The history of the constitutional option can be traced to a 1917 opinion by Senator Thomas J. Walsh, (Democrat of Montana) who contended that the U.S. Constitution provided the basis by which a newly commenced Senate could disregard procedural rules established by previous Senates, and had the right to choose its own procedural rules based on a simple majority vote.
The constitutional option was given further support in 1957 by an advisory opinion written by then-Vice President (and thus President of the Senate) Richard Nixon. In his opinion, Nixon stated that the Constitution grants the presiding officer of the Senate the authority to override Senate rules by making a ruling that is then upheld by a majority vote.
The maneuver was brought to prominence in 2005 when Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican of Tennessee) threatened its use to end Democratic-led filibusters of judicial nominees submitted by President George W. Bush. In response to this threat, Democrats threatened to shut down the Senate and prevent consideration of all routine and legislative Senate business. The ultimate confrontation was prevented by the Gang of 14, a group of seven Democratic and seven Republican Senators, all of whom agreed to oppose the nuclear option and oppose filibusters of judicial nominees, except in extraordinary circumstances.
Who really cares if the government “shuts down”? Just make sure you don’t back pay the fed parasites when they return to “work”.