McConnell in particular slammed progressive senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) For collaterally damaging the defense bill in the stimulus fight. Sanders is leading the charge against Conservative Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) For $ 2,000 stimulus checks, which were overwhelmingly approved earlier this week at Trump’s insistence. Trump mocked the stimulus legislation, which he eventually signed on Sunday, which would only award Americans’ $ 600 stimulus checks.
“The Senate will not allow our national security to be moved off course, and certainly not senators who have spent years, literally years, trying to take out the capabilities of America while our opponents continue to shoot up,” McConnell said of Sanders .
The majority leader, who effectively excluded the consideration of the House version stimulus check bill, sought to link the stimulus enhancement to unrelated provisions aimed at addressing Trump’s demands for legal protection for technology companies, and his unfounded 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-and-down vote, ‘said Sanders, who was joined by Hawley in the duel.
McConnell said the House bill on stimulus controls “has no realistic way to get through the Senate quickly,” even if Trump continues to lead McConnell and GOP over their refusal to comply with his demands.
While the final vote was delayed, the top Democrats stressed their support for the Senate floor defense bill this week. But they added that the chamber should also address the issue of increasing stimulus controls – and indicated that they would still try to push through the version that the House passed this week on stimulus controls.
“There is a very simple solution to this dilemma: leader McConnell must bring both measures to the vote and drop the chips where they may,” said minority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.). “I believe that both measures – the defense and the $ 2,000 checks to American families – will succeed.”
Senate John Cornyn (R-Texas) predicted that the Senate would follow the House and dominate Trump’s veto on the defense bill, calling it a matter of ‘how long people want to extend it’.
“I think we know what the outcome is going to be,” Cornyn told reporters. “As I always say, we can do it the hard or easy way, and often we choose the hard way.”
Trump has vetoed the defense bill over his attempt to repeal the legal screens, even after the law cleared both chambers with two unanimous majorities earlier this month.
Despite the impasse of the impulse, veto dominance continues to rise in the Senate. Senators easily voted 80 to 12 on Wednesday night to begin considering the measure.
McConnell then acted on the veto dominance, with a final vote penetrating the new year and probably just hours before the new Congress is sworn in Sunday. A number of special military salary and benefit measures will also temporarily lapse after December 31 if the bill was not yet in the books.
Unless senators agree to hold the vote earlier, a procedural vote requiring 60 votes will take place on Friday, followed by another 30 hours of debate, which will push a final veto vote until Saturday.
The president also objected to provisions in the NDAA that would force the renaming of bases honoring the Confederate leaders and limit his efforts to lower U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan and Europe.
The House voted Monday to override Trump’s veto in a 322 to 87 outburst.
The Senate is expected to follow suit. It is unclear how many Republicans can side with Trump and change votes on domination, although a hefty number of GOP senators must reverse the course to kill the bill.
If the Senate can muster a two-thirds majority to overthrow Trump’s veto, Congress would have delivered a rare legislative reprimand to the president – and the first and only veto dominance of his presidency. Trump has enacted legislation to halt the use of Pentagon funding to build a border wall and end rapid arms sales to the Middle East, but lawmakers have never overturned his vetoes.