After losing the Republican primary, Trump urged lawmakers to end the shutdown

Washington – As the federal shutdown became the longest in US history, President Trump has shown little interest in talks to reopen the government. But a Republican loss on Election Day could change that.

Trump told Republican senators at the White House on Wednesday that he believes the government shutdown was a “big factor” in the party’s weak showing against Democrats in key races.

“We have to open the government as soon as possible, and really immediately,” Trump said, adding that he would speak privately with senators to discuss what he wants to do.

The president’s comments are a departure from what has largely been a tepid response to reopening the government. With Congress deadlocked for more than a month, Trump’s attention was largely elsewhere.

He spent most of last week in Asia trying to broker a trade deal. Before that, he was very focused on it A cease-fire agreement was signed between Israel and Hamas and the construction of the $300 million White House Ballroom.

To date, Trump’s main effort to reopen the federal government has been asking Republican leaders to end the filibuster, a long-standing Senate rule that requires 60 votes in the chamber to pass most legislation. Trump wants to repeal the law — called the nuclear option — to allow Republicans in control of the chamber to pass legislation with a simple majority vote.

“If you don’t repeal the filibuster, you’re going to be in bad shape,” Trump told GOP senators, warning that the party would be seen as “nothing Republican” and “killed” in next year’s midterm elections.

Trump’s push to end the shutdown comes as voters grow increasingly dissatisfied with his economic agenda, according to recent polls. That trend strengthened Tuesday as voters voted with economic concerns as their main motivation, an AP poll showed. Despite those indicators, Trump told a crowd at the American Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday that he thinks “we have the greatest economy right now.”

While Trump has not admitted fault with his economic agenda, he has expressed concern that the ongoing shutdown could hurt Republicans. Those concerns have led him to push Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, a move that has put members of his own party in a tough spot.

Senate Majority Leader John Theon of South Dakota has resisted the pressure, calling the filibuster “an important tool” that keeps his party in control of the chamber.

The 60-vote limit allowed Republicans to block “a whole host of tough policies from Democrats” when they were in the minority last year, Toon said Monday in an interview with Fox News Radio’s “The Guy Benson Show.”

“I cringe at the thought of how much worse it would have been without the legislative filibuster,” he said. “The truth is, if we do their dirty work for them, and that’s essentially what we’re going to do, we’re going to make all the crap they’re going to do if and when they get the chance to do it.”

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said last week that he was “not adamant about taking it down.”

“The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate. Power changes hands, but principles should not,” Curtis said in a social media post.

As the government shutdown was extended to 36 days on Wednesday, Trump showed no interest in negotiating with Democrats, who have refused to vote on legislation to reopen the government that does not include a health care deal.

Budget talks stalled as Democrats tried to force Republicans to extend the federal health care tax credit that expires at the end of the year. If this credit ends, millions of Americans are expected to see the cost of their premiums rise.

With talks stalling, Trump said in an interview published Sunday that he would “not be swayed” by their demands to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

On Wednesday, Democratic legislative leaders sent a letter to Trump calling for a bipartisan meeting to “end the GOP shutdown of the federal government and decisively respond to the Republican health care crisis.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, wrote in a letter to Trump, “Democrats are ready to meet you face to face, anytime, anywhere.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Democrats’ letter.

“The election results should send Donald Trump a much-needed lightning bolt that he needs to meet with us to end this crisis,” Schumer told The Associated Press.

Trump’s comments on Wednesday indicate that he is more interested in a partisan approach to ending the shutdown.

“Now is the time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that is to end the filibuster,” Trump told GOP senators. “It’s the only way you can do it.”

If Republicans don’t do it, Trump argued, Senate Democrats will do it the next time they’re in the majority.

Democrats have shown no intention of ending the filibuster in the future, but Trump has claimed otherwise, arguing that it’s up to Republicans to “do it first.”