats to vote with them to pass a government funding bill.

The House speaker said that he had not talked to the president since the social media post, The Hill news outlet reported.

Johnson noted that it was a Senate issue, but discussed the consequences of getting rid of the filibuster.

“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,” he said. 

Johnson also said that if Democrats were in the majority with no filibuster, then 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.”

Johnson said that Trump’s post was “another expression of the frustration, of the anger that has been felt, the anger by the President.”

Utah GOP Sen. John Curtis posted on X on Friday, “The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate. Power changes hands, but principles shouldn’t. I’m a firm no on eliminating it.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week that ending the filibuster to reopen government would be a “bad idea.”