["It would be unconscionable, especially after the House did the
right thing, for the Senate to simply leave Washington without voting
on this."] [[link removed]]

'THIS IS NO BLUFF': SANDERS VOWS TO FILIBUSTER MILITARY BUDGET TO
FORCE SENATE VOTE ON $2,000 CHECKS  
[[link removed]]


 

Jake Johnson
December 29, 2020
Common Dreams
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_ "It would be unconscionable, especially after the House did the
right thing, for the Senate to simply leave Washington without voting
on this." _

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) heads to the Senate floor at the U.S.
Capitol building on December 20, 2020 in Washington, D.C. , Samuel
Corum/Getty Images

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning to filibuster
[[link removed]]
the Senate's upcoming attempt to override President Donald Trump's
veto of the annual military spending bill in an effort to force a
clean vote on House-passed legislation
[[link removed]]
that would provide one-time $2,000 direct payments to struggling
Americans.

"This week on the Senate floor [Republican Majority Leader] Mitch
McConnell wants to vote to override Trump's veto of the $740 billion
defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year," the Vermont
senator said in a statement
[[link removed]]
late Monday. "I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation
to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class."

"We can force the Senate to stay in session until the New Year. This
is no bluff."
—Warren Gunnels, Sanders staff director

"Let me be clear: If Senator McConnell doesn't agree to an up or down
vote to provide the working people of our country a $2,000 direct
payment, Congress will not be going home for New Year's Eve," Sanders
added. "Let's do our job."

Sanders' statement came shortly after the Democrat-controlled House
overwhelmingly passed the CASH Act
[[link removed]],
which would increase the direct payments in the new coronavirus relief
law from $600 to $2,000 and include some people who were originally
deemed ineligible for the checks, such as adult dependents
[[link removed]]. The
measure passed by a 275-134 vote
[[link removed]], with 44 House
Republicans joining 231 Democrats in approving the bill.

Following the House vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y.) reiterated
[[link removed]] his
intention to try to pass the CASH Act on Tuesday, declaring that
"every Senate Democrat is for this relief."

But McConnell has not committed to allowing a vote on the bill,
intransigence that prompted Sanders' vow to hold up a Senate vote to
override Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA). The House voted to override the president's veto Monday night.

"At noon tomorrow, McConnell is expected to ask for Unanimous Consent
to vote on the veto override of the $740 billion defense bill," said
[[link removed]] Warren
Gunnels, Sanders' staff director. "Bernie will object until we get a
vote on $2,000 direct payments. We can force the Senate to stay in
session until the New Year. This is no bluff."

In an interview
[[link removed]]
with _Politico_, Sanders said that "it would be unconscionable,
especially after the House did the right thing, for the Senate to
simply leave Washington without voting on this."

"The American people are desperate," the Vermont senator added, "and
the Senate has got to do its job before leaving town."

_Politico_ noted that "the Vermont independent can't ultimately stop
the veto override vote, but he can delay it until New Year's Day and
make things more difficult for the GOP... Though veto overrides can be
filibustered, as Sanders plans to do, it is a rare procedural move
because the veto override already requires 67 votes and the filibuster
is simply a delay tactic, according to the Congressional Research
Service."

 
While Sanders may not have the power to single-handedly kill the NDAA
veto override, _The American_ _Prospect_'s David Dayen wrote
[[link removed]]
Monday that the Vermont senator "has the procedural means at his
disposal to keep the Senate in session all the way to New Year's Day,
inconveniencing senators of both parties, particularly the incumbent
Republicans from Georgia, who are in their final full week of
campaigning for runoff elections on January 5."

Dayen reported that Sanders will be operating "with the backing of the
Senate Democratic caucus."

As Dayen explained:

In order to get through the week without a clean vote on the $2,000
payments, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to object
numerous times to Sanders' pleas to bring up the bill...

The Senate operates on the principle of unanimous consent. It's not
impossible to get things done if one senator objects, but it's quite a
bit slower. The majority needs to hold votes and waste time to muscle
past an objecting senator. For this reason, Sanders can prevent quick
passage of the defense bill override, the only thing McConnell really
wants to accomplish in the last week of the Senate session.

This ramps up pressure on McConnell to just hold a vote on the $2,000
checks. Senators don't want to be stuck in Washington on New Year's
Eve or New Year's Day if they can prevent it...

McConnell has options to eventually get to the defense bill vote. He
can move to end debate, known as a cloture vote, and push past
Sanders' objection. However, he cannot do that on Tuesday, because he
won't have enough senators in the building to win a floor vote.

In a tweet [[link removed]]
late Monday, Sanders pointed to new Data for Progress polling
[[link removed]]
showing that 78% of likely U.S. voters—84% of Democrats, 73% of
Republicans, and 74% of Independents—support a $2,000 direct relief
check.

"The House approved a $2,000 direct payment," Sanders wrote. "Let the
Senate vote, Mitch!"

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

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