Republican Senators stopped cloture from closing debate on the National Defense Authorization Act. This is believed to be due to Democrats breaking an earlier deal on amends and provisions before the Thanksgiving break.
45-51: Tonight, the Senate was blocked by Republicans from moving ahead on the Senate’s motion regarding the #FY22NDAAPolicy bill and defense programs. 60 votes were required. Schumer changed the Yes vote to No so that another vote could be held. pic.twitter.com/Wk5WRLBdAr
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) November 29, 2021
The Hill
Senate voted to end the debate over the National Defense Authorization Act. (NDAA) is a spending law that sets policy and spend levels for the Pentagon. However, this is not enough to clear the hurdle.
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) was the only Republican to vote with Democrats to advance the bill, while Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) (Mass.) Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against moving forward along with 46 GOP senators.
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As part of the deal that leadership tried to clear before the break, the Senate would have voted on 18 amendments, with Schumer noting that Inhofe and Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) had also worked out a deal to include at least an additional 50 amendments in the bill without needing a vote on each proposal. Out of the 18 votes for amendment, 11 were GOP or bipartisan.
However, several Republican senators opposed the package. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday pointed to several issues that Republicans want additional amendment votes on that were not part of the 18-amendment package offered before the Thanksgiving break. The sanctions proposal associated with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been supported by GOP Sens. James Risch (Idaho) and Ted Cruz (Texas). Nord Stream 2-related sanctions were also included in the House’s defense bill.
Chuck Schumer is the Majority Leader. He has lots of things to do. There is still time to vote in the Senate To avoid government shutdown, funding is necessary. In this vein, the vote for To avoid U.S. default, raising the debt ceiling must also be done. But the centerpiece of the year-end agenda, Biden’s precious, Sens. have also confirmed that the Build Back Better bill will not be a final deal. Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema
“The Democratic leader seems to want to put national security last. My colleague is trying to overcorrect for poor planning by cramming a two-week bill into two or three days’ time. I imagine there might be finger-pointing at Republicans if that proves impossible,” McConnell said.
“Nothing less than the safety of the American people is at stake. This is more important than political timetables for partisan wish lists,” he added.
Republicans also want to vote on any amendments to Ukraine or China support.
With the weight of Infrastructure, the national budget, and the debt debate now taking greater precedence, the NDAA is being pushed further down the road, possibly to the end the year.
This does not sit well with some Democrat Senators.
It’s shameful that Republican-partisan politics are so poisonous that they prevent the annual defense bill from moving as it should. This has been a priority of both parties for 60 years. https://t.co/KGGHYGzIcp
— Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) November 29, 2021
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