New Utah Sen. John Curtis says he’ll enact Trump’s agenda while upholding ‘pioneer values’
By: Samuel Benson
The Deseret News
January 3, 2025

Senate needs to ‘move quickly’ on Trump’s nominees, but Curtis said he’s ‘continuing to study’ them

WASHINGTON — The newest U.S. senator representing Utah was sworn into office Friday morning.

Sen. John Curtis took the oath of office during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Friday, shortly after the 119th Congress convened.

“Today, we start this new beginning,” Curtis said during a press conference Friday afternoon.

Curtis, who spent three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, won the November election to replace outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney, who retired from public office.

Romney attended the swearing-in ceremony Friday, accompanying Curtis on the Senate floor, as did Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Senators took the oath in groups of four, ordered alphabetically; Curtis was joined by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska; and incoming Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona.

Curtis, carrying a large, gold-leafed Bible, was greeted warmly after he took the oath by several of his new colleagues, including Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Curtis says he will focus on ‘pioneer values’

In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Curtis said he plans to enact President-elect Donald Trump’s legislative priorities while upholding “pioneer values.”

Those values — including hard work, integrity, fiscal responsibility, moral character and caring for the needy — are what “make Utah strong and America exceptional.”

“These values are what we call America’s, and freedom’s, last great hope,” Curtis said.

Curtis noted that he plans to “jump in” on legislative solutions for hot-button issues including deficit spending, Social Security, climate, energy and “holding China in check.”

“You will see me supporting and working to ensure President Trump’s priorities — of things like fixing the economy, inflation, securing the border, keeping America strong — are all realized and important,” Curtis said.

When asked about the “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative, spearheaded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Curtis said he hopes efforts to cut government spending can be “productive and not negative, in the way we approach this,” he said.

“Any organization, whether they’re government or business, from time to time, needs to reevaluate how they’re spending money and where they can spend it better,” Curtis said. “And I hope that we can find those inefficiencies, and end up at the end of the day with federal employees’ morale increased, and services delivered at a higher level, and save our constituents money.”

Curtis will serve on four Senate committees: Commerce; Environment and Public Works; Foreign Relations; and Small Business.

House speaker election was ‘a big deal,’ Curtis says

Moments before Curtis’ press conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson won the vote to retain the speakership.

Curtis, who worked with Johnson and the other House leadership during his time in the House, said the result was “a big deal.”

Curtis said his constituents have “high expectations” for Congress to make their lives better, and the speakership vote being resolved on a single ballot was evidence that Congress takes this seriously, Curtis said.

“We need to get to work,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking 17 days to pick a speaker over there.”

Curtis noted that he has a personal relationship with Johnson. “I think the world of Speaker Johnson,” he said. “Here’s somebody who’s honest. Here’s somebody who’s well-informed, who’s educated. Here’s somebody who is humble, God-fearing. Those are pretty good attributes.”

On the Senate side, Curtis noted he’s “really pleased” with John Thune, the newly elected Senate majority leader. Curtis said he expects Thune to cut through ideological divides in the Republican Senate conference.

“I think he’ll be able to bring us together,” Curtis said.

‘We need to move quickly’ on Trump nominees, Curtis said

Curtis has held meetings with several of Trump’s nominees for key administration positions, including Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth; FBI director nominee Kash Patel; and Director of National Security nominee Tulsi Gabbard. Curtis said he believes the Senate should “move quickly” on their confirmation hearings.

“That doesn’t mean we can be sloppy or that we won’t do our job,” Curtis said. “But I do think it’s important — coming back to these expectations of Americans — that we not waste a lot of time.”

Curtis noted he is “continuing to study” Trump’s nominees, including by holding personal meetings with them and interviewing people that know them. He said will not publicly make any decisions on the nominees until they have completed the confirmation hearings.

“I have felt from the beginning that the process was important, and so I’ve tried to stay very careful in my assessment until we went through the whole process,” he said.