What is the nuclear option? For six weeks, Senate Republicans shut down the government because Democrats would not agree to a funding bill that did not include the continuation of health care subsidies that could affect 22 million people, where their premiums would potentially double. In response to this, President Trump says that Senate Republicans should just use the nuclear option and ignore Democrats, which they could do.
The nuclear option is a way to just sidestep the filibuster with a majority vote. (And the filibuster is a stall tactic in the Senate that can be used to delay or even kill a vote on a bill.)
Normally, you need 60 votes to stop a filibuster, but with the nuclear option, you only need 51. Essentially, the nuclear option is just a way for the Senate to reinterpret an existing rule, even if that reinterpretation is completely at odds with the existing rule.
In the past, both Democrats and Republicans have used the nuclear option for confirmations of judges and executive branch officials, but never for legislation. If it was used for legislation, this would mark a significant turning point for the Senate. In that sense, it’s not Senate Democrats that are standing in Trump’s way, but Senate Republicans—the handful that don’t want to use the nuclear option to blow up the filibuster.
Now, the Senate has already voted to reopen the government, with seven Democrats and one independent joining the Republicans. So even though the nuclear option wasn’t used in this particular situation, it still could be used on future bills. And the reason Trump likes it is because it’s a way for him to get whatever he wants passed without having to work at all with Democrats.
So if it’s just a matter of Trump getting other Republicans to cave to his demands, well, we’ve kind of seen how that’s gone in the past.
Ben Sheehan is the bestselling author of What Does the Constitution Actually Say? A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy Is Supposed to Work. Make sure to stay connected with Ben on his Substack
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