The President of the United States took to his favorite social media platform on Tuesday, and called for the full dismantling of the filibuster.
Donald Trump attacked the long-standing Senate procedure, when striking out at a negotiated budget deal on Capitol Hill. The agreement left out many of his top priorities, including money for a border wall and the stripping of funding from so-called “sanctuary cities.”
“The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!” the President tweeted.
“We either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%,” he continued.
Since 1975, Senate rules required 60 votes to end debate on a matter and proceed to a vote—a process known as “cloture.”
Those rules, however, have in recent years undergone change. In response to a massive increase in the use of the filibuster by the Republican minority in 2013, Democrats dismantled the 60-vote threshold to vote on Presidential nominees, except Supreme Court appointments.
Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blew up that exception in his bid to confirm Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
In remarks from the White House in February, as Democrats threatened to filibuster Gorsuch, Trump gave Sen. McConnell a blunt message: “If we end up with that gridlock I would say if you can, Mitch, go nuclear.”
All legislation still requires 60 votes to end debate, but the President’s tweets on Tuesday could be taken as a nod to the Majority Leader to dismantle that last remaining vestige of the filibuster threshold.
Trump made similar comments during an interview with Fox News Friday.
“Maybe, at some point, we’re going to have to take those rules on,” he said of current Senate procedure.
Trump wasn’t completely defeated in the latest round of budget negotiations. The spending deal boosts Pentagon funding without a corresponding increase in domestic funding, which was long a requirement for budget talks during the Obama administration.
During his tweet storm on Tuesday, Trump suggested he wouldn’t bat at an eye at allowing the government to shut-down later in the year, when the current spending agreement expires, in order to secure more of his policy objectives.
“Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!” he said.
