Mullin: Axing Filibuster Isn’t on Table, We’re Discussing Nuclear Option to 80% Reopen GovernmentIan Hanchett 22 Oct 2025
On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) stated that while abolishing the filibuster isn’t on the table for Republicans, they are discussing “a nuclear option that goes into effect when we go into a shutdown that would be very limited to what it could do, that it would fund all essential employees, that it would fund the military, and it would fund essential programs with a CR” and floated his own idea of a nuclear option that would have automatic tax cuts.
Mullin said axing the filibuster is “not really on the table. … It may be forced upon us. But the biggest concern that we have is the Senate goes back and forth. And when the filibuster was in place, … it kept judges off the bench, it kept Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) from packing the Supreme Court in ’21, and it kept them from passing the most disastrous overhaul that we’ve had to federalized programs in history in ’22.”
He added, “So, here’s a thought that has been talked about, not a full nuclear option, but a nuclear option that goes into effect when we go into a shutdown that would be very limited to what it could do, that it would fund all essential employees, that it would fund the military, and it would fund essential programs with a CR…it would open 80% of the government open and the other 20% would still stay closed.”
Mullin further suggested, “Democrats hate tax cuts, so to keep them from allowing it to go to a shutdown, then say, if we go into a shutdown, and a nuclear option goes into place, for that fiscal year, the American people, across the board, all tax brackets, 3% tax break, just for that one year. And the second thing is, if it happens, then it would automatically re-open in a CR for a period of time.”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/10/22/mullin-axing-filibuster-isnt-on-table-were-discussing-nuclear-option-to-80-reopen-government/
