President Donald Trump threw himself into the ongoing debate over the U.S. government shutdown, calling on the Senate to abolish the filibuster and reopen the government.
But the idea was quickly rejected Friday by Republican leaders who have long opposed such a move.
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The filibuster refers to a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to overcome dissent. Currently, this provision limits the Democratic minority to Republican power in the Senate.
In the House, currently split 53-47, Democrats have enough votes to keep the government shut down while demanding an extension of health care benefits. However, neither political party seriously wants to nuke this rule.
“The choice is clear: Activate the ‘nuclear option’ and eliminate the filibuster,” President Trump said in a social media post late Thursday.
President Trump’s sudden decision to assert his position amid the 31-day government shutdown, along with extremely strong demands to end the filibuster, is sure to tense the Senate. That could push senators into compromises of their own or create a new sense of crisis in the chamber. Or it could be ignored.
Republican leaders reacted quickly and clearly, confronting Trump in a way few presidents have had the courage to publicly fight back.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said he is not considering changing rules to end the government shutdown, arguing that it is critical to the Senate system and allows Republicans to halt Democratic policies if they are in the minority.
“The party leadership’s position regarding the importance of the legislative filibuster remains unchanged,” Thune spokesman Ryan Rath said Friday.
A spokesperson for Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican, said his stance against changing the filibuster remains unchanged.
Also, former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who staunchly opposed the filibuster during Trump’s first term, remained in the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also defended the filibuster Friday from the chamber across the Capitol, admitting it was “not my order.”
“The safeguard in the Senate has always been the filibuster,” Johnson said, adding that Trump’s comments reflected “the president’s anger at the situation.”
Even if Thune wanted to change the filibuster, he likely wouldn’t have the votes to do so in the divided Senate at this point.
“The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate,” Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah responded to President Trump’s comments on social media platform X on Friday morning. “Power changes hands, but principle should not. I am firmly opposed to the removal of power.”
Controversy has swirled around the filibuster in Congress for years. Many Democrats pushed for its repeal four years ago, when they held all the power in Washington, much like Republicans do now.
Ultimately, however, enough Democratic senators opposed the move, predicting that such action would come back to haunt them.
President Trump’s request comes as he refuses to talk with Democratic leaders on how to end what is expected to be the longest government shutdown in history.
He said in his post that he thought about his choices “a lot” on the flight home from Asia, and that one of the questions that kept coming up throughout the trip was why “a powerful Republican Party would allow Democrats to shut down parts of the government.”
But he did not mention the filibuster again late Friday when he spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving Washington for the weekend in Florida.
There have been quiet discussions, especially among bipartisan senators, but President Trump has not been seriously involved.
Democrats are refusing to vote to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate an extension of health care subsidies. Republicans have said they will not negotiate until the government is reopened.
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on CNN that Trump needs to start negotiating with Democrats, arguing that Trump is spending more time with world leaders than responding to the shutdown at home.
The fallout from the dysfunction of the closed federal government is becoming more serious in various places. SNAP food assistance will be suspended. Flight delays continue. Workers continue to work without pay.
And Americans will get their first glimpse of the soaring health care costs at the heart of the impasse.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said “people are stressed” as food options become scarce in her state. “It’s long past time to end this.”
