WASHINGTON — After Democrats’ triumphant election night, President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning conceded that his party is shouldering more of the blame for the government shutdown.
So, he instructed Republican senators to abolish the filibuster and reopen the government without help from Democrats.
That demand is putting Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other GOP leaders in an awkward spot. Thune and many other senators oppose terminating the filibuster, an arcane procedural tool that empowers the minority party to delay or block a piece of legislation they oppose.
Getting rid of it would help Republicans in the short term, but many in the party have warned that getting rid of the filibuster could come back to bite them if Democrats return to power in the Senate.
While Thune and others have said the votes are not there to nuke the filibuster, Trump’s intense focus on the issue is changing a handful of minds.
“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that’s terminate the filibuster,” Trump told GOP senators in public remarks over breakfast at the White House on Wednesday. “It’s the only way you can do it. And if you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape. We won’t pass any legislation.”
He continued on the topic for several minutes: “We have to get the country open. And the way we’re going to do it this afternoon is to terminate the filibuster. It’s possible you’re not going to do that, and I’m going to go by your wishes. You’re very smart people; we’re good friends. But I think it’s a tremendous mistake, really. It would be a tragic mistake, actually. It’s time. It’s time.”
Under current Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to defeat a filibuster and advance most legislation. Some have suggested lowering that threshold to just 51 votes, a simple majority, to pass stopgap funding measures, like the one needed to reopen the government.
But Trump is talking about ending the filibuster for all legislation. Unless Republicans do so, Trump said, he and Republicans won’t pass any significant bills over the next “three and a quarter years” of his term.
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After the breakfast with Trump in the State Dining Room, a handful of Republicans voiced support for the president’s position.
“I completely support the president’s efforts here,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who said he spoke to Trump in the broader discussion and privately afterward about changing the filibuster. “Let’s act first before the Democrats have a chance to do it destructively.”
“The president made a compelling case,” added Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind. “Democrats are going to get rid of the filibuster the first chance that they get, and Republicans have a choice to make. Do we want to get things done? … Or are we gonna sit back and do nothing because the filibuster doesn’t allow us to?”
Another conservative, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also expressed a willingness to scrap the filibuster.
Trump “wants the shutdown ended, and to do that, he thinks we need to get rid of the filibuster,” Hawley said. “I just warn these Democrats that if you’re, if you’re putting me personally to that choice, and you’re making me choose, I’m going to choose people.”
But Thune said the simple reality is that the votes aren’t there to change the filibuster.
“I know that where the math is on this issue in the Senate,” Thune said, and “it’s just not happening.”
“As I said before, there are not the votes there,” Thune added. “And so the main thing we need to be focused on right now, in my view, is getting the government opened up again.”
Just 51 senators are needed to change the Senate rules through the so-called nuclear option. But that would require support from nearly every one of the 53 Republicans, given that most Democrats won’t support going that route.
“No, it’s not going to happen,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. “I will tell you with metaphysical certainty, this Congress is not going to nuke the filibuster. Period. Full Stop.”
“It only takes third grade math to figure out that if you’ve got 15 or more members that are dug in, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
During the televised portion of his breakfast with Republicans, Trump acknowledged pollsters who said the 36-day shutdown was a “big factor” and “negative” for Republicans on election night.
“We are in the midst of a disastrous Democrat-created government shutdown, and it is Democrat-created, but I don’t think they’re getting really the blame that they should,” Trump said. “That’s now officially the longest shutdown in American history.”
On Tuesday night, Democrats won races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey by comfortable margins; self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayor’s race; and California voters passed Prop 50, a new congressional map drawn by Democrats in the state.
“Look, this was a very strong repudiation of Trump,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said. “Trump, very clearly this morning, is shaken and rattled by what has happened. He knows that this is a very firm condemnation to his lack of governance and his lack of leadership. And I hope the Republicans are worried and scared about what’s going to happen next to their party next year.”
