President Donald Trump called for a government shutdown later this year and suggested the Senate might need to prohibit future filibusters, The Washington Post reported yesterday. His latest outbursts could cast a shadow over how Congress approaches numerous bills this year. Trump wants Congress to overhaul the tax code, approve a $1 trillion infrastructure package and raise or suspend the debt ceiling before the government begins falling behind on its obligations. He has made little legislative progress in any of these areas, and he is on the verge of being dealt another stinging defeat as House Republicans splinter on a health care bill for the second time in recent weeks. Trump’s new threats suggest that he will jettison attempts at compromise and instead use the bombastic partisan warfare he employed during his campaign. The threats come after White House officials said they were furious at what they viewed as gloating by Democrats over the terms of a short-term spending bill that funds government operations through Sept. 30. In Twitter posts, Trump said he had to make concessions because Senate rules require 60 votes to pass legislation and that Republicans needed to pick up more seats in the 2018 midterm elections or consider changing filibuster rules so that the Senate’s minority party cannot block bills. “Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!” he wrote. Trump could easily trigger a partial government shutdown in October by directing Republicans not to negotiate with Democrats or by refusing to sign a spending bill that Congress sends him for approval.
