When a Republican-led Senate disagrees with the president, how should the involved parties work it out? That depends upon who is disagreeing and what they are disagreeing about. Take the 86-year-old Senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley (R-IA). He joined the Senate nearly 40 years ago and has sat in many leadership roles. One would think he, if no one else, would have the courage to stand up to the president.
Yet, the elder statesman has been eerily silent when it came to Donald Trump. Behind the scenes, Grassley has been working on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Finance Committee, which he chairs.
Remarkably, there are still some bills that pass with little pomp and circumstance. The $740.5 billion Defense Policy Bill has been one of them.
Although the Republican politicians have been walking in lockstep with Trump throughout his tenure, it appears that they have begun sensing that the president’s ship of state has a big hole in its helm. Senate Majority Leader Moscow Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been spotted Clark’s River National Wildlife Refuge wearing a mask.
Senate Leader McConnell also said last month he would be “Okay” with a bill changing the Confederate-named bases to less traitorous heroes, according to CNN:
‘There shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction to renaming bases. And I imagine that in my lifetime, there’s been a lot of bases that have had their names changed. I’m not aware of it. But the extent to which it’s a thoughtful process and not a knee-jerk reaction, I wouldn’t have any objection to it.’
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been Trump’s go-to boy for the past three and one-half years. Yet, when the Donald dissed NASCAR driver Bubbah Wallace’s effort to take down the outdated Confederate flag, Graham begged to disagree with POTUS. A fellow Bubba was what it took to finally blast the senator off of the president’s lap.
Senator Grassley’s line-to-never-cross had to do with the sanctity of the Defense Policy Bill. The elder statesman said that should Trump veto the defense bill, the Congress would override it.
The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), according to The Waterloo-Cedar Fall Courier:
‘Contains a provision that would require the Pentagon to remove names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy within three years.’
The National Defense Authorization Act that would remove the names of Confederate leaders from military assets within three years.
Trump has threatened to veto the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act if lawmakers include a provision to rename bases and other military assets that refer to the Confederacy.
Republican Senate leaders are advising the president not to veto the Defense Bill, Grassley said. It’s also possible Congress could establish a process to rename military bases separate from the Defense Bill.
Overriding a presidential veto means that the Senate would need two-thirds of the GOP-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House.
Senator Chuck Grassley was in the prediction business Monday:
‘Well, first of all, I would hope he wouldn’t veto it just based on that (flag language).’
Trump threatened to veto the spending bill, according to CNN, if it contains the amendment:
‘I will Veto the Defense Authoization Bill if the Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars, is in the Bill!’
Grassley’s understanding is the language in the Defense Policy Act would begin a three-year process to rename military bases that currently honor Confederate leaders:
‘If it came to overriding a veto, we’d probably override the veto.
‘To the extent to which it’s a thoughtful process and not a knee-jerk reaction, I wouldn’t have any objection to i.’
‘But to answer your question, if it came to overriding a veto, we’d probably override the veto.’
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnancy spoke to reporters. She told them:
‘Such a provision would be “an absolute nonstarter.”‘
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) supported this amendment in a U.S. Armed Services Committee vote last month. Senator Ernst said that made sense to her:
‘[T]here will be opposition to it [but] it is a discussion that we absolutely need to have.’
Ernst was one of four Senate Republicans in competitive elections on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which approved the amendment by voice vote, including Senators Tom Tillis (R-NC), David Perdue (R-GA), and Martha McSally (R-AZ).
In the wake of George Floyd’s televised death over seven minutes and 46 seconds the nation changed. As he lay on the street, his hands cuffed behind him, he said that he could not breathe several times, then he called for his mama and died. The nation heard his cry, and something shifted in the national psyche across various ingrained systems.
The Black Lives Matter protests have resulted in legislation across the nation — local, state, and national to change police practices The Detroit Free Press reported. Racist symbols from “businesses and public sites, such as statues honoring the leaders of the Confederacy. In some cases, protesters have also toppled statues of Confederate leaders or other historical U.S. leaders who owned slaves.”
The Senate Finance Committee Chair along with Senators. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) also introduced the Emergency Support for Nursing Homes and Elder Justice Reform Act of 2020. It improves existing programs for the protection of older Americans provides COVID-19 assistance to nursing homes:
‘This virus has taken a serious toll on older Americans and caregivers…a significant number of fatalities have occurred in nursing homes. It will ramp up accountability to curb the spread and effects of the pandemic. It’ll also renew several programs already in effect that protect seniors from abuse and neglect.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
