President Trump late Thursday night called on Republicans in the Senate to use the “nuclear option” of scrapping the filibuster to pass the funding bill that would end the shutdown with a simple majority of votes.
In a long and meandering pair of social media posts, Trump sang the praises of his own economic policies while railing against Democrats as “Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY” and are harming the country through the shutdown.
“THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote.
The filibuster is an important but informal rule in the Senate that allows any member to hold up proceedings unless there are 60 votes to move ahead. The rule prevents legislation from advancing without a significant majority — which, at 53 seats, Republicans do not have, even with a handful of Democratic-aligned senators joining them in support of the short-term funding bill that would reopen the government until November 21. The “nuclear option” refers to changing the filibuster rules through a simple majority vote.
Republicans play it cool: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has defended the filibuster, even as he created a new exception to it in September for the approval of Trump’s political appointees. Like most Senate leaders, Thune is concerned about what would happen if he ended the filibuster and then Republicans lost control of the chamber, providing Democrats a powerful new tool for pushing through legislation.
“The 60-vote threshold has protected this country,” Thune said earlier this month. A Thune spokesperson said in a statement Friday that “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also appeared cool to the idea, saying the filibuster is a “Senate chamber issue” that “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,” Johnson added.
Still, while it’s unlikely that Thune could get 50 votes to end the filibuster, some Republicans have talked about using the nuclear option. Sen. Bernie Moreno told Fox News earlier this month that he favors ending the filibuster if the shutdown continues for too long.
In the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has also pushed the idea. In a conference call earlier this week, Greene called on Republicans in the Senate to “go nuclear” to pass the short-term funding bill.
Could it be a spark? Although it looks unlikely that Thune will defer to Trump’s demand, there is a chance that Trump’s intervention could shake things up in the Senate and spur lawmakers to look for a deal that opens the government and preserves an important historical rule.
On the other hand, Trump’s demand may simply be a way for him to blow off steam, with little practical import. “What you’re seeing is an expression of the president’s anger at the situation,” Johnson said, per Politico. “He is as angry as I am and the American people are about this madness, and he just desperately wants the government to be reopened.”