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WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress on Thursday blocked a series of measures put forward by lawmakers – largely Democratic – desperate to isolate Republican leaders and an official rebuke President Trump over his summit meeting President Vladimir Putin of Russia this week [19659002] In the Senate, Republicans objected to two nonbinding measures that would have the body on record of being in possession of intelligence agency conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, called the Trump to fully impose sanctions against Russia and pressed for oversight of the summit meeting, including the production of any notes taken by Americans.
"If ever there was a moment of your party but for the country, this is it," Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, implied his colleagues before his bipartisan resolution was shot down.
After the White House Mr. Trump was not considering a Putin proposal to make a trainer American ambassador to the Russian authorities for questioning, senators voted 98 to 0 in favor of a third nonbinding resolution expressing opposition to the Russian leader's suggestion.
"With this vote, the Senate has a message that is Free from all ambiguity: Americans will not be handed over to Putin on our watch, said Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii. "Those who serve our nation do not answer to the Russian president, and they have the support of a thankful nation."
In the House, Democrats sought to push many of the same points with different tactics, but saw no more success . Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted in favor of subpoena testimony from the State Department interpreter Mr. Trump into his private meeting with Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Finland. And on the House floor, Democratic Republic of the United States (19659002) "The flashing red light calls to action," said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat. "
" Surely we can rise above pandering to a party. Hoyer 's Remarks on Democrats to songs of "USA" on the House floor
The flurry of the votes of the lawmakers in both parts of the world next to Mr. Putin on Monday, Mr. Trump reported that he took the Russian President 's word on his own intelligence that he did not meddle in the
Republicans, many of whom are outraged by Mr. Trump's undercutting of the intelligence agencies, have said that They may prefer to address the situation with more sanctions, rather than potentially embarrassing oversight exercises or measures of censorship. (19659002) Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said that he had asked for the chairmen of two important committees to hold oversight hearings on Potential for new measures to supplement them
It was far from clear that it was possible to reach an agreement on such a measure in terms of malfeasance before November's election. The most popular bipartisan sanctions proposal – Written by Senators Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland – is thought to need rewriting to avoid unintended consequences, though it won the support of Four Democrats and Four Republicans on Thursday.
But in publicizing his request in a statement, Mr. McConnell clearly intended to send a message that the Republican Congress took the issue seriously and prepared to act.
The first two resolutions considered on the floor were offered by unanimously agrees. This member of the Senate has the power to vote, but also empowers a single senator to object and kill the measure.
A bipartisan resolution to commend the justice department and reaffirm the Senate's support for the intelligence community's findings was Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, objected
Mr. Cornyn's move caught the sponsors of the resolution – Senators Flake and Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware – off guard. It came after Mr. Flake, an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump, delivered an impassioned speech on the floor accusing the president of "giving aid and comfort" to Mr. Putin.
"By choosing to reject object reality in Helsinki "President Flake said," the President of the United States said, "The President of the United States, President of the United States," said Mr. Flake. "In so doing he dimmed the light on liberty ever so slightly in our own country."
Mr. Cornyn said he favored considering new sanctions, "not out of sense of the Senate resolutions that have no sting or no impact." Among his other objections was that the measure was largely symbolic – a comment that brought about by Mr. Flake and Mr. Coons when they greeted afterward reporters.
The chagrined pair said they would like to introduce the measure again next week. Mr. Flake said this was precisely the point.
"This simply says, in a symbolic way, that we in the Senate do not buy Vladimir Putin's rejection or his election of interference," Mr. Flake said. "We here in the Senate should not believe it. We know the intelligence is right. We stand behind our intelligence community. We need to say that in the Senate. Yes, it's symbolic, and symbolism is important. "
A Republican also blocked a more expansive resolution introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont, that would have made the position of Mr. Trump must work with American allies to aggressively fight Russian aggression, warn Mr. Putin not to interfere in November's elections and cooperate with the special counsel …
"Nobody is excusing Russia's meddling in our elections," said Senator Paul Rand, Republican of Kentucky, who objected to the request. "But simply bringing the hatred of the president to the floor, we are going to add more sanctions and more sanctions. You know what? I would like to say that we still have channels of discussion with the Russians. "
The third resolution, offered by several Democrats, was meant to address the possibility of the United States allowing Russia to question American citizens that it says were involved in an illegal scheme with William F. Browder, a financial and critic of Mr. Putin, in exchange for allowing American authorities to question Russian intelligence officers indicted on a charge of cyberattacks. One of those citizens is Michael A. McFaul, an ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama.
The resolution said that "the United States should refuse to make any of the current or train diplomacy, civil servant, political appointee, law enforcement official (19659002) The Efforts in the Infuriated House Democrats, who pleaded with Republicans in the majority before quickly turning their vote against the funding into a political asset.
Still, the Democrats still in their box. A few hours later, Mr. Hoyer introduced an omnibus legislative package of more than a dozen bills – some of which are bipartisan – to fight against Russia on several fronts.
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