Trump tweeting about the nuclear option.

[Kingofalldems]

Any chance of that happening?

[Soxfan58]

1. Do they even have the votes then?

I haven't heard who is voting what.

[mobeau69]

2. Turtle won't do that.

He has the long view. Dems are headed for a Senate majority soon.

[Autumn]

3. I wouldn't bet on that.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. His opportunity to have done it has now passed given they lost the House

Otherwise if he had done it earlier, then they could have rammed every draconian thing they had through both chambers. Doing it now, assuming any legislation may not make it to the House in time before the end of this Congress' session, would make the gesture meaningless (from their perspective).

[Autumn]

8. I think if Trump pushes it he would do it. Either way the pukes are boxed in.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. He may be kamikaze but not that kamikaze

If they had time, they could try to do it as a budget reconciliation package (I don't think they did one this year yet), which only requires a majority vote in the Senate, limits debate, and is supposedly (relatively) "budget neutral".

http://www.ncsl.org/blog/2017/01/13/how-the-congressional-reconciliation-process-works.aspx

If they can get a "weekend" short term "clean" CR in, they may have time to do this over the weekend in consultation with the House. Was thinking they could amend the Defense appropriation already passed and remove $5 billion from that and add it to Homeland Security via this vehicle. This is just speculation...

[bearsfootball516]

5. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily true.

Although the Senate map is kinder in 2020, assuming they lose Doug Jones in Alabama, they'll have to pick up 4 seats and hold everything else just to break even 50-50.

Assuming we run great campaigns and take North Carolina, Colorado and Susan Collin's seat in Maine, you'd still need one more to just break even. McSally's in Arizona could be it.

[LakeSuperiorView]

19. Besides abusing pronouns, you are assuming that the Republcans hold the White House in 2020.

"they'll have to pick up 4 seats and hold everything else just to break even 50-50." is confusing since it places you outside the Democratic party. So unless you actually are, it would be better to say "We will have to pick up" or "The Democrats will have to pick up".

If the Republicans lose the White House, 50-50 is enough for Republicans to lose control, with the Vice President breaking ties. Then only three seats need to be gained to take control of the Senate away for chinless Mitch.

[bearsfootball516]

21. That's assuming Jones holds Alabama, which I'm not banking on.

I'm also considering the worst case scenario where Trump wins the White House. If the Democrat does win, we'd need 4 wins assuming Jones doesn't win (I'm not expecting Alabama republicans to run another pedophile).

Four seats is doable, just not easy.

[LakeSuperiorView]

23. Not making any assumptions, other than a Democratic President,

Republicans lose control of the Senate if Democrats gain three seats. A lot easier to say. Democrats do not need to get to 51 to gain control, if holding the White House.

[bearsfootball516]

24. You're absolutely correct.

I'm just not anticipating Jones holding on in Alabama. He barely won in 2017 and that was running against probably the worst candidate in Senate history.

Republicans run an average candidate in Alabama in 2020 and likely win by double digits.

[dewsgirl]

4. I know what the nuclear option is, but I just woke up and the first thing I read was nuclear option

had me seriously alarmed for a second there. I was like OMG what now!

[rurallib]

10. you ain't the only one

especially after the news from North Korea yesterday

[dewsgirl]

14. I fear this is just the beginning of end stage. Frightening times we are living through.

[milestogo]

16. like if he doesn't get his way he'll start a nuclear war

which sounds like something he would do

[dewsgirl]

18. This was my biggest fear as soon as he was elected, I'm afraid everyone standing in the way will be

gone. It has kept me sane, hoping there were people behind the scenes holding back his worst impulses.
I have lately had the optimistic belief, that if he could have fired Mueller, he already would have tried. After this week, I don't have a clue.

[peggysue2]

6. One of the Tea Party brigade members suggested this . . .

yesterday. Could have been Mark Meadows. If they try that, the retaliation in 2020 will be huge. It'll be interesting to see if McConnell flips on the issue. If he does, he'll court a total disaster.

[KTinaY2008]

9. Chuck Schumer should tell them

Chuck Schumer should tell them, "if you do this, the next time we have the Senate, Puerto Rico and DC will becomes states making it likely you'll never have the Senate again."

[safeinOhio]

12. Thanks

[CaptainTruth]

13. If I understand correctly they would need a 2/3 Senate vote to invoke it.

In other words, 2/3 of the Senate would have to vote to change the rules, bypassing the Byrd Rule, so a budget that adds significantly to the deficit or contains "extraneous items" (a wall) could pass with a simple 51 vote majority without being blocked by a Senator.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Here in this thread is what I thought they could do

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211575252#post11

It would need to be a 2-bill thing - amend some existing appropriations bill (probably DOD) to remove $5 billion and include it on the CR via instructions in a budget reconciliation package. They would need some type of very short term "clean" CR to go over the weekend in order to get it done though.

ETA - the above speculative suggestion is not "changing the rules" to eliminate the 60-vote threshold which is "the nuclear option". It is just passing something via budget reconciliation, which they can do 3 times each fiscal year for specific things.

[highplainsdem]

15. Won't happen. See this thread for Manu Raju and Phil Mattingly explaining why it won't:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211575642

[Gothmog]

20. Senate Republicans will not go along with this stupid idea

Link to tweet

[malaise]

22. No - it's illegal

Fuck the Con

Lock him up