And good morning to you. It is Sunday, November the 9th. Right now in the midst of the longest

government shutdown in history, senators are awaiting a new version of Republicans' temporary

stopgap funding bill that would run for slightly longer than the one that they voted down

14 times already.

And given that the new bill has no provisions to protect Affordable Care Act subsidies,

as Democrats have demanded, it's as unlikely to pass as the rest.

Now, no votes are scheduled for today, but the Senate will be in session around 1.30

Eastern should the Senate Majority Leader John Thune decide to call for a vote.

When asked about his level of optimism on finding a solution, Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas

said, quote, none, none at all. I mean, I'm almost speechless. What's not been said? End quote.

Now, that's a rhetorical question that the president would like to answer. Trump has pushed harder and harder for Republicans to get rid of the filibuster in the Senate

and with it the 60-vote threshold for a funding bill in order to force the reopening of the government

with a simple majority of senators which Republicans have.

After suggesting it at a breakfast alongside GOP senators on Wednesday,

Trump has posted on truth social about, quote, nuking or blowing up the filibuster 13 separate times, including

last night when he wrote in part, quote, the Republicans must blow up the filibuster and approve

hundreds of long sought but never gotten policy wins. Like as just a small example, voter ID, identification, only a loser would not agree to doing this, end quote.

Now, the filibuster is a tool to block legislation.

It allows a single senator to hold up debate until 60 senators vote to override them.

Both parties have members who would do away with the

filibuster to make it easier to pass substantial legislation, but both parties also have members

who fear the consequences of not having that filibuster when they're not in the majority.

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