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President Donald Trump demanded that Senate Republicans use the "Nuclear Option" of getting rid of the filibuster to end the weekslong government shutdown in a lengthy post shared on his Truth Social account Thursday (October 30) night.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their 'TRUMP CARD,' and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW,” Trump wrote.
“Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying ‘SHUT DOWN,’” he added.
The filibuster is the Senate tactic to block legislation as 60 votes are needed for most to pass, with Republicans needing five more votes to pass their federal funding proposal backed by the president, despite having a 53-47 majority in the Senate and a 219-213 majority in the House of Representatives. The government shutdown began on October 1 and is expected to be extended to at least 34 consecutive days after the Senate adjourned on Thursday and isn't scheduled to meet again until Monday (November 3), which would match the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Senate Republicans urged Democrats to support a stopgap funding measure through November 21, while Democrats demanded that negotiations on expiring federal tax credits, such as those helping Americans buy private health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, be extended during Thursday's meeting. The government shut down began after congressional Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a funding legislation and is estimated to potentially cost the U.S. economy between $7 billion and $14 billion, according to Reuters.
“Just a short while ago, the Democrats, while in power, fought for three years to do this, but were unable to pull it off because of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona,” Trump added in his Truth Social post, referring to a previous effort to end the filibuster tactic. “Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them.”