Trump Urges Republicans To Use The ‘Nuclear Option’ To End The Government Shutdown

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The government shutdown has already furloughed countless federal employees and could have wide-ranging effects, should Congress not get its act together and approve a spending bill. President Trump, who may not only be upset about his cancelled Mar-a-Lago shindig but also the White House’s empty vending machines, woke up on Sunday morning and fired off a solitary tweet to address the matter again. In doing so, he once again blamed Democrats and called for Republicans to change the Senate’s rules (via the so-called “nuclear option”) to pass the spending bill with a simple majority, so they won’t have to fight for 60 votes to break a filibuster.

“Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border,” Trump tweeted. “The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!”

This isn’t the first (or even the second time) that Trump has urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to go “nuclear” to pass the GOP agenda. Trump called for the same tactic (while describing the 60-vote threshold as “senseless”) over the health-care bill that eventually failed and the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as Supreme Court justice. During the latter instance, McConnell insisted that he would not resort to using the nuclear option while saying he was “opposed” to it because “the core of the Senate is the legislative filibuster,” but Gorsuch eventually did get confirmed by that drastic measure after the Dems blocked him.

So far, McConnell hasn’t budged this time over changing the Senate voting rules, so Trump might soon start tweeting demands for McConnell to “get to work” again.

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