Conservative senators are not rolling over in the face of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s efforts to jam billions of dollars of Ukraine aid through the legislature’s upper chamber.
On Saturday, Senator Mike Lee of Utah occupied the Senate floor for nearly four hours in a talking filibuster. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio pulled back the curtain on McConnell’s motivations for forcing through the $95 billion supplemental in a Monday piece for The American Conservative. “Nearly a year away from an election that could give Trump the presidency,” Vance wrote, “Ukraine-obsessive Republicans have already given the Democrats a predicate to impeach him.”
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On Monday afternoon, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky launched a talking filibuster of his own. “Open the champagne, pop the cork. The Senate Democrat leader and the Republican leader are on their way to Kiev. They’ve got $60 billion they’re bringing. I don’t know if it will be cash in pallets, but they’re taking your money to Kiev,” Paul said in his speech that lasted over an hour. Fresh off the Senate floor, Paul spoke to TAC.
Paul explained what is motivating him and his senate colleagues engaging in this talking filibuster.