Swordsmyth
06-18-2018, 05:54 PM
The legislative standoff between Sens. Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham continued Wednesday evening and threatened to derail amendments to the Senate’s annual defense policy bill.
Paul objected to a batch of proposed amendments on the chamber floor, as Graham stood firm in blocking the Kentucky Republican’s legislation prohibiting the indefinite detention of citizens accused of terrorism.
The $716 billion must-pass bill has been on the Senate floor since last week but remains stalled due to the dispute. Sen. Jim Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who is shepherding the bill’s passage, warned that it may now be passed without any votes on the hundreds of filed amendments.
“We are committed to an open amendment process, it looks like we are not going to get it so far, and I just ask that whatever is causing my good friend from Kentucky to object to these amendments will be satisfied by some change,” Inhofe said on the chamber floor.
On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed to end debate and bring the defense policy bill to a final vote, so the clock is running.
The pressure surrounding Paul’s indefinite detention legislation was ramped up after the Senate defeated a motion by Inhofe to table an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee that prohibits the practice.
“A few minutes ago on the Senate floor, 68 senators voted to give a vote on the Senate floor on whether or not anybody accused or captured and accused of crime would get a trial by jury,” Paul said. “This is not about me. This is about one senator from South Carolina who so much objects to the Bill of Rights that he doesn’t want it to apply to people accused of a crime.”
More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/paul-graham-standoff-threatens-to-derail-senate-defense-bill-amendments
Paul objected to a batch of proposed amendments on the chamber floor, as Graham stood firm in blocking the Kentucky Republican’s legislation prohibiting the indefinite detention of citizens accused of terrorism.
The $716 billion must-pass bill has been on the Senate floor since last week but remains stalled due to the dispute. Sen. Jim Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who is shepherding the bill’s passage, warned that it may now be passed without any votes on the hundreds of filed amendments.
“We are committed to an open amendment process, it looks like we are not going to get it so far, and I just ask that whatever is causing my good friend from Kentucky to object to these amendments will be satisfied by some change,” Inhofe said on the chamber floor.
On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed to end debate and bring the defense policy bill to a final vote, so the clock is running.
The pressure surrounding Paul’s indefinite detention legislation was ramped up after the Senate defeated a motion by Inhofe to table an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee that prohibits the practice.
“A few minutes ago on the Senate floor, 68 senators voted to give a vote on the Senate floor on whether or not anybody accused or captured and accused of crime would get a trial by jury,” Paul said. “This is not about me. This is about one senator from South Carolina who so much objects to the Bill of Rights that he doesn’t want it to apply to people accused of a crime.”
More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/paul-graham-standoff-threatens-to-derail-senate-defense-bill-amendments