Arizona's Senators Vote Together To Advance Rebuke To Trump's Withdrawal Inclinations In Syria, Afghanistan

UPDATE, 2/4, 8:30pm: Senators McSally and Sinema again voted for the McConnell amendment challenging the President's desires to withdraw most/all troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The amendment was approved, 70-26. (Democrats were nearly evenly split, 24-22, while only 4 Republicans - Cruz, Kennedy, Lee, and Paul - voted to oppose the Sense of Senate amendment.)

The Senate then approved cloture on the overall bill, S.1, by a vote of 72-24. Sinema and McSally both voted to close debate. (Democrats were evenly split, and Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against.)

Both Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally voted this afternoon to advance a Senate amendment challenging President Trump's stated desires to withdraw most/all troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

Cloture on the McConnell amendment opposing a "precipitous withdrawal" did get significantly more than the 60 votes necessary. If passed, it would be added to S.1, a potpourri of Mideast-related measures. Cloture passed, 68-23.

The politics on this cloture vote were somewhat unclear because Democratic leaders were upset that Senate Majority Leader McConnell permitted this amendment to go forward while rejecting a Democratic amendment about sanctions being lifted against Putin ally Oleg Deripaska. A mixture of Democrats and Republicans did vote against cloture.

The three Republicans who voted against cloture were Sens. Ted Cruz (TX), John Kennedy (LA) and Mike Lee (UT). Democrats split 23-20.

Senate Amdmt Re Syria Afgha... by on Scribd

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