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MAGA Republicans Threaten Going ‘Nuclear’ To End Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON ― Some Republicans say they may have to take drastic measures and go “nuclear” by changing the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rules to pass a funding bill if the government shutdown drags on for a while and federal workers and military troops miss successive paychecks.

“I think if it takes too long, that’s probably an option that should be considered,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a top MAGA stalwart, told HuffPost. “There’s probably 80% of Americans that can’t go without two paychecks in a row. I think at that point we have to look at it and say, if the Democrats are still doing political stunts, we have to do the right thing and reopen the government and pay our employees.”

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“I think most Americans would say, ‘Why don’t you reopen the government? You have a majority,’” he added. “But unfortunately, the rules are 60. That’s decently arbitrary.”

The support of 60 senators is required to overcome a filibuster in the Senate and advance a bill for a final vote. Invoking the so-called nuclear option refers to changing this rule with a simple majority of votes.

On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has also argued that it’s time to end the long-standing Senate rule.

“As far as worrying that using the nuclear option would damage partisan relations, let’s be real, that ship has sailed a long time ago,” Greene wrote in a social media post this week. “There are no partisan relations. Instead, Republicans need to learn how to wield power when they have it and govern.”

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Republicans have a majority of votes in support of the House-passed GOP bill reopening the government that Democrats have blocked due to its lack of health care protections. What they don’t have anywhere close to is the majority of votes required to eliminate the legislative filibuster ― at least not yet.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and members of his leadership team have repeatedly dismissed the idea. Thune indicated this week that he had not gotten pressure from the Trump administration to do so.

“There’s always a lot of swirl out there, as you know, from social media, et cetera, but no, I have not had that conversation,” Thune told reporters when asked if the White House was advocating for the move.

But frustration is growing within Thune’s conference after nearly two weeks of failed votes and no progress made on getting a deal with Democrats to reopen the government. The Senate left town on Thursday and won’t be back until Tuesday of next week, meaning members of the military will miss their Oct. 15 paycheck. Federal workers also began missing paychecks this Friday.

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“If they continue to go this route and we don’t have any choice, they may force it,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a top Trump ally, told HuffPost. “I am not in favor of it. I don’t want to do it, unless they actually force us to.”

“All kinds of options need to be on the table,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) added.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has defended the filibuster in the past, said Democrats were “acting improperly” by making demands over government funding. He, too, left open the possibility of the GOP gutting the filibuster.

“I hope that’s not what happens, but you never know what’s going to happen over here,” Scott said.

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But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said his party would regret being in the minority one day without the filibuster on hand to block Democratic legislation.

“The filibuster does protect the rights of the minority,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a good thing. I think, historically, the filibuster has prevented us from becoming a socialist nation a lot faster than we otherwise would have.”

Republicans already went nuclear twice this year by unilaterally changing the Senate’s rules to speed up confirmations of President Donald Trump’s executive nominees in large batches. They also steamrolled the Senate’s rules to help pass their multitrillion-dollar tax cuts and weaken California’s environmental regulations.

Some Democrats believe it’s only a matter of time before the filibuster goes away.

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“As soon as it becomes more and more in their favor, they will continue to get rid of the filibuster,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said in an interview with Punchbowl News on Thursday. “They’ve already started. This thing is already done. It’s going to happen.”

Many on the left have also called for eliminating the filibuster, and seeing Trump notch win after win in Congress this year will only add pressure on Democrats to go nuclear the next time they are in power ― provided they have at least 51 votes in support of doing so. When Democrats held a narrow 50-seat Senate majority under former President Joe Biden, they were stymied by then-Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who opposed gutting the filibuster.

“The problem here is that we don’t have Sinema and Manchin to be the voice of reason,” Moreno said Thursday. “They’ve been replaced by lunatics. I think never have two senators been more missed than Sinema and Manchin right now in the Senate.”