In the Oct. 29 letter to the editor “Printing the truth” – the writer hints that Senate Democrats are solely responsible for the current government shutdown, and that the Recorder falsely blames Senate Republicans for it. Actually, the shutdown could be ended today without a single yeah from a Democratic! Any Senator could raise a point of order to contravene the standing rule requiring a 60% majority vote to end the filibuster and bring the CR bill to cloture. After some parliamentary maneuvers, a simple majority vote could override the standing rule(s). Once the rule(s) is(are) changed, the CR bill could come to cloture and then be brought to vote and passed by a simple majority — immediately ending the government shutdown!
So, the Republicans don’t need a single Democratic vote to reopen the government, they just need to invoke the “Nuclear Option” (See Wikipedia). As long as Sen. John Thune refuses to invoke the “Nuclear Option” the Republicans completely and solely own this shutdown.
The current CR has so many foul side effects that it’s no surprise the Republicans don’t want to own it outright. They want to share this stinking thing in a bi-partisan way! What a blessing! Of course, the Democrats want no part of this mess, so they hold out!
With help from a very few Republicans the Democrats could force the “Nuclear Option” out of Thune’s hands and into a simple majority vote, but I don’t expect that to happen! So, the arcane filibuster rule will persist and the shutdown will continue.
Dwight Manley
Deerfield