'Smoking wizard weed': GOP senator shoots down MTG's idea for ending government shutdown

Sen. John Kennedy (R‑La.) explicitly ruled out Thursday any effort by Senate Republicans to scrap the filibuster as a means to reopen the federal government.

“That’s not even within the realm of possibility,” he told NBC's Sahil Kapur.

“You’d have to be smoking wizard weed to vote for that,” adding, “Dreamweaver, man. That ain’t passing.”

Kennedy’s remarks reflect deep GOP resistance to altering Senate rules, even amid mounting pressure to break the stalemate that has paralyzed federal operations.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) floated a proposal that would amount to rewriting Senate procedure so a simple majority could force a continuing resolution (CR) through, eliminating the current filibuster protection.

But Kennedy and other Senate Republicans have said such a move is a non‑starter.

The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, after congressional leaders failed to pass appropriations or a new continuing resolution.

Approximately 900,000 federal workers are estimated to be furloughed, with many others working without pay.

Critical services in a number of agencies have been scaled back or suspended, while essential services (such as Medicare, Medicaid, air traffic control, etc.) continue to operate under strain.

The impasse is largely driven by a dispute over the expiration of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

Democrats insist that any funding bill include an extension of those subsidies, while Republicans maintain that the government must reopen first before negotiations on health care can resume.

Efforts to pass stopgap funding bills have repeatedly failed in the Senate due to the 60‑vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster.

But the Senate has finally made headway on its yearly defense authorization. Leaders reached a floor agreement that could enable the bill to move forward as early as Thursday.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R‑Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, secured a deal to bring 17 amendments to the floor for a vote. The package also includes a set of relatively uncontroversial changes, followed by a vote on the full National Defense Authorization Act at a timing to be determined by party leaders.

Some Republicans, including Senate leaders, have floated the possibility of moving individual appropriations bills (such as Defense) to chip away at the shutdown piecemeal.

But altering the filibuster rule, effectively lowering the vote threshold to a simple majority, has been firmly rejected by many.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) earlier said such a change “is not in the cards.”