The News
President Donald Trump is disrupting the fragile momentum of bipartisan talks to reopen the government, dividing Republicans and emboldening Democrats.
In the aftermath of his party’s double-digit losses in Virginia and New Jersey, Trump is getting newly engaged in negotiations that would end the 36-day shutdown. But his solution — ending the legislative filibuster and funding the government without Democrats — isn’t sitting well with Republicans who had believed until Tuesday that their opponents were close to giving in.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Trump’s filibuster remarks were “not helpful.” Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor that she thinks it is “not the time” to have a filibuster debate while progress is being made on ending the shutdown: “My point would be that we should be concentrating on reopening the government.”
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Semafor that “the votes aren’t there” to kill the filibuster. “There’s 10 to 15, probably, hard no’s in the Senate. Let’s focus on getting the government back up here with 60 votes. I think we’re getting close.”
Trump is starting to complicate what was once a simple GOP strategy: Lean on Senate Democrats until they break and reopen the government. For nearly a month, Trump linked arms with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune in a surprisingly unified effort that heaped pressure on Democrats.
Now Trump is suggesting his party should go around Democrats entirely — except he’s picked perhaps the one big issue where Republicans are still willing to buck the president.
What’s more, Trump’s remark to GOP senators on Wednesday that the shutdown is a “big factor, negative for the Republicans” is fueling a view among some Democrats that they have the upper hand in the shutdown and can press their advantage.
“There are some changes in circumstance with regard to the president weighing in, and we’re going to see how those shake out — saying ‘the shutdown needs to end’ … I think it will catch the attention of Republicans,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
Baldwin was among the dozen or so Senate Democrats who huddled in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday to discuss the shutdown. There was no breakthrough, according to participants, although Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. said the discussion was “productive.”
At least one attendee was there to argue for an aggressive approach rather than simply accepting the GOP’s offer for a vote on expiring health insurance subsidies.
“I’ve been talking to my colleagues and my Republican colleagues about extending the Affordable Care Act benefits,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “I want an outcome, not a vote.”
Asked for comment, the White House referred Semafor to Trump’s remarks earlier in the day.
Trump later played down the political pain of a shutdown in remarks in Florida.
“Reopen the government immediately. Just reopen it. They don’t like it to be reopened because we’re setting records. Actually, I don’t think anything’s going to hurt,” Trump said. “It would be good to open it up. Take care of the people with jobs that aren’t getting paid.”
Know More
This week is not the first time Trump has undercut the GOP’s shutdown tactics.
The president has neutralized some major pain points of the shutdown; he’s paid members of the military, for example. And his administration’s move to slash projects in blue states — like a major tunnel project in New Jersey — hurt his party in Tuesday’s off-year elections.
Those elections, and Trump’s subsequent candor to the Senate GOP, could shift the course of shutdown talks that appeared close to a resolution. Most Republicans have argued that Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, but polls have shown a mixed reaction from voters.
“We’re both getting hurt. The American people don’t understand the intricacies. I think they’re mad at both of us. And I think they’re tired of paying more to live worse,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Asked whether Trump’s remarks on the filibuster was helpful for the momentum to end the shutdown, Kennedy demurred: “It’s a beautiful day outside, isn’t it?”
Some Republicans defended the filibuster on the merits. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the filibuster tempers partisanship in the Senate and that Republicans would be “very sorry” if they got rid of it.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said lawmakers will “listen to what the president has to say” but “there’s a lot of us that really think the Senate was designed in the first place to find a long-term, stable solution to problems.”
Most Republicans simply said the votes aren’t there to change the filibuster and diplomatically recommended a focus on ending the shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “the focus, my view, ought to be on trying to figure out how to get the government opened up.”
“I don’t believe the votes are there to end the filibuster in the Senate. I believe the Democrats are finally going to end the Schumer shutdown,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Room for Disagreement
Some Republican senators who oppose eliminating the filibuster also said they did not fault Trump’s focus.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who told reporters Wednesday that “there’s nothing that could move me on the filibuster,” said later that “I don’t begrudge him for trying to nuke” it right now.
“Look, the president is frustrated,” Tillis said. “What I heard the president talking about is [that] he wants to eliminate the filibuster to get a lot of things done that he’s afraid that Schumer and the Democrats are not going to allow him to get done.”
“He’s just thinking that this may be a way,” Tillis added. “I hope there’s a way to get there on a bipartisan basis.”
Burgess and Eleanor’s View
Republicans say Trump’s filibuster views are old news — as true as that is, it undersells the importance of his timing in pushing them. This choice clearly shows he’s itching to get out of the shutdown in a way that does not require him to work with Democrats.
And it’s the first big moment of this year where Senate Republicans are resoundingly rejecting the president.
Across the aisle, the shutdown talks are at a “sensitive moment,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. Democrats are trying to decide whether to press their advantage and potentially extend the fight or take the deal on the table and declare victory after Tuesday’s wins.
Trump’s actions over the last 24 hours only make that decision harder.
Notable
- The Transportation Department is announcing a reduction in traffic at some major airports starting Friday if the shutdown is not resolved, per Reuters.