Shutdown Day 36: Trump says to 'terminate the filibuster'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his demand for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster and pass a bill to reopen the government along partisan lines, as he partially blamed the U.S. shutdown for Republican election losses.

"It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that's terminate the filibuster," Trump told Senate Republicans at a White House breakfast Wednesday, the 36th day of the now-longest running shutdown on record.

Earlier in his remarks, Trump blamed the shutdown for Tuesday’s election results, which saw Democrats win statewide races in New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, saying "the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans."

As for Trump’s main request, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters there are not enough votes in the chamber to eliminate the 60-vote threshold to pass major pieces of legislation through the U.S. Senate.

"I know where the votes are," Thune said. "The answer is, there aren't the votes, as I've said before."

Both parties have been reluctant to abolish the longstanding rule, arguing in part that eliminating the 60-vote threshold would discourage bipartisan work if crossover minority party votes aren’t needed to pass major bills.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a Senate floor speech said Tuesday’s election results "ought to send a much-needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis and his shutdown, which he admits hurt him badly in the election."

Schumer said he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reached out to the White House again, urging the president to negotiate with congressional Democrats who are seeking an extension of soon-to-expire health care subsidies in exchange for their support of a short-term spending bill to reopen the government.

"Donald Trump ignores us at his own political peril," Schumer said.

Trump, speaking at the American Business Conference in Miami later in the day, took aim at Schumer and Democrats, accusing them of not wanting to reopen the government "because we're setting records."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.