Today on Jay Sekulow Live: Will Senate GOP Use Constitutional Option to Avoid Shutdown?

Will Senate Republicans have to “go nuclear” in order to secure our border and avoid a government shutdown?

Today on the show we discussed the possibility of Senate Republicans having to exercise the so-called nuclear option, or what I call simply “the Constitutional option,” that would only require a simple majority to pass the House-approved spending bill, including $5.7 billion dollars needed to build the border wall.

Under the nuclear option, only 50 Senators would be needed, as opposed to 60, and the Vice President could then cast the tie-breaking vote.

Senate Democrats have supported border security in the past, but now they seem intent on playing political games simply out of spite. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has stated he won’t vote for the wall, and in fact wants to cut security spending.

Folks this political posturing is ridiculous. The cost of the border wall is a small portion of the overall budget – or as I said on radio, it barely amounts to a rounding error – when compared to the budget as a whole.

And now if this bill isn’t passed, we face a partial government shutdown.

However, let me put that in context: roughly 75% of U.S. government agencies and services are already fully funded for next year. In the agencies that would be affected, only non-essential personnel and programs would be shut down.

Still, this doesn’t mean Republicans have no other option but to let the government grind to a halt while Senate Democrats dig in and refuse to cooperate.

As I asked today, do you support the government shutdown? Should the Senate majority invoke the nuclear option in order to build the wall?

We are a nation of immigrants, including my own family, and I believe in immigration. But we are also a nation of laws.

We must defend our border security. That means the games must end, and we must build the wall.

I also gave you an update on our fight to free Christian Pastor John Cao, who has been wrongfully imprisoned in China and will spend another Christmas behind bars. And we told you about an important legal filing we made at the Supreme Court today in defense of the Bladensburg WWI Memorial Cross.

You can listen to the entire episode here.