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Senate overwhelmingly votes to curtail Trump’s power to ease Russia sanctions

reckless

Member
While this seems good, attaching it to Iran sanctions is pretty messed up.
Yes, Paul said he was voting against Iran sanctions no matter what:

Seven Democrats were opposed to the bill as Iran sanctions and six voted against this bill coming to the floor before it got amended with the Russia sanctions:

No idea why Lee slid in. He was for the Iran sanctions last I knew.

Oh god agreeing with Rand Paul, I feel dirty.
 

Balphon

Member
I see an explanation for Rand but why Lee?

Says he opposed a specific appropriation in the amendment:

Lee believes the amendment, part of a bigger, still pending package, which also includes sanctions on Iran, is costly and ultimately doesn't hit the mark.

"The Russian sanctions amendment included funding for programs and support of policies that I believe are not effective at addressing problems in the U.S.-Russia relationship and have promoted progressive policies unrelated to countering Russia at the expense of American taxpayers," Lee said in a statement.

Lee specifically opposed a section of the amendment that appropriates $250 million to coordinate aid and counter cyberattacks in a handful of countries "vulnerable to influence."

http://www.sltrib.com/home/5403518-155/utahs-sen-mike-lee-votes-against
 

benjipwns

Banned
Rand's more recent statement included any new Russian sanctions, so it's just his dad's old position on opposing political sanctions in general plus the Paul stubbornness. Once he locked in on opposing his party over Iran sanctions he wasn't going to budge for Russia getting amended in:
The other senator voting no, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, told The Washington Examiner that he doesn't favor any new measures against Iran or Russia. The sanctions that passed Wednesday, he added, are inadequate, like "tweaking their nose."
Rand Paul said:
"I'm really not in favor of new sanctions against Russia now or new sanctions on Iran."
To explain, those of us in libertarian circles tend to view sanctions as mostly useless against regimes and elites other than "tweaking their noses" and generally more harmful to both foreigners and Americans of lesser classes.

I think if you held a straight vote on just that part about Congress being able to mess with the President's sanctions but in general he'd vote for it. But a whole bunch of GOPers would bail out.
 

jonezer4

Member
This almost causes me to have a kernel of faith in the GOP. I mean, this is almost, in an oblique way, like standing up to Trump for once.
 
So the curly haired, tricksy lil Hobbit Rand Paul voted against it? Ugh. And yet, people here will still overwhelmingly vote for him since he lives in our town.
 

Zolo

Member
This almost causes me to have a kernel of faith in the GOP. I mean, this is almost, in an oblique way, like standing up to Trump for once.

Russia's still unpopular even with Trump voters, so they're not risking anything going against Russia like they would for directly going against Trump.
 

Zolo

Member
So GOP denies Russian interference but vote nearly unanimously to prevent Trump from lifting sanctions......

Yeah

Have they denied it recently? The narrative I've heard recently seems to be basic universal agreement from politicians on the matter. They just defend that Trump didn't collude with them.
 
To explain, those of us in libertarian circles tend to view sanctions as mostly useless against regimes and elites other than "tweaking their noses" and generally more harmful to both foreigners and Americans of lesser classes.

I think if you held a straight vote on just that part about Congress being able to mess with the President's sanctions but in general he'd vote for it. But a whole bunch of GOPers would bail out.

not just those in libertarian circles. Quite a common posture with people that bothered to look up how often sanctions work too.
 

Snwaters

Member
Posted this in the original thread, so I figured I'd post it here too.

I'm guessing there'll be at least one call to Paul Ryan asking to not bring up the bill for a vote.
McConnell voted for this. McConnell. With a 97 to 2 margin for. Russia as a whole is unpopular with even Republican voters. This should be an easy win for a Congress that is desperate to pass something (They have been complaining that Trump's scandals have slowed things to a crawl- whether that's the truth or not is up for debate).

This is a popular bill, why fight it? Let Trump take the L on this one.
 
So do we have a list of people who will vote against this bill in the house. So far I can only assume that Dana Rohrabacher and Devin Nunes will vote against this. Oh and I bet that piece of shit Tulsi Gabbard will vote against this too.

What matters is if there are 145 house members who are willing to prevent Trump's inevitable veto from being overridden.
 

Zolo

Member
So do we have a list of people who will vote against this bill in the house. So far I can only assume that Dana Rohrabacher and Devin Nunes will vote against this. Oh and I bet that piece of shit Tulsi Gabbard will vote against this too.

What matters is if there are 145 house members who are willing to prevent Trump's inevitable veto from being overridden.

Still have to wait for that vote. Trump seems more popular in the house, so it's to be seen.
 
Popularity might not matter. Tom Cotton was begging to perform fellatio on Sessions yesterday, and even he voted for this measure.

Well the thing is that the Senate's Russia investiagation and the House's Russia investigation are miles apart. The House Republicans have shown no actual effort to actually investigate the Russia stuff at all and instead are just working as an extension of the White House while the Senate is clearly hoping to put cold water on Mueller's investigation by actually prosecuting the obviously guilty people and actually investigating the Russia stuff to some degree.


So I guess I'm just wondering how many house republicans there are who are SO PARTISAN and cradling trump's testicles that they will vote against these sanctions.
 

MartyStu

Member
Rand's more recent statement included any new Russian sanctions, so it's just his dad's old position on opposing political sanctions in general plus the Paul stubbornness. Once he locked in on opposing his party over Iran sanctions he wasn't going to budge for Russia getting amended in:


To explain, those of us in libertarian circles tend to view sanctions as mostly useless against regimes and elites other than "tweaking their noses" and generally more harmful to both foreigners and Americans of lesser classes.

I think if you held a straight vote on just that part about Congress being able to mess with the President's sanctions but in general he'd vote for it. But a whole bunch of GOPers would bail out.

Thanks for explaining this. Makes sense.
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
I love how this bill is a sort of confirmation from the right that there just might be something fishy about Trump and Russia
 
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