Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night that the fate of the filibuster is a top concern if President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next year with Republican control of both chambers of Congress.
“From my standpoint, that’s a huge problem,” Himes, a ranking member on the Intelligence Committee, told Cooper during the network’s post-election coverage.
“What I do worry about, is if that’s the situation, I don’t have much doubt that Donald Trump is going to make a phone call on day one and say, ‘You guys get rid of the filibuster,’ and if they get rid of the filibuster, of course, it is open field running for the Republican Party,” he said.
The Democrat continued to unload his fears on the potential of the filibuster being eliminated in Congress by saying the prospect is “a pretty scary thought” if Trump “is to be believed about what he says he’s going to do with tariffs, with National Security, with so many other things.”
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However, Himes said, a couple of moderating factors would still be in play if the House majority is in Republican hands. Chief among them, he added, would be the slim majority the GOP would likely have.
“They weren’t able to manage a House with a four-vote majority, so they’re going to have all kinds of problems associated with actually governing,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of nervous Republicans if Donald Trump really lets his freak flag fly and goes extreme – you know people like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania are gonna say, ‘Wait a minute this is the end of my career if you do this stuff,’ so again there’s nothing good about this from the standpoint of a Democrat but there are moderating factors in play.”
Himes also told Cooper that Trump’s promise of instituting mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants “is something that could get underway pretty quickly” once Trump assumes office.
“Now to really put a lot of money into it, and it would take a ton of money, he would need congressional approval,” which Himes added wouldn’t be difficult if the GOP controls both chambers of Congress. “So yeah, that’s a concern.”
Himes easily won reelection to a ninth term Tuesday night in Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District, beating out his Republican opponent by more than 20 percentage points.
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