Senate Republicans have long resisted the temptation of going nuclear on the filibuster, a move more often made by Senate Democrats when they controlled the upper chamber. President Donald Trump wants Senate Republicans to gut the Senate filibuster, but it’s a request that puts his quick-fix desire to end the shutdown at odds with the GOP’s long-held defense of the filibuster.
The Senate filibuster is the 60-vote threshold that applies to most bills in the upper chamber, and given the nature of the thin majorities that either party has commanded in recent years, that means that legislation typically has to be bipartisan to advance.
It has also proven to be the main roadblock in reopening the government. Despite Republicans controlling the upper chamber, they have routinely come up a handful of votes short in their 13 attempts to end the shutdown.
John Johnson warned against Trump’s demand for the Senate to go ‘nuclear’ to end the shutdown. Three members of the Democratic caucus have broken from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and their colleagues to reopen the government, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune needs five more to hit the magic number.
Trump, in a late-night Truth Social post, said that on his return trip from Asia, he ruminated heavily over why the government had shut down despite Republicans being in control. His solution was for Senate Republicans ‘to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option.