President Donald Trump called on Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster and allow bills to pass with a simple majority in a Friday morning tweet, saying the move is necessary to pass “great legislation.”
“If Republicans are going to pass great future legislation in the Senate, they must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60,” Trump tweeted. “Even though parts of healthcare could pass at 51, some really good things need 60. So many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes.”
The tweets come after Senate Republicans failed to advance their motion to debate their “skinny repeal,” a lighter version of a complete overhaul of Obamacare. (RELATED:Senate ‘Skinny Repeal’ Does Not Touch Medicaid)
Under Senate rules, a filibuster, the process in which senators can delay a vote by speaking, can only be ended by a 60 vote majority by senators. One way the Senate can overcome a filibuster is through “budget reconciliation,” which only needs 51 votes to get legislation through.
Trump has called on Republican senators to abolish the filibuster rule previously, but the senators quickly dismissed his idea.
“The rules have saved us from a lot of really bad policy,” Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) said in May.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also slammed the idea. “There is an overwhelming majority on a bipartisan basis not interested in changing the way the Senate operates on the legislative calendar,” he said.
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