Democrats’ failure to budge on their government shutdown had one Republican congressman suggesting it was time to consider taking the “nuclear option.”
“… I think we’re just being beholden to a broken system right now.”
Even after holding out for their base to hold their “No Kings” cry-fest demonstrations across the country Saturday, Senate Democrats once again refused to sign onto a funding package, sending the shutdown into a fourth week. While leaders in the upper chamber continued to heap blame across the aisle, Texas Rep. Chip Roy (R) suggested it was time to consider bypassing the filibuster to get the government funded again.
Speaking with reporters Monday as he joined GOP House leadership for their press conference, Roy expressed, “… we need to be taking a look at the 60 vote threshold. We really do.”
“At a minimum, why don’t we take a look at it for CRs?” asked Roy of using the so-called nuclear option to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to pass the legislation in the Senate and overcome the filibuster. “Why don’t we just say, look, I mean, we have a 50-vote threshold for the budget, we have a 50-vote threshold for reconciliation, why shouldn’t we have a 50-vote threshold to be able to fund the government?”
Chip Roy says the Senate should consider SCRAPPING the filibuster on CR votes.
: @AndiNapier pic.twitter.com/yJtBHUWSKu
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 20, 2025
“Look, I like being able to block bad things with 60 votes, don’t get me wrong. But I feel like it’s a one-way ratchet, but for basically [former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten] Sinema and [former West Virginia Sen. Joe] Manchin. They would have blown up the 60-vote threshold to advance their agenda,” the congressman on the House Rules Committee argued. “I think Republicans ought to take a long, hard look at the 60-vote threshold, because I think we’re just being beholden to a broken system right now.”
Despite utilizing the nuclear option to confirm some of President Donald Trump’s nominees in September, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has postured against taking such a step to fund the government.
Instead, Thune continued to fault the opposition as he said Monday, “Democrats have made it very clear that they don’t care about the costs of the shutdown to anyone. Democrats used to care, of course, or so they claimed … Now that it serves their purposes to keep the government closed, they’re all for shutdowns.”
Naturally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) countered with talking points, claiming, “Republicans seem happy not to work, happy not to negotiate, happy to let health care premiums spike for over 20 million working and middle-class Americans.”
As for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) stance on the nuclear option, he posited earlier in October, “Is it wise? You can have a lot of people who would tell you it’s not.”
“I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now, a Marxist ideology taking over the Democrat Party,” continued the speaker. “Do I want them to have no safeguards and no stumbling blocks or hurdles at all in the way of turning us into a communist country? I don’t think that’s a great idea.”
Mike Johnson on nuking the filibuster: “Is it wise? A lot of people would tell you it’s not. I mean, on the Republican side, I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now of Marxist ideology taking over the Democrat Party … turning us… pic.twitter.com/b4FpLW6Fax
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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