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| Tasos Katopodis/Pool via AP |
Congress is barreling toward a brief government shutdown at the end of the week due to a rebellion against President Biden’s vaccine mandate by a group of Republican senators.
Five GOP lawmakers are threatening to use an arsenal of legislative procedures to delay consideration of a short-term funding bill unless it strips out funding to enforce the mandate. The senators hope to delay a vote until after Dec. 3 — the date by which Congress must pass a spending bill to keep the government open.
“I have long said that I am not particularly invested in the timing of a given vote,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is backing the effort. “I think we should use the leverage we have to fight against what are illegal, unconstitutional and abusive mandates from a president and an administration that knows they are violating the law.”
Mr. Cruz and his allies know they do not have the votes to kill the spending bill outright in the evenly split Senate. At the moment, there are easily 10 GOP senators willing to join with all 50 Senate Democrats to break a filibuster and keep the government afloat.
Given that reality, the five GOP holdouts plan to use the Senate’s long-standing rules and precedents to their benefit. Within the chamber, unanimous consent is needed to expedite consideration of a bill, meaning that all 100 senators must agree on moving forward. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/John Hanna |
A cadre of GOP House and Senate lawmakers say they are planning to force a government shutdown later this week over President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Republicans Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah are pitching lawmakers within their respective chambers to block the short-term funding measure needed to keep the government afloat past Friday.
The lawmakers plan to object to any legislation averting a government shutdown unless Democrats agree to defund enforcement efforts for the White House’s vaccine mandate for workers at large and mid-sized U.S. businesses.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to bring up the stop-gap funding measure as early as Wednesday. Despite the efforts of Mr. Roy and other Republicans, the legislation appears headed to passage given that Democrats narrowly control the chamber.
Within the 50-50 Senate, the situation is more tenuous. To avert a government shutdown at least 10 Republican senators will have to back the measure to overcome a likely filibuster. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
Freedom Caucus wants McConnell to force shutdown over vaccine mandates
Congress must block funding for Biden’s vaccine mandates
Conservatives in Congress Are Planning a Drastic Move to Thwart Biden's Vaccine Mandate: Report
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