Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) held the line Thursday and blocked two House-passed bills that would reopen the government and stiff President Trump on border wall funding.
Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) and two dozen Democrat colleagues in the Senate tried to bring two House-passed bills to the floor that would fund the DHS through early February along with a separate package that would fund the remaining agencies through September.
McConnell dug in his heels and blocked both bills, arguing they would be “show votes” and that he’s not going to waste time.
“The last thing we need to do right now is trade pointless, absolutely pointless show votes back and forth across the aisle,” McConnell said.
According to Senate rules, any Senator can try to force a vote, but any Senator can also block them.
McConnell blocking the Democrat Senators from forcing a vote reaffirms his commitment that he will not allow a vote on a Democrat bill that the President won’t sign.
Thank you, Leader McConnell!
VIDEO:
NEW: Sen. Cardin asks for unanimous consent for Senate to consider bill to end shutdown.
Leader McConnell objects. "The last thing we need to do right now is trade pointless, absolutely pointless, show votes back and forth across the aisle," he says. https://t.co/n9IQ5KR9jj pic.twitter.com/v6uOcB0XOm
— ABC News (@ABC) January 10, 2019
