Looks like his Defense Authorization Bill which was supposed to be the next order of legislative business in the Senate, which Paul objected to and now seems that bill is going to be leaderless in the near term.
As reported by CNN:
Thursday afternoon, Senate leadership sent out a “hotline” notice regarding NDAA – basically, a notification that they were going to immediately take up NDAA after health care (passage or failure) and they wanted anyone who objected to this to let them know.
The idea being, if any senator is going to object to taking this up, flag it please, and we’ll hold off and discuss next steps.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cut a deal with McConnell to immediately move onto the bill – i.e. no Democrats would object to starting. McConnell moved to bring it up on the floor and Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul objected.
This was not expected, aides told CNN. While they knew Paul had serious issues with the bill and had amendments he was demanding merited consideration, aides and senators say McCain’s staff had given assurances that he would get those amendments put in order. And Paul objected anyway.
Paul’s spokesman, Sergio Gor, made clear that the issue remained the state of the amendments. “Sen. Rand Paul requested two bipartisan amendments, one on ending indefinite detention and one on AUMFs,” Gor said in a statement. “He looks forward to working with leadership and the committee to get this done soon.”
But what does it mean overall? Well, the Senate adjourned. When they come back Monday, they’ll move to a nomination, not the NDAA. And oh by the way, three congressional sources told CNN on Friday that McCain is planning to return to Arizona to start cancer treatment Monday, and it’s unclear when he’ll return.
Tired of all this “winning” yet Republicans?
Godspeed Senator. Thanks for coming back for this vote.
How about similar recognition for Senator Mazie Hirono, who also came off cancer treatment and whose vote was just as crucial. To the AP, liberals are never heroes, only conservatives.
Good luck, John. Sixteen million thank you and Susan and Lisa.
If he’s going back right now, it strikes me that he must have planned to shiv McConnell from the start. Or maybe he had some brief fever dream that his colleagues were going to act like responsible non-murderous adults for a few brief moments.
Gotta say, I don’t necessarily object to these ideas.
So glad McCain did this good thing. I’d hoped he might turn around, and he did. I also agree with @paulw, that he actually had hoped something good might have come out of bringing the bill to the floor and debate. When it didn’t, he turned and I wish him god speed.
Yeah me too - all of your comment.
Sen Mazie was amazing, but her courage was little noted.
It is entirely possible the Senate will never see John McCain again.
Chromosomally handicapped, like Collins and Murkowski.
Personally, I think Collins deserves the most credit.
Let’s note something, folks. One withheld vote (voting present or being absent from the vote) would not have allowed the bill to pass. 50 to 49 is still a defeat, and worse-than-useless Mike Dense would not have had a vote.
With that said, every one of the Democratic votes was crucial (and expected) in the defeat of TrumpDontCare. This vote was much, much closer than it should have been. It was quite literally a razor’s edge margin.
Hirono gets kudos from me, and not just because she’s from my birthplace. But so does Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. But in the end, Hirono, Heitkamp, Manchin and all the other Democrats voted as they were expected to vote. They voted on party lines.
Of the three quasi-sane Republicans, I think Murkowski gets my admiration. The fools in the Administration decided to threaten her to make her change her vote. Does anyone really think Zinke called and made his threats on his own initiative? Zinke got a call from somewhere in the West Wing (or maybe the OEOB) before he acted. Maybe it was easier for Murkowski to do the right thing because she chairs the Senate Committee with oversight on the Interior Department, but she still did the right thing.
Yikes, this is some indication of how serious the cancer is, isn’t it? The vote was at almost 2 AM, so who knows when he actually got to sleep. You keep me up until that time, I want to sleep in in the morning! And I’m not 80! That they got him up first thing to put him on a plane back to Arizona for medical treatment sounds pretty serious.
I guess Democrats are expected to do the decent thing. GOP, not so much. It’s a “man bites dog” story: “GOP Senator Decent Human Being. Film at 11.”
Our neighbor had glioblastoma. It’s quite an aggressive cancer, not the kind in the middle of which you’d pause treatment for any but the most serious reasons. I couldn’t see McCain stopping treatment to vote yes.