As the ongoing government shutdown reaches the one-month mark, the consensus on Capitol Hill is that there are two possible solutions to the standoff: Either congressional Democrats cave, or congressional Republicans agree to a bipartisan compromise.
There is, however, a third option that’s generating some conversation in GOP circles.
Republicans already control the White House and both chambers of Congress, but they can’t advance their spending bill to end the shutdown because of the Senate’s filibuster rule: No proposal has been able to overcome the 60-vote threshold, because it lacks sufficient Democratic support.
But what if the chamber’s GOP majority decided to use the “nuclear option” (again) to scrap the filibuster entirely, pass their spending package and bring the shutdown to a rapid end?
It’d be an overstatement to suggest there’s been a groundswell of support among Republican lawmakers for such a radical move, but some GOP members have started moving in this direction lately. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for example, recently derided the filibuster rule as “some Senate procedure.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama added that scrapping the filibuster should be seen as “a viable option.” Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, less than a year into his political career, has been especially enthusiastic about the idea, making the case that the effort to end the federal shutdown should be “a Republican-only vote.”
On Thursday night, proponents of the change received support from a high-profile ally. The New York Times reported:
President Trump called on Senate Republicans late Thursday to eliminate the filibuster to force an end to the government shutdown, a move that would strip away a deeply rooted Senate rule. The president said in a late-night Truth Social post that it was time for G.O.P. leaders ‘to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and get rid of the longstanding rule that means most Senate legislation needs 60 votes to pass rather than a simple majority.
In a lengthy statement published to his social media platform, the president claimed the shutdown was a frequent point of discussion during his Asia trip, leading him to give this “a great deal” of thought on his trip back.
In between a series of weird and familiar lies, Trump directed Senate Republicans to “Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” In case that was too subtle, he concluded, “THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Readers with good memories might recall that we’ve been here before. Indeed, it was just four months into Trump’s first term when he first called on GOP senators to “immediately” scrap the filibuster. Months later, he added that the filibuster was “killing” the party. In the months and years that followed, the president continued to condemn the Senate rule, to no avail. Senate GOP leaders ignored the directive. Chances are, they’ll do so again — Senate Majority Leader John Thune has recently insisted that filibusters continue. That said, Trump’s power and influence in Republican politics is arguably stronger now than it was during his first term, so this latest pressure campaign is likely to generate a more robust conversation in the Senate GOP’s cloakroom. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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