It’s often called the “nuclear option.”
There are a few Democrats – not enough to make a difference -- who have voted to end the shutdown which is hurting thousands of government workers like air traffic controllers and military personnel who aren't getting paid.
But most Democrats argue that more healthcare dollars are needed. Republicans, meanwhile, oppose increased medical funding, contending that some of the money would go to illegal aliens or to fund gender manipulation procedures.
House Republican Marlin Stutzman represents Indiana's 3rd Congressional District. During an appearance on American Family Radio Wednesday, he pushed the notion that the 60-vote threshold should not be required on budgetary bills like the issue that has caused the current shutdown. That threshold should be reserved for issues beyond regular business, he says, so Republicans need to invoke the so-called nuclear option.
" Look at all the major policy decisions that have passed. They go through the reconciliation process. Obamacare was passed with a simple majority under reconciliation. The Trump tax cuts in 2017 were passed under reconciliation by a simple majority. Same with what we just passed with One Big, Beautiful Bill. So, there's already a process for just a simple majority to pass in the Senate."
Budget reconciliation is a special process created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that allows certain tax, spending, and debt-limit legislation to be passed faster in the Senate — with a simple majority (51 votes) instead of the usual 60-vote filibuster threshold.
The budget resolution can include “reconciliation instructions” directing specific committees (e.g., Finance, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce) to change laws to meet budget goals — such as raising revenue, cutting spending, or adjusting entitlement programs.
Eventually, a reconciliation bill goes to the full House and Senate, but a filibuster by the minority party is bypassed.
But J. Christian Adams, who is founder of the Public Interest Legal Foundation thinks the filibuster is important.
"I do like the filibuster. It keeps us less like England, less like a parliamentary democracy that swings wildly from one idea to the next. So, the filibuster is the one thing that kind of keeps us grounded in the values of the past."
So far there has been no sign that Senate Majority Leader Thune has any intention of using the nuclear option.
