Update: That didn't take long:
Bloomberg is reporting that, according to an aide to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Republicans are opposing invoking the nuclear option, something President Trump urged them to do in a tweet this morning.
Meanwhile, Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters that House Republicans would support a bill that would kick the can to Feb. 8 if the Senate can pass it. While Republicans have picked up a few Democratic votes, they don't have nearly enough to overcome a filibuster, something that requires 60 votes.
* * *
The first full day of the January 2018 government shutdown saw a spate of hurried but ultimately fruitless negotiations, and already the White House - which has been accused of exacerbating the problem by constantly shifting its negotiating position - has had enough: In a tweet this morning, President Donald Trump said Republicans should consider invoking “the nuclear option” to eliminate the possibility of an opposition fillibuster - allowing Republicans to pass a long-term spending bill with a simple majority (there are 51 Republican senators).
Right now, the Senate can approve presidential nominees for the courts and executive branch departments with a simple majority, but traditional legislation is still subject to a fillibuster that requires 60 votes to overcome.
Kicking off an early morning flurry of tweetstorm, Trump congratulated Republicans in Congress: "Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. 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!"
Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018
Lawmakers in both parties are fighting to win the PR "blamegame" battle, hoping to brand their political opponents as the ones who are ultimately held accountable by the public for the shutdown. Democrats argue that, because Republicans control Congress and the White House, the public will inevitably blame them. Republicans have insisted that Democrats are being “obstructionist” and have sought to label it “the #Schumershutdown” after the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.
Per the Hill, Democrats have complained loudly about the difficulty of negotiating with the president, telling media that Schumer and Trump were close to a deal during a Friday afternoon meeting until conservative Republicans interceded and shut it down. Subsequently, Schumer said that "Negotiating with this White House is like negotiating with Jello."
Schumer: “Negotiating with this White House is like negotiating with Jello.” (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/zGq2xiIGBc
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 20, 2018
On Sunday, Congress is holding an unusual session that may be lawmakers’ last chance for a quick end to the shutdown, Bloomberg reports.
While the partial shutdown began officially at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, federal agencies are largely waiting until Monday to implement it. That gives lawmakers one more deadline to act before the shutdown is in full force. Here’s a summary of what will shut down during the shutdown.
Publicly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Schumer have resisted being moved from their opposite positions. Behind the scenes, a senior House Republican told Bloomberg Saturday that vote-counters were being told a deal could be reached Sunday to reopen the government. To be sure, Goldman Sachs - which has singular insight into the innerworkings of the executive branch thanks to the fact that its alumni are helping run the government - believes there’s a 60% chance the shutdown could "last up to a few weeks."
As discussed yesterday, Democrats are holding out for a deal to enshrine DACA protections for 690,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children - a deal that, hopefully, limits the money spent on Trump’s border wall. Republicans, meanwhile, want a long-term deal that includes boosts to military spending.
Schumer said yesterday he still wants a bipartisan deal that sets budget caps for defense and non-defense spending, protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation, and provides disaster relief funds.
Meanwhile, McConnell has promised to keep fighting.
"We’ll be right back at this tomorrow and as long as it takes" to pass a spending bill, McConnell said Saturday evening.
To be sure, some Democrats - particularly those from states where Trump defeated Clinton by a sizable margin - are sounding more flexible about the terms of reopening the government, seeking more of a solid path toward an immigration bill and other goals than immediate action.
Circling back to Trump’s push for the so-called "nuclear option", Congressional Republicans haven’t yet commented on whether they’re considering it, although we expect the "official" GOP position on the matter will be disclosed later in the day.
Comments
Jello Shots Everyone?
There's always room for Jello
In reply to Jello Shots anyone? by 1stepcloser
They better hurry up and go Nuclear.
The MIC needs $700 billion.
poor guys are barely scraping by.
In reply to There's always room for Jello by cossack55
Congress is too busy trying to figure out how to bring earmarks back:
http://thesoundingline.com/taps-coogan-bringing-back-earmarks-really-be…
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
If they keep it up, Americans will get the message that the government does not need to do so many things...
In reply to Congress is too busy trying… by Four Star
Cuck Jewmer jelly as fuck.
In reply to If they keep it up,… by WTFRLY
Trump is very impulsive ... no match for well calculating, cold blooded killers he is dealing with ... probably not by chance he is there and has in son in law running the show ... just a thought
In reply to Cuck Jewmer jelly as fuck. by tmosley
"" Thump said Republicans should consider invoking “the nuclear option” ""
(i.e.) I Want To Go Golfing, I Want To Go Golfing !!!
In reply to … by Pandelis
Better than B- Ball with the choom gang!
In reply to i by BaBaBouy
THE USG may have shut down, BUT US money still flows into Apartheid Israhell's coffers to commit WAR Crimes. WARNING: Graphic Images http://bit.ly/2CUicmZ
In reply to Better than B- Ball with the… by Occams_Razor_Trader
Might as well. GOP - DEMS, it's all the same owned 1 party system with 2 factions to "provide" the illusion of choice.
"But Sir!, the EIC & Child Credit "people" won't get their $8k in February to spend"
In reply to Let's play "Shut-it-down… by stizazz
About time someone has put the proper boot into Schumer’s behind.
In reply to Might as well. GOP - DEMS,… by JRobby
If Dems ever get control of the Senate, the nuclear option is the very first act of their majority...guaranteed.
McConnell is still playing the never trump card.
In reply to Might as well. GOP - DEMS,… by JRobby
I like the fact that Democrats are doing what GOP politicians have promised for decades: they've shut down the government stopping a lot of spending. The RINOs really don't want to stop the spending spigot, but Trump has called their bluff. And the Democrats (who always get their way with spending even though the GOP House could easily provide funding bills without funds for say Planned Parenthood, Import Export Bank, Obamacare, welfare and other boondoggles, but never do) who are used to getting their way are shutting down the government. I love it.
Democrats are putting demographics and illegals ahead of the country, for their power. It's that simple.
In reply to If Dems ever get control of… by Max Cynical
All Deplorables who stood in long lines to vote for Trump ask is an end to mass-scale illegal immigration, propped up by welfare, that ensured a 4-decade span of wage stagnation, falling wages and higher rent—rent that now consumes more than half of our paychecks—due to more competition for units. So far, what we have gotten is doubled, refundable child tax credits that already topped out at $6,444, including for illegal immigrants who undercut citizens living on earned-only income—citizens who mostly have no monthly welfare and no child-tax-credit welfare to raise up low wages. Welfare-boosted illegal immigrants can afford to work these jobs more than citizens with earned-only income, and employers know it, hence their hiring patterns. This amnesty is being sold as “popular” via poll-confirmed sources. As in the 2016 presidential election, RepubliCONs are going to find out in the midterm elections how inaccurate polls are in this era.
In reply to i by BaBaBouy
Those who benefit from depressed wages, increased competition for jobs, paying less than minimum wages, no job safety, etc aren't of any particular political orientation other than GREED. Both parties benefit greatly from illegal immigration just maybe not for the same reasons.
In reply to All Deplorables who stood in… by Endgame Napoleon
With all due respect Napoleon, polls are not "inaccurate".... they are rigged and fake. Most pollsters get the exact result they are looking for and desire by designing the questions in order to get said result and poll the "right people in the right sections of town to guarantee it.
"Random poll"...........hahahahaha.
"The poll said".....hahahahaha.
In reply to All Deplorables who stood in… by Endgame Napoleon
Exactly right. Polls are about goal-seeking and opinion-pushing.
In reply to With all due respect… by vealparm
Yeah, it's not hard at all to imagine Mr No-Convictions-Except-MOAR-MIC-MONEY changing his mind and complicating things.
In reply to … by Pandelis
Yup all those illegals and welfare bums voting Republican.
Everybody benefits.
Hahaha.
In reply to Yeah, it's not hard at all… by dirty fingernails
Yeah, fat lot of good their "calculations" have done for them. They are rapidly losing power everywhere.
In reply to … by Pandelis
Your thoughts are as coherent as your sentence. Trump has been building an empire in the harshest environments on the planet and you think his son in law is running the show? LMFAO.
In reply to … by Pandelis
Seems there's lots of stupid thoughts on ZH. Yours is but a tiny one.
In reply to … by Pandelis
Trump is finally learning that the leftist Demonrats care about only one thing: power.
Everything they do, regardless of the crocodile tears and the bullshit rhetoric is to maintain and increase their own Statist power.
They truly are the evil fucks that our Founding Fathers warned us about.
In reply to Cuck Jewmer jelly as fuck. by tmosley
It's all fine and good that Trump is trying to wear down Schumer and the Democrats and goad them into looking more and more lame and foolish by the minute.
But tell me about Republicans. How many of those guys and gals are true patriots for their country? If there are any, they only get a few crumbs thrown at them. Like feeding chickens.
In reply to Trump is finally learning… by Jeffersonian Liberal
You think that power isn't the goal no matter what team? You're projecting your hopes onto soulless psychopaths which is never a smart move.
In reply to Trump is finally learning… by Jeffersonian Liberal
History does repeat itself:
The Tammany Hall II Party
v/s
The Party Owned by Lobbyists for the COC & the Meat-Packing Industry
In reply to Trump is finally learning… by Jeffersonian Liberal
What the fuck do Republicans want MORE military spending for?! It sure as fuck doesn’t go to the soldiers. Seriously- we have no FEMA funds and our infrastructure is shit. Our hospitals are running short on saline, dobutamine, lidocaine but to name a few items. These guys are seriously clusterfucks.
In reply to Cuck Jewmer jelly as fuck. by tmosley
just askin: How's that yuan/petro/gold exchange going? nothing here on ZH.
it is the only reality to curb the mic/death machine....
In reply to What the fuck do Republicans… by dasein211
It's not the governments responsibility to stock the hospitals....
In reply to What the fuck do Republicans… by dasein211
#releaSETHememo (FISA)
HIS NAME WAS SETH RICH
In reply to Congress is too busy trying… by Four Star
Going nuclear apparently to Trump doesn't involve releasing the memo.
That's more disappointment for the Trumptards HODLing on to the illusion that he is taking on the Deep State.
The poor military. They only need to leech another few hundred billion dollars for their smug armchair assholes.
In reply to #releaSETHememo (FISA)… by Jumanji1959
Jane Harman says our navy ships collide because of the government shutdown.
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
Respectfully disagree. It’s one thing to invoke the Nuclear Option for political appointee’s, quite another to invoke it for general law making. At some point, it’s inevitable that Democrats will re-establish control. When they do, we want this 60 vote rule IN PLACE!
The founding fathers designed it that way for a reason. Our lawmakers were meant to give and take on issues. But on REALLY IMPORTANT issues, we need the 60 vote rule to deny passage of stupid laws. It’s unfortunate that the Democrats are using it for their own needs. Such as putting the needs of a few (DACA) ahead of the many (hundreds of MILLIONS of ACTUAL U.S. CITIZENS). For a stronger voting base.
Hopefully some day, the people we put in legislative positions will once again work for the good of the American People, instead of working for their own needs.
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
But on REALLY IMPORTANT issues, we need the 60 vote rule to deny passage of stupid laws.
Yup, been working like a charm so far.
In reply to Respectfully disagree. It’s… by GIVJetMech
The founding fathers DID NOT design the Senate’s filibuster in the Constitution. Read your history (of the filibuster). The real issue is whether our government has become unresponsive to the wishes of the people because of or in spite of the filibuster. We’ve had active use of the filibuster only since the 1970s, so if you’re of the mind to limit the size and intrusiveness of the federal government, well.....doesn’t seem to me that the Senate filibuster has stopped the Congress from aggrandizing it’s and other federal power. It may be that if the filibuster rule went away, the government would become more responsive TO THE MAJORITY.........but.......what balance would then be needed to protect the rights of the INDIVIDUAL from the TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY? History suggests that American majorities have voted to protect the individual from the tyranny of any majority. But what about today? Think we still have the wisdom history offers?
In reply to Respectfully disagree. It’s… by GIVJetMech
THANK YOU! We must be ever cognizant of unintended consequences.
In reply to Respectfully disagree. It’s… by GIVJetMech
Trumpy, Krazymaking Klown King
The captain of deadly obsolete ideas:
a huge defense budget at the expense of domestic growth,
fomenting an internal geopolitical war,
treating the environment as the enemy.
Trump, the gateway drug to greed, gluttony and golf.
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
Democrats already gave Trump money for his big and beautiful weapons with the NDAA Trump signed a month or two ago. But he wants 50 BILLION MORE. And Democrats once again, will give it to him. We are way above a trillion already.
Next up? Kill social security, Medicare and Medicaid to pay for it
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
That cocksucker Shumer wants not only 800,000 mostly middle aged illegal aliens to get citizenship, but all their parents and kids to as well. Fuck him! There are something like 12 million illegals in this country and they all vote Democrat because no voter ID laws and the fact that the DEMs have enabled this unlawful activity. Shut this shit down now, while we can!
Use the 51% maneuver and pass E-Verify, End Chain migration, Anchor babies, welfare for immigrants here for less than 5 years and put the so called "DACA" people on a list to immigrate while waiting outside the country. Pass funding for the border wall and get it built ASAP!
The GOP has bent over backwards to play fair. Does anyone think these asshole Dems would hesitate to invoke that rule? Do it and pass every damn bill sitting on McConnell's desk that will drain this swamp!
In reply to There's always room for Jello by cossack55
There are more than 11-12 illegals in the U.S. That number has been bandied about since Reagan was in office. There are close to 45 million illegals in the country. And, they don't just sneak in over the southern border. They also fly into the country and over stay their visas. If we don't stop the invasion we will be f*cked for sure, if we aren't already.
In reply to That cocksucker Shumer wants… by chubbar
I imagine 11-12 million illegals just in Commiefornia alone.
Not all are illegal, but I bet most are.
In reply to There are more than 11-12… by Pollygotacracker
What is McConnell waiting for...nothing will change between now and February 8th other than Schumer will feel more empowered to shut down the government again.
Go nuclear...Dems would do it the moment they had the opportunity.
In reply to That cocksucker Shumer wants… by chubbar
Democrats using identity politics as a cover for draconian policies that have already harmed millions of Americans.
Republicans exploit racism, while they ETHNICALLY cleanse the US, just like Zionists are doing to the Palestinians, as well as win support for wars in the middle East, which is the CAUSE of mass migration in the first place.
I'm for a path for citizenship. Legally alot of these DACA kids, now adults have made huge contributions to our society and ARE NOT on welfare. A system destroyed by Bill Clinton 25 years ago. A recent fed report says that the biggest and most pervasive obstacle to US services for immigrants is FEAR OF DEPORTATION. The majority of those seeking and getting what is left of a welfare state after welfare reform 25 years go, ARE WHITE. NOT immigrants. Think RED STATES.
Barry was the deportation KING having deported 25 million throughout his Presidential stint.
What you don't get is Democrats are fascists and Republicans are fascists, there is ZERO differences between the two.
The majority Democratic base (what's left of it) are minorities (most US citizens) and wealthy white CENTRISTS (re: NEOCONS).
Democrats are corrupt sleazy scum that serve the ZIONIST regime and war....both parties exploit minorities to get policies of HATE passed.
In reply to That cocksucker Shumer wants… by chubbar
go nuclear for more nukes!
In reply to Jello Shots anyone? by 1stepcloser
SPERM EJACULATIONS on Chuck Schumers face.
In reply to They better hurry up and go… by Bes
Schumer can pull the teenage pudding out of his ass and negotiate with that.
In reply to Jello Shots anyone? by 1stepcloser
*Mass riots in liberal cities coming January 31st when rif raff and illegals don't get their welfare and food stamps.
And since liberals don't own guns, It will be open season on weak white liberals living in cities!
Popcorn ready! 😎👍
Yes, I like it. Stand back and watch the ghetto monkeys throw shit on one another in their shithole cities.
In reply to Mass riots in liberal cities… by lester1
Fighting over whether to send the American people plague as in protecting the
illegals or cholera as in increasing already record military spending ?
In reply to Mass riots in liberal cities… by lester1
Pagination