Democrats delay defense bill over stimulus check fight with McConnell



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McConnell in particular has criticized progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) For causing collateral damage to the defense bill in the stimulus fight. Sanders is leading the charge with Conservative Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) For $ 2,000 stimulus checks, which were overwhelmingly approved in the House earlier this week at Trump’s behest. Trump has mocked stimulus legislation, which he eventually signed on Sunday, which would only grant Americans $ 600 stimulus checks.

“The Senate will not let our national security be rushed, certainly not senators who have spent years, literally years, trying to drain America’s capabilities while our adversaries continue to ramp up,” McConnell said. about Sanders.

The majority leader, who effectively ruled out consideration of the Stimulus Check bill from the House version, sought to couple the boost to unrelated provisions designed to appease Trump’s demands for address legal protections for tech companies and its unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“The ball is in McConnell’s court. All he has to do is give us an up or down vote, ”said Sanders, who is joined by Hawley in the bipartisan push.

McConnell said the House stimulus checks bill “lacks a realistic path to quickly pass the Senate,” even as Trump continues to harangue McConnell and GOP leaders for their refusal to follow through his requests.

While delaying a final vote, the Main Democrats stressed their support for the Senate defense bill this week. But they added that the chamber should also address the issue of increasing stimulus checks – and said they would still try to push through the version passed by the House this week on stimulus checks.

“There is a very simple solution to this dilemma: Leader McConnell should come up with both measures for one vote and drop the chips where they can,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said. “I think the two measures – the defense waiver and the $ 2,000 checks to American families – will both be accepted.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) predicted that the Senate would follow the House and overturn Trump’s veto on the defense bill, calling it a “how long do people want to prolong this” question.

“I think we know what the outcome will be,” Cornyn told reporters. “As I always say, we can do it the hard way or the easy way and often times we choose the hard way.

Trump vetoed the defense bill because of his willingness to repeal those legal shields, even after the law authorized both houses to bipartisan super-majorities earlier this month.

Despite the impasse of the revival, the derogation from the veto is still progressing in the Senate. Senators easily voted 80-12 on Wednesday night to begin consideration of the measure.

McConnell then rescinded the votes on overturning the veto, with a final vote sliding into the New Year and likely to occur hours before the new Congress was sworn in on Sunday. A number of special military pay and benefits measures would also expire temporarily after December 31 if the bill is not on the books by then.

Unless senators agree to hold the vote earlier, a procedural vote requiring 60 votes will take place on Friday, followed by an additional 30 hours of debate, pushing a final veto bypass vote to Saturday.

The president also opposed provisions in the NDAA that would force the name change of bases that honor Confederate leaders and limit his efforts to downsize US troops in Afghanistan and Europe.

The House voted to overturn Trump’s veto in a 322-to-87 eruption on Monday.

The Senate should follow this example. It’s unclear how many Republicans might side with Trump and change their voice in favor of the waiver, although a large number of GOP senators are expected to turn the tide to kill the bill.

If the Senate can muster a two-thirds majority to overturn Trump’s veto, Congress will have issued a rare legislative rebuke to the president – and his presidency’s first and only veto. Trump has vetoed legislation to end the use of Pentagon funds to build a border wall and to reverse accelerated arms sales to the Middle East, but lawmakers have never come close to overthrowing his vetoes.

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