Amid recent debate, the Senate rejected a proposed amendment backed by the chamber’s Republicans that would have blocked the flying of flags other than the country’s national flag at public buildings. Some on the Right have recently been frustrated with the display of flags that celebrate LGBTQ+ pride at such locations.
With three-fifths agreement having been needed, nearly half the Senate voted “no” on the proposal, which was fashioned as an amendment to a funding bill for areas of the federal government including military construction and veterans affairs. There were 50 “yes” votes, including backing from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the famously centrist Democrat who will be up for re-election next year in his GOP-dominated state.
Other amendments considered in the course of the funding package’s movement through the House and Senate included deductions sought by far-right Republicans including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Andy Ogles (Tenn.) in the level of financial support to be provided from the U.S. to an initiative at NATO called the NATO Security Investment Programme. Greene proposed an amendment that would have completely undone a planned increase in the level of funding given by the U.S. for that alliance program, which the House overwhelmingly rejected. Ogles pushed a similar amendment that would have undone less of the money but that the House also voted down.
Though Republicans in Greene’s ideological corner have frequently raised complaints about ostensible gaps between what NATO members are spending on their national defense and what they’re expected to be allocating, opponents of Greene’s efforts argued that calculations for funding this NATO initiative are separate matters. The ostensibly unmet expectations to which Greene and others have referred cover the amount spent by individual members in NATO on their individual defenses. The original expectations came with an anticipated deadline of next year, though even Trump has also raised intense complaints alleging non-compliance.
