{"id":346637,"date":"2025-10-31T23:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/346637\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T23:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:16:11","slug":"trump-says-scrap-filibuster-an-idea-decried-by-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/346637\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says scrap filibuster, an idea decried by Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Back from a week abroad, President Donald Trump<\/a> threw himself into the shutdown debate<\/a>, calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster<\/a> and reopen the government, an idea swiftly rejected Friday by Republican leaders who have long opposed such a move. <\/p>\n

Trump pushed his Republican Party to get rid of the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to overcome objections and gives the minority Democrats a check on GOP power. In the chamber that\u2019s currently split, 53-47, Democrats have had enough votes to keep the government closed while they demand an extension of health care subsidies.<\/a> Neither party has seriously wanted to nuke the rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cTHE CHOICE IS CLEAR \u2014 INITIATE THE \u2018NUCLEAR OPTION,\u2019 GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER,\u201d Trump said in a late night social media post Thursday.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s sudden decision to assert himself into the shutdown now in its 31st day \u2014 with his highly charged demand to end the filibuster \u2014 is certain to set the Senate on edge. It could spur senators toward their own compromise or send the chamber spiraling toward a new sense of crisis. Or, it might be ignored.<\/p>\n

Republican leaders responded quickly, and unequivocally, setting themselves at odds with Trump, a president few have dared to publicly counter.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said he is not considering changing the rules to end the shutdown, arguing that it is vital to the institution of the Senate and has allowed them to halt Democratic policies when they are in the minority.<\/p>\n

The leader\u2019s \u201cposition on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged,\u201d Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse said Friday.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican, said his position opposing a filibuster change also remains unchanged. And former GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who firmly opposed Trump\u2019s filibuster pleas in his first term, remains in the Senate.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson also defended the filibuster Friday, while conceding \u201cit\u2019s not my call,\u201d from his chamber across the Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safeguard in the Senate has always been the filibuster,\u201d Johnson said, adding that Trump\u2019s comments are \u201cthe president\u2019s anger at the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broad GOP support for filibuster <\/p>\n

Even if Thune wanted to change the filibuster, he would not currently have the votes to do so in the divided Senate. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate,\u201d Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah posted on X Friday morning, responding to Trump\u2019s comments and echoing the sentiments of many of his Senate Republican colleagues. \u201cPower changes hands, but principles shouldn\u2019t. I\u2019m a firm no on eliminating it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Debate has swirled around the legislative filibuster for years. Many Democrats pushed to eliminate it when they had full power in Washington, as the Republicans do now, four years ago. But ultimately, enough Democratic senators opposed the move, predicting such an action would come back to haunt them. <\/p>\n

Little progress on shutdown<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s demand comes as he has declined to engage with Democratic leaders<\/a> on ways to end the shutdown, on track to become the longest in history<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He said in his post that he gave a \u201cgreat deal\u201d of thought to his choice on his flight home from Asia and that one question that kept coming up during his trip was why \u201cpowerful Republicans allow\u201d the Democrats to shut down parts of the government.<\/p>\n

But later Friday, he did not mention the filibuster again as he spoke to reporters departing Washington and arriving in Florida for a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home.<\/p>\n

While quiet talks are underway, particularly among bipartisan senators, Trump has not been seriously involved. Democrats refuse to vote to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate an extension to the health care subsidies. The Republicans say they won\u2019t negotiate until the government is reopened. <\/p>\n

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on CNN that Trump needs to start negotiating with Democrats, arguing the president has spent more time with global leaders than dealing with the shutdown back home. <\/p>\n

From coast to coast, fallout from the dysfunction of the shuttered federal government<\/a> is hitting home. SNAP food aid is scheduled to shut off<\/a>. Flights are being delayed<\/a>. Workers are going without paychecks. <\/p>\n

And Americans are getting a first glimpse of the skyrocketing health care insurance costs<\/a> that are at the center of the stalemate. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are stressing,\u201d said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as food options in her state grow scarce. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are well past time to have this behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Money for military, but not food aid<\/p>\n

The White House has moved money around to ensure the military is paid, but refuses to tap funds for food aid. In fact, Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d<\/a> signed into law this summer, delivered the most substantial cut ever to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program<\/a>, known as SNAP, projected to result in some 2.4 million people off the program.<\/p>\n

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday the agency cannot release contingency funds to keep SNAP running, but two judges ruled nearly simultaneously<\/a> Friday that the administration must continue to fund the food aid program. How quickly that might happen remains to be seen, as further consultation with the courts is expected on Monday.<\/p>\n

Trump, in a social media post, said administration lawyers will be asking the courts \u201cto clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are holding food over the heads of poor people so that we can take away their health care,\u201d said Rev. Ryan Stoess during a prayer with religious leaders earlier this week at the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod help us,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen the cruelty is the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deadlines shift to next week<\/p>\n

The House remains closed under Johnson with no plans to resume the session, and senators left for the weekend and are due back Monday. <\/p>\n

The next inflection point comes after Tuesday\u2019s off-year elections \u2014 the New York City mayor\u2019s race<\/a>, as well as elections in Virginia and New Jersey<\/a> that will determine those states\u2019 governors. Many expect that once those winners and losers are declared, and the Democrats and Republicans assess their political standing with the voters, they might be ready to hunker down for a deal.<\/p>\n

If the shutdown continues into next week, it could surpass the 35-day lapse that ended in 2019, during Trump\u2019s first term, over his demands to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Matt Brown and Josh Boak in Tokyo contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Back from a week abroad, President Donald Trump threw himself into the shutdown debate, calling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":346638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[28965,84,69,90,4528,57,2055,330,49089,8123,9166,26454,170230,8121,2934,26451,8119,17111,401,403,50,80,170229,170228,89,121682,322,67,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-346637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-brooke-rollins","10":"tag-district-of-columbia","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-foreign-aid","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-government-and-politics","16":"tag-government-programs","17":"tag-government-shutdown","18":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","19":"tag-health-care-industry","20":"tag-john-barrasso","21":"tag-john-curtis","22":"tag-john-thune","23":"tag-legislation","24":"tag-lisa-murkowski","25":"tag-mike-johnson","26":"tag-mitch-mcconnell","27":"tag-new-jersey","28":"tag-new-york-city","29":"tag-news","30":"tag-politics","31":"tag-ryan-stoess","32":"tag-ryan-wrasse","33":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","34":"tag-u-s-government-shutdown","35":"tag-u-s-republican-party","36":"tag-united-states","37":"tag-unitedstates","38":"tag-us","39":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}