00:00President Trump is calling on Senate Republicans to end the government shutdown by killing
00:04the filibuster in what he declared would be the nuclear option for the GOP.
00:08It is now time for the Republicans to play their Trump card and go for what is called
00:12the nuclear option.
00:14Get rid of the filibuster and get rid of it now, the president wrote in a lengthy Truth
00:19Social post on Thursday.
00:22But what is the filibuster and why is Trump's demand to eliminate the longstanding tactics
00:27so controversial as even his own party downplays the option?
00:31Here's everything you need to know.
00:33The filibuster is a unique tool available to senators that has been long deployed by both
00:37parties when they want to block or delay votes on a particular piece of legislation.
00:42They do it by preventing the debate on the issue from ending.
00:45A bill only needs a simple majority of 51 votes to pass upon completion of a debate, but it
00:50actually takes 60 votes to end the debate.
00:53So in reality, a 60-vote supermajority is needed to pass legislation in the Senate, which means
00:59as long as a minority party has the power of the filibuster, they have the ability to
01:03block the agenda of the majority party.
01:05The filibuster, which comes from a Dutch word meaning pirate, is most traditionally employed
01:10by a single senator who refuses to yield the Senate floor by engaging in a long speech.
01:15This is called a talking filibuster.
01:17Amazingly, the first record of a long speech being used to delay legislation dates back to
01:21the very first ever session of the Senate in 1789.
01:25Pennsylvania Senator William McClay wrote in his diary about the event, noted that the
01:28design of the Virginians was to talk away the time so that we could not get the bill passed.
01:33The talking filibuster has a storied history in the country, including in Frank Capra's
01:38iconic 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in which a young, honest senator played by Jimmy
01:44Stewart tirelessly filibusters on the Senate floor for 24 hours in what is portrayed as the
01:49ultimate patriotic act of an individual standing up against corruption, or the minority refusing
01:55to bend to the tyranny of the majority.
01:57Let's get up off the ground.
01:59That's all I ask.
02:00Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands
02:02for liberty.
02:03Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something.
02:08And you won't just see scenery.
02:10You'll see the whole parade of what man's carved out for himself after centuries of fighting.
02:16And fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so he can stand on his
02:23own two feet free and decent like he was created, no matter what his race, color or cream.
02:30The tactic has also been used for theatrics in real life, though not always for such feel-good
02:35agendas.
02:36In 1957, South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond took to the floor for more than 24 hours in opposition
02:41to the civil rights bill.
02:43More recently, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker spoke for over 25 hours against the policies
02:48of the Trump administration in April 2025.
02:52Would the senator yield for a question?
02:55Chuck Schumer, it's the only time in my life I can tell you no.
03:00I just want to tell you a question.
03:03Do you know you have just broken the record?
03:06Do you know how proud this caucus is of you?
03:09Do you know how proud America is of you?
03:16While the filibuster traditionally was only rarely employed for the most controversial issues
03:20facing the Senate, it has become much more common and much more disruptive in recent years.
03:25Calls to end the practice have grown louder as critics argue the move has led to complete
03:30deadlock in the Senate and the will of the majority thwarted.
03:33This has happened more often because of a second type of filibuster called the silent filibuster.
03:38The tactic, which started in the early 1970s but by now has almost entirely overtaken the talking filibuster,
03:45doesn't require any speeches or anyone taking the floor, just the threat of it.
03:49Once a senator decides to obstruct a vote, they alert the majority leader and if that senator has the support of at least 40 others,
03:56the majority leader won't call for a vote and the bill will be stalled.
03:59Now, as the government shutdown has been going on for a month, Trump seems to be over being held hostage by the minority party.
04:06Trump explained that during his whirlwind Asia trip, the one question that kept coming up was how did the Democrats shut down the United States of America
04:14and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?
04:17Trump continued,
04:18The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question. Why?
04:22The toughest hurdle for Trump's call to end the filibuster once and for all might come from his own party.
04:27Senate Majority Leader John Thune pledged to preserve the filibuster in January when Republicans took control of the upper chamber.
04:34And earlier this month, he dismissed the idea of using the nuclear option to end the shutdown
04:39and said he hasn't had conversations about it with the White House.
04:42House Speaker Mike Johnson told a reporter who asked about President Trump's post on nuking the filibuster to end the month long government shutdown,
04:50that it was just an expression of the president's anger.
04:53He is as angry as I am and the American people are about this madness.
04:58And he just desperately wants the government to be reopened so that all these resources can flow to the people who need it so much.
05:05Look, I'll just say this in general. As I've said many times about the filibuster, it's not my call.
05:09I don't have a say in this. It's a Senate chamber issue. We don't have that in the House, as you know.
05:14But the filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard.
05:18If the shoe was on the other foot, I don't think our team would like it.
05:21The Democrats, look, they've said what they would do. They would pack the Supreme Court.
05:26They would make Puerto Rico and D.C. states. They would ban firearms.
05:32They would do all sorts of things that would be very harmful for the country.
05:37And the safeguard in the Senate has always been the filibuster.
05:40But again, not my issue, not something I get to even weigh in on.
05:44My opinion on this is not relevant. It's the senators.
05:47But I think that it just is another expression of the frustration of the pressure that is being felt,
05:54the anger by the president and by me and all of us that we're in this situation at all.
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