Shut Down Goes to Overtime-End the Filibuster?
NEWS\OPINION DOUGLAS WOLF| November 1st, 2025
November 1st marks the 32nd day of the so-called government “shutdown”. Like many things in politics today, the things that really matter to the middle-class voter like Social Security payments, keep flowing. Airline travel, while truncated, still is getting the majority of passengers to and from wherever. The War Department is still blowing up drug toting speed boats off the coast of Venezuela. Hiking at national parks are modified as are Federal courts. But, for the most part, life has gone on as normal for the vast majority of citizens.
But, the pain goes up today as Federal Assistance for food to the “poor” is curtailed. The SNAP program, which started under, who else, FDR, runs out of Federal funding. Many states have stepped up to fill the void and some counties, such as Pinal, have also. The idea being, that when the Federal Budget is approved those funds will be replenished from the US Treasury.
Editor’s Note:A game of musical money! (The US borrows from other countries to fund our huge debt, currently at $37 Trillion, and then sends it to the states-so it’s FREE to Arizona…
Food Stamps-SNAP has been a popular program from both sides of the aisle. During the Great Depression, farmers and grocery stores (both GOP stalwarts) were dumping food as no one in many areas had money to buy anything. Progressives and most Americans, did not want anyone to go hungry and private charities could not meet the demand. LBJ and Richard Nixon put the food programs in high gear with LBJ’s War on Poverty.
There are some other spending parts that return higher spending that the GOP reduced or eliminated in the March vote on the “Big Beautiful Bill” but SNAP is the main point of pain.
End the Filibuster?
While the Republican do have majority in both Houses, the Senate requires a supermajority for some votes and continuing resolutions (CR) to fund the government at current levels, is one. Ergo, the Senate requires 60 votes to pass the current impasse. 53 Republican Senators are on-board (The only hold-out is Senator Rand Paul.)
Ending the filibuster is now the cause de jour for President Trump. Mindful that he has only 3 years left in office, he is going all-in on this issue. The Senate has maintained the current filibuster for over 200 years in various forms. The most recent change came when Democrat Harry Reid as Senate Majority decided that on 51 votes should be needed for judicial nominations-a move that helped him short term but then allowed President Trump to push through three Supreme Court nominations. Payback can be expensive Harry…
To most readers, it might seem strange that a minority can stop the majority from passing a bill or nominee. But the rules of the Senate and the general tenor of the Constitution is to protect the minority from majoritarianism. The Framers, especially Madison, saw a pure democracy as akin to a mobocracy (rule of the mob) and that the Senate was to act as a cooling-off body for intempertant legislation. Most the time, it has stopped emotionally overly-charged issues from becoming law-but in the case of civil rights, it was allowed to derail or postpone needed reforms for minorities, such as the Voting Right’s Act.
It takes only 51 votes to END the the filibuster rule entirely-the so-called nuclear option. For now, the majority on both sides realize that someday their party might be in the minority and do not want to lose this procedure.
Prediction: The money will start flowing and the filibuster will remain.
