US House lawmaker urges Senate Republicans to use 'nuclear option' to end shutdown

WASHINGTON

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called on her colleagues in the Senate Friday to exercise what is known as the "nuclear option" to end the ongoing government shutdown and enact President Donald Trump's agenda.

"If Republican Senators wanted to pass the CR and reopen the government they could, by using the nuclear option to override the 60 vote rule and pass the CR with a simple majority vote. We have 53 R Senators," she wrote on the US social media company X.

"This is what I have proposed all along, only I would like Congress to pass new Republican appropriation bills, instead of CRs, and use the nuclear option to pass them through the Senate. This would deliver our campaign promises to the American people," she added.

The shutdown is now on its third day. Earlier Friday, the Senate rejected a Republican and a Democratic stopgap proposal to reopen the government in separate, largely party-line votes.

The Republican measure would fund the government at previous levels through late November. It has been defeated three times since it was approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives last month.

Under existing rules, a bill needs 60 votes to clear a key procedural hurdle.

While the ongoing shutdown does not automatically result in a full-blown economic crisis, it creates major disruptions for many aspects of American life.

Many federal employees deemed essential are furloughed, or forced to work without pay, while others have been placed on mandatory leave until a new budget is approved. Trump has added the threat of layoffs during this shutdown, though it is unclear if they would be permanent or would endure for the duration of the government closure.