As the shutdown drags on, President Donald Trump has grown insistent that Senate Republicans get rid of the filibuster. Some of his allies in the Senate appear to be listening.
Though Senate Republican leadership has remained staunchly opposed to using the so-called “nuclear option,” some members of the conference are more open to the idea of lowering the traditional 60-vote threshold to a simple majority in order to pass a funding patch and open the government. Trump has been more aggressive in his calls for the Senate to use that option — including at a breakfast event he invited Republican senators to on Wednesday morning after Republicans faced a drubbing in Tuesday’s elections.
After the president’s pitch at Wednesday’s breakfast, some Republicans returned to Capitol Hill saying that the shutdown’s record-breaking length has opened them up to nuking the filibuster.
“The longer this goes on, the more open to it I am,” Sen. Josh Hawley said Wednesday of the nuclear option.
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“Listen, this is having a radicalizing effect on me, this shut down,” Hawley said. “My message is, to my Democrat friends, we better find a way to get to the table real fast, because if you’re putting me into a choice between are people going to eat or am I gonna defend the arcane filibuster rules, I’m going to choose people eating.”
Sen. John Cornyn, who is close to Republican leadership, said Wednesday that he was open to some changes to the filibuster, saying, “Appropriations, including CRs, may be a good candidate” to carve out of the filibuster rule.
Sen. Rick Scott suggested openness as well, as he has since the start of the shutdown: “I don’t think we should take anything off the table.”
And Sen. Tommy Tuberville told reporters that he’s settled on supporting nuking the filibuster.
“I’ve more changed my mind because I’ve seen what this shutdown does to people,” Tuberville told reporters.
Though Sen. Mike Rounds said he’s not ready to use the nuclear option, he felt that some in his caucus might be OK with it after Trump told them Democrats would use the nuclear option if they were in power.
“The president’s message today may very well have helped because some members, after listening to his arguments, probably feel more inclined to go ahead and do it,” Rounds told reporters. “Because unless our Democrat colleagues can tell us that they’re convinced that there’s value to it, that they’re willing to step up as well, it’s a possibility that some of my members might very well move forward with it.”
Sen. Jim Justice voiced concerns about longer-term consequences for Republicans. He said that Republicans not fixing the shutdown is detrimental to their electability because they’re in charge.
“Last night, if that wasn’t a message to all Republicans, then we’ve got our head jammed into the ground,” he said, referencing Democrats’ wins Tuesday night.
“I’m not in favor of getting rid of the filibuster. But at the same time, too, I want to support our president, and I don’t want this to just drag on forever and a day because you’ve got a lot of people that are really hurting,” Justice said. “If it’s the only option to stop this nonsense, then I would support it.”
But that openness only extends so far among Republicans. Sens. John Kennedy, John Curtis and Thom Tillis all said they were opposed to getting rid of the filibuster, even after the White House breakfast.
“It’s a bad idea,” Tillis said. “I understand (Trump’s) frustration because the Democrats are stonewalling. That’s not the right solution. It’ll cause more problems than it could possibly solve.”
Members of Republican leadership insist their position on the filibuster has not changed, either.
“We’re not going to do that,” former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that there’s not enough support to get rid of the filibuster, something echoed by many of his colleagues earlier this week. But Thune added that Trump could be influencing other Republicans.
“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, president pro tempore of the Senate, said Trump has not tried to appeal to him privately about the filibuster.
“You’re too young to know this, but I’ve been for the filibuster for 45 years,” he told NOTUS.
And the bacon and eggs at the breakfast were not enough to sway Sen. James Lankford, the vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference, on using the nuclear option either — though Lankford said breakfast was “good.”
“I’m in the same spot I’ve always been on the filibuster. That has not changed,” Lankford said.
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