Senate GOP leadership Opposes Eliminating the Filibuster

President Trump called on Senate Republicans to end the filibuster over the funding bill battle and reopen the government for the American people. Despite the White House's frustration at the political impass in Congress, Republicans on the Hill have opposed such a measure. Our Washington correspondent Luis Martinez has the details on the story. The >> filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard. If the shoe was on the other foot, I don't think our team would like it. House Republican leadership has been clear they do not want to see the end of the filibuster in the Senate. But without the support of Senate Democrats, the government will remain closed past November 1st when millions of Americans will begin to lose critical nutrition assistance benefits. >> Could be that what's going on is that they're going to hold on until uh the president and Republicans decide that they have to use the filibuster, add the filibuster for these things. I hope not. November 4th is another important milestone in the government shutdown battle as both the House and Senate Democratic leaders are from the state of New York and on Tuesday, New York City will elect its new mayor. Not all Democrats agree with their leadership strategy of leveraging government funding to achieve policy objectives. And like I said to all of the viewers, I'm apologizing that that um we we can't even get our together and just open up our government. >> Democratic senators Cortez Mastos, Angus King, and John Federman have consistently voted to reopen government. Senator John Federman, the Democrat from Pennsylvania, has even supported the idea of eliminating the filibuster, but just for the government funding votes. I think it's it's entirely appropriate and I would remind you know all of us the Democrats we wanted to to nuke the entire filibuster. You know I'm referring to right now carving out the specific uh right now. I'm not talking about eliminating the entire filibuster. >> Senate Majority Leader John Thun and Senate Republicans have been outspoken in their opposition to ending the filibuster. We're not going to end the filibuster on a short-term uh funding bill. Um, frankly, we're not going to end the filibuster over anything in this Congress. Well, it would mean that you never face a supermajority vote in the Senate again. And if you eliminate it for a four-week funding bill, the Democrats, they take power, will use it to make Washington DC a state to get two senators in perpetuity. They'll use it to pack the Supreme Court. If the government shutdown continues, by the end of next week, it will have become the longest government shutdown in American history. Reporting from Washington DC, Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News.