You don’t need 60 votes to pass a budget. Trump is calling that ‘nuclear’, but it isn’t what we normally refer to as the ‘nuclear option’ of changing the senate rules to eliminate the 60 vote threshold.
This is actually a good idea. A budget with some modest cuts in it (the so-called Penny Plan, where one penny is cut each year from every program, thus ending base line budgeting, would be great to implement here) would get the votes of all of those R senators. And you could tack on all the funding for border security and do a ‘DACA fix’ that isn’t anywhere near as much of a sop to the Dems as they would like, getting them to vote against their own issue.
I know that. But McConnell couldn't eliminate the filibuster because he couldn't get 50 votes to do it.
A budget with some modest cuts in it (the so-called Penny Plan, where one penny is cut each year from every program, thus ending base line budgeting, would be great to implement here) would get the votes of all of those R senators.
Cut defense one percent per year? Medicare one percent per year? Social Security by one percent per year? How many votes do you think you'll get for that?