Trump calls for government shutdown-nuclear option combination in September

[nitpicker]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-calls-for-government-shutdown-nuclear-option-combination-in-september/article/2621847

Trump calls for government shutdown-nuclear option combination in September

by Kyle Feldscher | May 2, 2017, 9:21 AM

President Trump on Tuesday called for a government shutdown at the end of September in order to kill the legislative filibuster in the Senate so he can pass more of his priorities. "The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!" Trump tweeted. "We either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good 'shutdown' in September to fix mess!"

Trump agreed to a deal between congressional Democrats and Republicans over the weekend to avoid a partial government shutdown that would start early Saturday morning with no spending bill. The agreement, which doesn't fund many of Trump's priorities, would keep the government open until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Trump said in a recent interview that he'd like to do away with some of the rules that make it harder to pass legislation in the Senate, namely the 60-vote threshold to end debate on a bill. Senate Democrats currently have the ability to stymie Trump's agenda in the upper chamber because they have 48 votes, which means they can band together to block some of his more controversial plans.

Republicans have been criticized by conservative commentators in recent days for not getting more conservative priorities into the spending bill. Instead, it's widely seen as a win for Democrats because it avoids some of Trump's top priorities, such as funding for the wall on the southern border with Mexico.
(snip)

[no_hypocrisy]

1. If anything, the filibuster encouraged compromise between the parties.

But since Newt Gingrich, not too much of that going on.

Newt's strategy, adopted by the Republicans, has been to force through extreme legislation without having to go to democrats for the votes. And without democrats, the bill wouldn't have to be tampered with, softened, changed. For example, in this case, Republicans could try for a corporate tax rate down to 15%, perhaps even eliminate it, by themselves instead of having a tax cut down on only 27%.

The filibuster is the last device left for even the illusion of bipartisanship. Without it, the minority party is just a bunch of placeholders who are allowed debate (for now) but no essential voting rights.

[WePurrsevere]

2. McConnell has shot that Trump idea down already...

McConnell's a brazen partisan jerk for pulling all of the b.s. to get a Republican SCOTUS in but he also knows that the Senate can't be gerrymandered so it can flip back into the Democrats hands more easily. He doesn't want to lose the filibuster totally as a bill negotiating tool when that happens (and hopefully will next year).

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/331597-mcconnell-shoots-down-trumps-call-to-end-the-filibuster