Paul blocks Senate vote on House-passed Syria resolution
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blocked an effort to bring a House-passed resolution formally breaking with President Trump’s Syria strategy up for a vote.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to get consent Thursday to bring up the resolution, arguing that “we’re in real trouble.”
{mosads}“The most important thing we can do right now is send President Trump a message that Congress, the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans, demand he reverse course,” Schumer said.
Under Senate rules any one senator can try to set up a vote on a bill. But because that requires unanimous consent, any one senator can block it.
Paul argued that the House-passed resolution would also do “nothing to fix the problem” and said he was offering a countering proposal that would also stop arms sales to Turkey.
The resolution — sponsored by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in the House and Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) in the Senate — “opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria.”
“I think that’s a horrible decision. I think it could well risk the lives of Americans down the road,” he said. “I think it will certainly risk the lives of many more Kurds who are our allies.”
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